by Kyle Stults on February 19, 2010
El Primero coming on strong in 2010, 1/10th second at a time…
Zenith is not a watch I cover much on this blog mostly because I find their watches in recent years to be much less than impressive. Seems this is changing a bit with new Zenith CEO Jean-Frédéric Dufour, on board since mid-2009. I dare say that he may have a winner on his hands with this new Zenith El Primero Foudroyante 1/10th Chronograph. I think that this watch just goes to show that if you stick with what you know and do best, well, good things will happen:
The movement of this watch has been designated the “El Primero 4052 B automatic calibre” and it has what is known as a “foudroyante” function, in this case a 1/10th second. If you are not familiar with the term, “foudroyante” is also known as a “Jumping Seconds” function and on this watch it works like this: the foudroyante hand (the primary/red hand on this watch) makes a complete rotation in just 10 seconds as opposed to 60 with a normal seconds hand. This explains why on the outer edge of the dial you see 10 seconds instead of 60 which enables readings to within 1/10th of second. The watch consists of a 42mm diameter case and will be available in rose gold or stainless steel. Water-resistant to 100 meters, and sapphire crystal on top and bottom.
As an aside, if you want some good watch history, you should read up on the El Primero movement – it is legendary! First introduced on January 10, 1969….been in many popular/famous watches ever since!
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