Spotlight: Zenith El Primero Revival Shadow

The legendary Zenith El Primero movement first appeared in 1969, and to mark the 50^th anniversary of this in 2019 Zenith released a special edition ‘A384 Revival’ with an angular tonneau case shape inspired by the reference A384 from 1969. During 2020, they also announced a further A384 Revival piece – the Shadow. It took a while to get hold of one to check out in person, suffice it to say it was worth the wait!

Zenith El Primero Revival Shadow

Making an assertion as to which movement was “the first automatic chronograph” can, in some quarters, provoke a lively and impassioned debate. Ultimately, the ‘right’ answer will depend on what your definition of “first” might be. There are three contenders vying for this accolade: the Chronomatic Group (championed by Heuer and Breitling) with calibres 11 and 12, Zenith with the El Primero, and Seiko with the 6139 automatic chronograph.

The race to develop the first automatic chronograph had been underway for many years before 1969, with Zenith targeting an announcement of their movement at the 1969 Basel Fair in April. With rumours abound in late 1968 that the Chronomatic Group were to announce their movement just prior to the Basel Fair, Zenith opted to make an earlier announcement to local media, and did so on January 10^th 1969, announcing and showcasing working prototypes of their El Primero automatic chronograph, where El Primero means The First.

The Chronomatic Group continued undeterred by Zenith’s announcement, and a couple of months later on 3^rd March 1969, announced their automatic chronograph movements to the world’s assembled media: the calibre 11 and calibre 12 Chronomatic movements. These became available to the public soon after the Basel Fair, whereas the first production El Primero timepieces were not available to the public through retail streams until October 1969 despite having been announced in January of that year. Interestingly, Seiko also released their 6139 automatic chronograph to the Japanese market around the same time as the Chronomatic Group.

I will leave it to you to make your mind up as to exactly who was “first”; suffice it to say that each of these movements are just as horologically and historically important as one another, each becoming an iconic calibre in its own right.

When Zenith sought to mark the 50^th anniversary of their El Primero movement in 2019, they did so by releasing a special edition ‘A384 Revival’ with an angular tonneau case shape inspired by the reference A384 from 1969 and followed this up in 2020 with the Chronomaster A384 Revival Shadow (reference 97.T384.4061/21.C822) which caught my eye from day one.

Interestingly, this particular model is inspired by a little-known (at least before this year!) watch prototype from 1970: a manual-wind chronograph using calibre 146-HP, with a black dial and 41mm black, PVD coated steel case. The watch does not have a reference or model number as it was (unfortunately) never produced beyond a handful of prototypes. Perhaps a manual-wind chronograph release immediately following the first generations of automatic chronograph was a little… ill-timed.

So how does the El Primero Revival Shadow compare to the original prototype?

Well, I think it looks absolutely stunning, and ever since it was announced I have been itching to get my hands on one. Obviously with things being the way they have been owing to the pandemic, that made things somewhat more difficult, but having finally got to see one close up I can say that it was most certainly worth the wait.

The same 37mm, A384 revival case is used for this watch, although rather than stainless steel – or even PVD coated stainless steel – this case achieves the same matte look as the original prototype through use of micro-blasted titanium. This also creates more of a monochromatic colourway across a wider spectrum of colours as opposed to predominantly black as per the original prototype, with the case itself appearing more of a slate colour than black. This slate colour is also used on the three sub-dials which are set against a black dial, with white hour indices and hands.

All told, when brought together I think this all serves to enhance the overall legibility of the piece, something that can prove to be a challenge when working with a stealthy aesthetic. Another upgrade with the case is the use of a domed crystal over the dial, now made from sapphire.

One feature – or lack thereof – that I particularly like on this watch is that there is no date window; with the first A384 Revival piece, the watch incorporated a date window between 4 and 5 o’clock which is, for me personally, not a great place for a date window at the best of times as to my mind it throws the balance of the dial off somewhat. With the Shadow, the omission of the date window serves to keep the dial in balance with a symmetrical appearance.

The piece comes with a hybrid rubber/fabric strap and micro-blasted titanium buckle, which alongside the 37mm titanium case serves to make this watch extremely lightweight, and comfortable to wear on the wrist.

Of course, the star of the show is visible through a sapphire caseback window – the El Primero movement, a thing of absolute beauty and of immutable horological significance. The Shadow features a column-wheel chronograph movement in the El Primero 4061 calibre, which comprises 282 individual components with a high-beat frequency of 36,000 VpH (or Vibrations per Hour), or 5 Hz (5 oscillations per second).

In Summary

All things considered this really is a fantastic all-round watch. It looks great, and the comfort factor added into the mix means I could easily imagine becoming a go-to daily wear for a lot of people, aided by the 50 metres water resistance which, short of jumping in the pool should be more than adequate for most everyday situations. That alongside the titanium case and El Primero movement means that, in my view, you are getting quite a lot of watch for the £6,900 list price.

One day I would love to own an El Primero watch, and when Zenith released the Shadow I genuinely thought that it could be the one I was waiting for, which I was I was super excited to get my hands on one to try out. I have to say that if this were 41mm as per the original prototype, it may well have come home with me, too; I’m not being picky about detail of its size versus the original prototype (that would be rather extreme given the original was not even serially produced!), it is just that the 37mm size just felt a little too small on my 17.5cm wrist for my personal taste – I have always tended towards a larger size watch and so tend to not stray too far, if at all, below 40mm.

Whilst it might not be quite right for my wrist, this takes nothing away from the watch for me. I absolutely adored trying it and I am certain that there will be a lot of very happy owners with Zenith having well and truly knocked this one out of the park.

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