mbjoer 0 Posted July 4, 2010 (edited) Zenith El Primero Chronometer A pictorial mini-review The following is a review with pictures of one of my more successful acquisitions, namely the Zenith El Primero Perpetual Chronometer with moon phase. It is a smallish watch with a very busy dial. It is dressy, brown in stainless steel and has provided quite a few positive comments in it's lifetime. It is also a fantasy, which makes this review much easier, and eliminates any risk of ever being confronted with a Gen. GENERAL DESCRIPTION The watch is 40mm with a brown dial in a polished stainless steel case, with a strap and deployant clasp. The dial also comes in white and black and you can choose a steel bracelet instead of the strap. The movement is a Seagull ST19 handwind. The main dial has tachymeter, Hour/minute/minute sub-divisions, running seconds@ 9, date @12, chrono minutes@ 3 and a fully working monphase @ 6. It also has some additional text and even a little star. All set in an intricate guilloche. That is a lot of detail for a watch of this size, and in reality most of it becomes ornamental as it frankly can be hard to read the dial. Personally I mainly use the time and moon functions. The latter only because I have no other watch with a moon phase and it looks cool... The crown and pushers look good and function well. Time is easy to set and watch is easy to wind. Date and moonphase are set via push buttons. Because I don't wear my watch that often, but do care when I do wear it, I have to look up the moon phase or patiently wind it to the correct date via the crown. Either way takes some time.... The case back is nicely engraved. It does not pretend to be white gold or platinum so no hallmarks required. Looks good. Naturally the movement is not an El Primero, but the Lemania based Seagull looks nice and compliments the watch. I preferred the strap version to the bracelet: The deployant is nicely and deeply engraved. The bouncy lettering is not that noticable in reality as on this picture: The buckle is also nicely decorated with Zenith deeply engraved: General Comments: Out of the box this watch needs a new strap and AR treatment. The rep-strap is awful and the watch looks good enough to make it worthwhile to invest in a decent strap. Anti Reflex treatment is imperative as well. The dial is hard to read at the best of times, but with the glare from the crystal as it comes from the factory it becomes almost impossible. But with these two modifications you will get a very pretty and unusual dress watch for the money. In contrast to many a non-fantasy, this one feels right.... Edited July 4, 2010 by mbjoer Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dingle 62 Posted July 4, 2010 Nice review MB. Really classy watch. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GC 5,338 Posted July 5, 2010 Great review, lovely watch! Thanks for share'n...and enjoy the "Z El P" often! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jonnyboy1961 0 Posted October 11, 2015 great thanks for this review , ,its 40 mm but I cant go much bigger as my wrist isn't the fattest , ,any more smallish watches to consider apart from the primero series , cheers Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JohnPilot 11 Posted October 11, 2015 El Primero handwind? hmmm Nice watch but ... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stewart 0 Posted October 11, 2015 I really like it! Nice watch enjoy! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
