The style of hands is in-keeping with those from the original A3817 and featuring a thin black stripe down the centre, which is briefly interrupted by SuperLuminova. In between 4 and 5 o’clock is the date aperture, which is rather un-intrusive and doesn’t seem to unbalance the dial at all. The rhodium-plated hour markers are inlaid with faux SuperLuminova (a detail we’ll get back to). The base of the dial is an eye-catching grained white backdrop, with a black soundwave minute track, which is encircled by a black chapter right that displays a tach-o-meter and pulsations scale. At 3 is the blue minute register, at 6 is the grey hour register and 9 o’clock is the light grey running seconds register with blue hand. The A3817 Revival features a white dial, with overlapping tri-colour registers. For this Chronomaster Revival piece, Zenith sought to recreate the same effect, almost indistinguishable from the original with its red chronograph central second hand and tri-colour chronograph counters. What made the original A3817 truly standout was its white dial with tri-colour registers and instantly distinctive uneven racing track, that resembled sharks’ teeth. Moreover, only 1000 examples of the A3817 were ever made, making it one of the most elusive and sought-after references among the early El Primero chronograph watches. A385 with the striking tri-colour dial of the A386, resulting in a unique and aesthetically pleasing 70’s sports chronograph. A3817 was released in 1971 and it combined the sportier steel tonneau-shaped case of earliest El Primero ref. The A386, the A385 the basis for the A3817 and the A384. While there is a debate on who was first, there’s no doubt that Zenith were first to announce the El Primero, with three different references. However, there were a couple of silent watch manufactures working on this advance too: in the Far East was Seiko, who were busy working on their own version and then there was the company from Le Locle Zenith. There were of course a few companies that shared an interest in claiming this technological breakthrough: Heuer/Buren-Hamilton/Breitling. During the early 1960s there was a race on to see who could create the world’s first self-winding (automatic) chronograph. The El Primero is a legend within its own right but there is a much debated story behind it. ![]() It was only as recently as the 1960s that there was a push to invent an automatic chronograph and while Zenith can be considered the first, it wasn’t quite that straight forward. I’ve previously mentioned before that chronograph watches have been around since the 19 th century, but it wasn’t that long ago that automatic chronographs were introduced. Even the original A3817 had a 5Hz chronograph movement.Zenith has been on a bit of a roll lately with their re-editions and not too long ago they introduced one of their latest re-edition timepieces and luckily for us, we were able to get our hands on an example to get up close and personal to see if this recreated El Primero was all we expected it to be? As you know, the Zenith El Primero is quite simply one of the most important chronographs in watchmaking history. The El Primero name on the dial denotes that this watch is more accurate than the industry standard. Zenith is known for its high-frequency chronographs. ![]() Inside the in-house made El Primero calibre 400, an integrated chronograph with a column-wheel and lateral clutch is built into a 5Hz movement with a 50-hour power reserve. The new Chronomaster Revival A3817 features a case measuring 37mm in diameter and 12.6mm thick that’s made of stainless steel with polishing pointing outwards across the case’s various flat surfaces. Luckily, for those not able to grab one, Zenith is remaking the A3817 and in less limited numbers too. Zenith only made 1000 A3817s back in the day, so they are highly sought after vintage watches. ![]() In 1971, Zenith launched the A3817, it combined the classic coloured subdials of the A386 with the tonneau case of the sporty A384. So far, we’ve seen both round and tonneau-shaped watches in the Revival collection. Zenith is no stranger to remaking its classics, and the newest Chronomaster Revival A3817 is no exception to this trend. And then there are vintage re-issue pieces, based on watches of the past, these re-issues seek to bring some of the glory of the good ol’ days to the modern age and with varying degrees of success. ![]() Some trends tend to be more embedded in the current watch market, such as enlarging case sizes or the colour blue. As you’ll know already, the world of luxury watches is a fickle thing, affected quickly by trends that come and go at a moment’s notice.
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