El Primero Chronomaster 1969 Tour Auto Edition

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El Primero Chronomaster 1969 Tour Auto Edition - Zenith
1 minute read
Partner of the “Tour Auto Optic 2000” for the past two years, Zenith presents a series of 500 El Primero chronographs dedicated to this classic car rally.

For 25 years, the “Tour Auto Optic 2000” has seen authentic collector’s cars vie with each other across an approximately 2,000 km stretch between Paris and Cannes. From April 18th to 24th, 240 contestants will be testing their mettle on closed roads and circuits dotted along the five legs of the race. Only car models having taken part in the historical race between 1951 and 1973 are eligible for the competition and must not have undergone any modification of their engine or bodywork. The El Primero Chronomaster 1969 Tour Auto Edition takes its inspiration from  these exceptional automobiles that have found their way through the decades while maintaining their remarkable performance and their inalterable style.

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Like a car bonnet raised to display state-of-the-art mechanics, the famous 11 o’clock dial opening reveals the beating heart of the El Primero 4061 automatic chronograph movement, with its 36,000 vibrations per hour driving a tenth-of-a-second display, its COSC chronometer-certified precision and its integrated column-wheel construction. Fitted with a silicon lever and escape-wheel, this 282-part movement drives central hours and minutes hands, along with chronograph and tachymeter functions, while ensuring a 50-hour power reserve.

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The sporty watch comes in a 42 mm-diameter brushed steel case featuring two round pushers and a fluted crown. Fitted with a domed sapphire crystal, the slender polished bezel provides a generous opening onto a slate grey dial decked out in vertical blue-white-red vertical stripes – a reference to the French rally banner.
This tricolour touch echoes the pushers and the small seconds trident. Surrounded by a tachymeter scale, the dial is punctuated by two snailed counters, swept over by a red central sweep-seconds hand and ensuring optimal legibility in any lighting thanks to the luminescence of its hour-markers and its facetted hours and minutes hands. The case is water-resistant to 100 metres and its exhibition back bearing the engraved race logo reveals an oscillating weight adorned with a “Côtes de Genève” motif.

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The fabric strap also bears tricolour stripes and is secured by a stainless steel triple folding clasp.

 

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