ReviewHere To Disrupt: Zenith’s Ingenious Chronomaster Sport Chronographs
There’s no denying that the Chronomaster Sport is quite the archetypal metallic sport chronograph, quite like other famous watches in the category. Find out how Zenith—as pioneers of the modern-day chronograph—are disrupting the segment by offering something familiar, yet something that the others don’t have. And now this watch also comes in gold versions
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A watch that’s sturdy and reliable, and one that goes with pretty much anything you wear, is precisely what you want your everyday watch to be. Traditionally meant literally for sports such as motor racing, the steel sport chronograph has, over the decades, transcended its original purpose, quite like diver’s or pilot’s watches. The archetypal metallic sport chronograph has, in fact, become a classic, even though it’s not classical in its appeal. It’s something you can literally wear with jeans as well as a suit. It’s usually robust enough to be worn every day, and it’s hopefully automatic and accurate enough to be relied on. Now there are already a number of watches in this segment, and each one, arguably, is an icon for its manufacturer, for a number of reasons that include historical significance. So it seemed only natural that Zenith would finally take a leap into this segment in a bigger way than they have before. And we know they have enough historical significance to claim prominent presence in the segment. They were, after all, the ones who made the first ever integrated automatic chronograph movement—the El Primero. And the Chronomaster Sport, which they first launched early in 2021, runs on a descendant of that very calibre. The 2021 edition in steel won the 2021 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève in the chronograph category and, last year, the brand added all-gold and two-tone models of the Chronomaster Sport to the series.
Click here to know the El Primero story and why it’s one of the most celebrated watch movements
The Archetypal Appeal
From the first look itself, it was quite clear what Zenith were going for with their new Chronomaster Sport watches. In fact, at a glance, some even likened it to the black-and-white Cosmograph Daytona. I saw the resemblance as well, on a very superficial level, obviously, considering the basics—a ‘panda’ dial, a black, graduated bezel and the fact that it was in steel with a bracelet. The panda dial though is far more than that. It has the slightly overlapping sub-dials in three different hues, which has become a staple of Zenith’s El Primero-carrying chronographs. Further to that, the bezel scale is not of a tachymeter, like most sports chronographs have. In fact, the bezel scale is what sets this watch apart the most, from not just sports chronographs by other brands, but also from the chronographs that came before this one from the Zenith stable itself.
The Chronomaster collection itself, which has been Zenith’s mainstream line of chronograph watches, has had quite an array of timepieces over the years, but somehow they haven’t quite adopted the archetypal sport watch persona. Quite classical in appeal, and even vintage in some editions, the Chronomaster has steered clear of an out-and-out sport watch. So it makes perfect sense for the brand to have named this series the ‘Chronomaster Sport’. Of course, they’ve had the Defy collection, which has been sportier than the Chronomaster line. However, the Defy line has been more on the edgy side, with its design. Additionally, the chronographs of the Defy collection have been of the El Primero 21 variety, which measures up to 1/100th of a second. While that is a fascinating offering, it appeals to most as more of a statement piece, rather than as a daily-wear watch. So the basic steel sport watch really is a segment that has been missing from the brand’s portfolio in a big way, even if a few editions may have come close to offering something like this in recent years.
The Everyday El Primero
“It has been our thought for this to be an everyday watch. We thought about the movement, and we thought of how to be entirely different from the competitors,” stated Romain Marietta, the product director of Zenith, when the Chronomaster Sport line was launched in 2021. “We thought: What is our asset, what is it that we can do that is one of a kind?” He then referred to Zenith’s biggest claim to fame—the ground-breaking first El Primero movement of 1969.
Over the decades, the calibre has continued to celebrate the chronograph with various advances—most notably the 1/100th-of-a-second chronograph. “We are masters of the chronograph, so the collection is named to reflect that,” Marietta informed. He explained how the idea behind the this new Sport edition was to create a line that would breathe new life into an already celebrated family of calibres, by using them in watches that offered something that was new, relevant and extremely functional. “We thought of what we could do to, what we could indicate that the others can’t.” Marietta revealed, “Of course, I’m talking about the Daytona, of course I’m talking about the [Omega] Speedmaster, the [Breitling] Navitimer, and others. We needed to use the movement and display this 1/10th-of-a-second chronograph in the most accurate way possible. And that drove us to the creation of the watch.”
Designing The Latest In A Long Line Of Legendary Chronographs
The measure of a tenth of second isn’t something that’s new to the El Primero collection, so the brand wanted to present the feature in a way that it was never seen before. “We knew that we would be able to keep the proportions of the movement. We knew that we could keep the three sub-dials and maintain the distance between the central axis and the counters. It was easy to work on the proportions and the aesthetics,” Marietta elucidated. “We cherry-picked different ingredients from different Zenith watches from over the years, various design codes and elements that we’ve had, and we took these details and adapted it into what is the quintessence of how an El Primero movement should be in a Chronomaster watch, if it has to be a 21st century icon.”
While the bezel in black, for instance, has been taken from earlier El Primero watches, the baton-shaped hands and the Zenith star emblem as the counterweight on the central chronograph hand are more recent El Primero elements. On the other hand, the overlapping sub-dials in different shades and the date display at 4:30 have both been recurring features in this collection since Zenith’s A386 (1969).
Down To The Details
Other details on the dial include faceted applied indexes for the hour markers and snailed finishing on the sub-dials. At nine is the running seconds, and at three and six, we have the 60-second and 60-minute chronograph counters, respectively. Each of the two chronograph hands in the sub-dials at three and six has a red tip, to distinguish them from the small seconds at nine, and to match the central chronograph hand. This central red-tipped hand completes one rotation in 10 seconds, as it corresponds to the markings on the bezel, with each second split into 10.
All this runs on the latest El Primero calibre 3600, which runs at a high frequency of 36,000vph and offers a power reserve of 60 hours. The movement can be seen through the sapphire crystal caseback, which reveals the skeletonised rotor with the Zenith star emblem, and a blue column wheel. The nuanced dial and the advanced calibre are housed in a very agreeable 41mm steel case, with a black ceramic bezel.
It is water-resistant to a significant 100m, and features pump-style pushers on the side, flanking the time-setting crown that carries the Zenith emblem. The case comes affixed with a classic three-link steel bracelet, or a rubber strap, with a ‘cordura’ effect—in black and blue, for the black and white dial versions, respectively.
An Instant Classic
It should come as no surprise that this new chronograph piqued the interest of many right from the first look offered by the brand. After all, it is something quite new and refreshing within such a wide segment of highly-functional daily-wear timepieces. Yet, it’s so familiar and welcoming—quite like comfort food—all the while carrying such distinctive elements of a celebrated and tremendously reputed family of chronograph calibres and watches. With practically nothing in this watch to not love, it’s quite understandable that something like this would become an instant classic.
The Chronomaster Sport In Blue
While the earlier editions of the Chronomaster sport have sported dials that complement the grey and silver-hued sub-dials, which are two of three in Zenith’s classic tricolour format, the latest Chronomaster Sport is all about the blue. Helping belnd in the hue of the sub-dial at three o’clock is the blue of this new Chronomaster sport, unveiled in October 2023. The metallic sheen of this new watch is complemented by an all-steel bezel, whch is polished to perfection. In this sense, this model is closer to the gold Chronomaster Sport, as the other steel versions have ceramic on the bezel, which marks the 1/10th-of-a-second scale. The Chronomaster Sport was anyway such a hit when it was first launched that it comes as no surprise that the ‘Masters of chronographs’ are expanding this line with more colours and variety.
This new, blue Chronomaster sport also runs on the El Primero calibre 3600. Operating at a frequency of 36,000vph, and offering a power reserve of 60 hours, this advanced chronograph movement can be seen through the display caseback.
Shop The Story
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Zenith Chronomaster
03.3100.3600/69.M3100
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Zenith Chronomaster
03.3100.3600/21.C822
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Zenith Chronomaster
03.3100.3600/21.M3100
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Zenith Chronomaster
03.3100.3600/69.C823
