Zenith has always held a special place for me. From a fairly young age, not long after high school, the brand occupied an elite status in my mind. More specifically, it was and remains in my top two favorite brands of all-time, the other being Grand Seiko. In my mind, they offered two intriguing sides to the same high-frequency coin. Where Grand Seiko possessed a certain austerity to it, a degree of refinement I found in few, if any other places, Zenith watches how good Replica was quite the opposite. Zenith might be a Swiss brand, but it always seems to have an American-grade boldness to it, a panache matched by none, at least none with Zenith’s horological pedigree. And thus, my two favorite watch brands were chosen: a restrained and sophisticated dress watch and a wild, avant-garde sports watch. Why can’t one watch just be both?Zenith, to their credit, almost had an answer to my question already: the criminally overlooked A273, a classic chronograph that had a measure of civility to it. Yet the A273 itself had committed an offense: it was offered during the same basic time frame as the legendary tri-color El Primero. Because of this coexistence, it was doomed to be overshadowed by its more prolific brother, which continues to be available today. Unlike the El Primero, the A273 was powered by a beautiful, yet far less revolutionary, hand wound movement. There it remained, largely unnoticed even among Zenith collectors, awaiting the time it too would receive the El Primero.
Zenith watches has collaborated with the legendary rock band The Rolling Stones for a new limited watch called the Zenith El Primero Chronomaster 1969 Tribute to the Rolling Stones. It was just a few days ago that we spent some time with Zenith as they exhibited in Las Vegas, and it was then that we learned a major partnership was coming up really soon.
While we could sense they were very excited about it, they remained extremely secretive about it until this very moment: today it became official that the brand will start a unique collaboration with the absolutely remarkable rock band The Rolling Stones. We will note that deep inside we had hoped they would not repeat the rather upsetting fiasco of the limited edition in part dedicated to Che Guevara… and to our most pleasant surprise they went for this much more positively exciting collaboration. The first piece dedicated to this partnership is the Zenith El Primero Chronomaster 1969 Tribute To The Rolling Stones.
The legendary El Primero chronograph movement inside has seen countless different variations and we have several articles about what is widely accepted to be the first wristwatch movement with a chronograph function and automatic winding. This time around, it is housed in the 42 millimeter wide retro-inspired case and is partially revealed by the “open-heart” dial.
Speaking of the latter, while it sports the trademark El Primero colors from 1969 with the silver base color and grey and blue sub-dials, Zenith watches automatic Replica decorated it with what has to be one of the most famous and widely recognized logos in the history of popular music: the unique “Tongue and Lip Design” logo of The Rolling Stones, created by John Pasche in 1971.
Located in the sub-dial at the 6 o’clock position, this distinct design element is what sets the 250-piece limited edition of the El Primero Chronomaster 1969 apart from its non-limited counterparts. And while it may not be noticeable from across the room, true fans of “The Stones” will certainly love this unusual mixture of modern and retro design elements, stirred up with the addition of one of the world’s most instantly recognizable symbols of rock and roll.
While Zenith remains unclear about how this partnership will continue, or what other models may be dedicated to “The Stones” and the timeless rock and roll lifestyle they represent, we can totally imagine the band wearing one of these tribute pieces on stage. The price for one of the 250 pieces of the Zenith El Primero Chronomaster 1969 Tribute to The Rolling Stones is $9,800. zenith-watches.com
For all-around watch nerdiness, both are compelling timepieces but clearly different. Both also share a fondness for silicon – which Zenith watches 1990 Replica is backing in a big way these days. Silicon is what makes movements like the ZO 342 even possible. Replacing metal with silicon is how these parts are able to move quickly and reliably. Unlike metal, silicon isn’t affected by temperature or magnetism, and because it has much lower friction, it doesn’t require lubrication. More so, the ability to cut very small, very precise parts allows for mechanisms not previously available when metal was more or less the only material option. These manufacturing options combined with computer modeling software have allowed for a new generation of mechanical watch movements such as the ZO 342 that combine traditional concepts of how a small machine tells the time, with a lot of modern know-how.