News
Introducing the Zenith Chronomaster Revival A385
News
Introducing the Zenith Chronomaster Revival A385
Well, a decade on from the 707’s first commercial flight in 1958, Zenith — the watchmaker — announced the world’s first serially produced automatic chronograph movement, the El Primero. It’s one thing to be able to produce a movement in large numbers and have it hold itself together, but for it to maintain chronometric integrity when faced with the perils of everyday life — now that’s a whole other matter.
To prove its case that Zenith had, not only managed a mechanical feat, but truly one that is a feat of watchmaking evolution with lasting impact, the brand sought to put its new creation through the rigors of life, as it would’ve been in the late 1960s.
The first watches that were used to bring the 1969 El Primero to market were the A384, the tonneau-cased Zenith legend; the A386, the classic round faced Zenith chronograph, which has the indisputable claim as the face of Zenith today; lastly, the lesser known, A385. While all of these references hold a special place in the horological history books for being the first watches to give life to the 1969 El Primero and, therefore, the first commercially available automatic chronographs, there’s a further claim that the A385 makes that is quite unique.
Okay, still, what does all of that have to do with a Boeing 707?
Remember those life rigors that Zenith had to subject the El Primero to, to prove its mettle? You see, in light of the growing volume of air flights that the world was taking in this timeframe — thanks in part to the 707 — Zenith again, thought ahead, to prove that its watchmaking could maintain chronometric integrity during air flight. So, during an Air France Boeing 707 flight from Paris to New York, in 1970, Zenith decided on an unthinkable test.
For their first watch unveiling of 2021, Zenith has decided to revive the A385, as the Chronomaster Revival A385, with the same tonneau case and the smoked brown gradient dial. The watch is powered by the El Primero 400 Automatic, the present generation in the long lineage of the El Primero, boasting 36,000VpH, or 5Hz, and 50-hour power reserve.
Movement
Self-winding El Primero 400 movement; hours and minutes in the centre; small seconds at 9 o’clock; chronograph: central chronograph hand, 12-hour counter at 6 o’clock, 30-minute counter at 3 o’clock; tachymetric scale; date indication at 4:30; 50-hour power reserve
Case
37mm stainless steel; smoked brown gradient dial with white-coloured counters; rhodium-plated hour-markers, faceted and coated with beige Super-LumiNova®SLN; rhodium-plated hands, faceted and coated with beige Super-LumiNova®SLN; water-resistant to 50m
Strap/Bracelet
Light brown calf leather strap with protective rubber lining and a stainless steel pin buckle or “ladder” bracelet with stainless steel double folding clasp
Price
Ref. 03.A384.400/385.C855: CHF 7,900 on leather strap
Ref. 03.A384.400/385.M385: CHF 8,400 on “ladder” bracelet
The Chronomaster Revival A385 is available at Zenith Boutiques and online shop, as well as at authorized retailers around the world.
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