Zenith Chronomaster El Primero A384 Revival Liberty Inner Workings We’ve seen some other solid dial colors come for the A384 (such as a reverse panda dial done in blue), but these watches are largely the same as their ancestors, aside from the sapphire crystals on the front and back of the watch and the non-radioactive luminous paint.

Through and through, the Zenith Chronomaster A384 and A385 Revival El Primero are not just inspired by the original models, they are faithful reproductions. Zenith Chronomaster El Primero A384 Revival Liberty Aptly dubbed the A384 Revival Liberty, only 150 examples of this blue dial variant with a red and white chrono seconds hand were produced. It’s worth noting here that the A384 is the more scarce of the pair, being a limited edition for the North American Market. The original A384 came in a conservative panda dial (black subdials on a white dial), while the A385 was super-70s with the brown fumé embracing the earth tones coming in the years after this watch was originally introduced. The main design difference between the Zenith Chronomaster A384 and A385 Revival El Primero models are with the dial colors. Zenith Chronomaster El Primero A385 Revival This means the date window doesn’t remove – or otherwise shorten – the indice, as we see with a date window at 3 or 4 o’clock. But 4:30? Why there? I say the simplest answer is the most reasonable – it puts the date window between the applied hour indices. We’re used to it appearing at 3 o’clock, 6 o’clock, or maybe at 4 o’clock. Set in the midst of those registers is something we do not see that often now – a date display at the 4:30 position (picturing where an hour hand would be pointing). The triple-register layout for the chronograph and running seconds are recognizable today. Zenith Chronomaster El Primero A385 Revival and A384 Revival Liberty That blockiness of the 37mm case also places it firmly in the early 70s, making for a unique look. No, it doesn’t have the octagonal case, but with all of it’s straight edges, that’s where my mind places it. The starting point would of course be that iconic case, which seems to hew closer to the Defy line than we might otherwise expect. While the original A385 and A385 predate me by a few years, the Zenith Chronomaster A384 and A385 Revival El Primero look to be faithful reproductions of those original watches. Zenith Chronomaster El Primero A385 Revival and A384 Revival Liberty Design Details

That’s a story for another article, but it’s worth noting that Vermot single-handedly saved the El Primero movement, and quite possibly Zenith as a watch company. They were a little less-prepared for the quartz crisis that was about to engulf them, which resulted in the El Primero movement almost being lost in the mid-70s, if not for the efforts of Charles Vermot. While these watches do have a clear and distinctly vintage aesthetic by today’s standards, they were forward-looking for the brand, putting Zenith in a position to be ready for 70s styling. To showcase this new marvel, Zenith introduced three watches – the A386 (which looks like the classic round chronograph we’re more used to seeing today) and then the angular tonneau case of the A384 and A385. At that time, it brought an amazing number of innovations to the fore, giving the world an automatic 1/10th of a second chronograph that also had calendar capabilities.

Zenith Chronomaster El Primero A385 Revival and A384 Revival Liberty Historyġ969 was the year that the Zenith El Primero movement made its debut. For the collector interested in the history of the chronograph, and in a caliber that in many ways changed the landscape of chronograph production, one perfect way to add that movement to one’s collection would be to go with the reissues of watches that the movement was introduced with – the Zenith Chronomaster A384 and A385. It is effectively inarguable that the Zenith El Primero movement is one such movement. Sometimes, though, we run across a movement that has such an impact that it develops its own gravitational pull. Within the watch world, we tend to focus on specific models that become iconic for a brand.

Chronomaster revival el primero a385