There is plenty to like about the Zenith Chronomaster Sport, I don’t own one, but I am able to appreciate the engineering excellence that was invested in creating this timepiece. They are not cheap these days, the El Primero is likely to set you back some serious coin.

Looking back at the time of development of the El Primero, Zenith was developing a chronograph with Movado, I would have thought that was an unlikely pairing. The development of a new movement is time consuming and expensive, it is not hard to consider that companies were seeking to share development costs. Seiko was also working on their chronograph movement, they were working alone, a little different to the Swiss perspective.

The El Primero movement has a frequency of 36,000 vph [5 Hz] with a 60 hour power reserve. In the late 1960s there were a couple of consortiums developing an automatic chronograph, Zenith and Movado were one partnership, Heuer and Breitling were the other Swiss consortium that also included Büren and Dubois Dépraz. The Zenith/Movado chronograph had three sub-dials and the Heuer/Breitling/Büren/Dubois Dépraz was a two sub-dial chronograph.

I really like reference 03.3100.3600/69.M3100 with the ceramic bezel, whilst many attribute this to a Rolex Cosmograph Daytona, I reckon this chronograph has some serious wrist presence. The 41 mm stainless steel case has 10 atm of water resistance, I like the matt white dial and I have learned to like the three coloured sub-dials. The three link integrated bracelet really finishes this timepiece.