Following Zenith’s 50th anniversary recreation of the groundbreaking El Primero—the world’s first automatic chronograph—the Swiss watchmaker has released the mysterious Chronomaster Revival “Shadow.”
This watch was reportedly born of some interesting lore. When the El Primero caliber debuted in 1969, it made manual-winding chronographs technologically inferior. But workers reportedly discovered a stunning blacked-out model with the obsolete manual movement stashed within the workshop of El Primero developer Charles Vermot in 1970.
Though that prototype never made it to market, the Chronomaster Revival “Shadow” is directly inspired by it. Instead of steel, the 37mm case is crafted from microblasted titanium that’s coated in a superficial layer of black coating to bring out dark gray accents. Naturally, the prototype’s manual movement has been swapped out for the El Primero A384, which is visible through the display back.
Gray counters and a tachymeter scale contrast with the matte black dial, while the hands and markers are filled with white SuperLuminova that glows bright green in the dark. The black rubber strap gets touches of white stitching and a microblasted titanium pin buckle that matches the stealthy case.
A release date wasn’t announced, the the Chronomaster Shadow ‘Revival’ will retail for $8,676 when it arrives in Zenith boutiques and online.
