Zenith

About Zenith

Zenith's El Primero, launched in 1969, was the world's first automatic chronograph movement — and it beat at 36,000 vibrations per hour, enabling 1/10th of a second measurement precision that competitors wouldn't match for decades. During the quartz crisis, a Zenith watchmaker famously hid the El Primero tooling behind a wall, preserving the caliber for posterity. When mechanical watches revived, Zenith had the only high-frequency automatic chronograph ready to go. Rolex licensed the El Primero for the Daytona from 1988 to 2000. Today Zenith pushes the Defy line into contemporary territory while the Chronomaster preserves the El Primero legacy. An essential brand for chronograph enthusiasts.