You released a collection which could be described as a chronograph without a chronograph, what happened?
What happened? It was interesting to search for what can be the essence of a horological need. Yes, we are well known for the one tenth of a second chronograph. But if you just move that complication from the dial and the movement, what's the essence, what do you really need? We thought it was interesting to create the three hands dedicated to high frequency, because we trust in high frequency movements since 1969.
Inside these watches ticks the classical high frequency El Primero movement, but without the chronograph.
It's a kind of classical El Primero without a chronograph. It's precise and reliable. And that was the purpose: to create an everyday watch with this movement.
I also understood it was a big discussion when you really stripped the watch back to the essentials: Do you include the date or not?
It is always a debate, and here, it was a 50/50 debate.
I love how you arrived at a Swiss compromise. You made it both with the date and without a date.
Yes, exactly. The black reference exists with or without the date. It's a more monochrome design when it's a no date. This is a purist way to design the watch. My preference? No date.
I also love the details of this design. Let’s start with a dial. Could you tell me a little bit more about the pattern on the dial and also the peripheral minute track?
Yeah. I think the most difficult part, it’s to find the right balance between an empty dial and a too busy dial. So, we decide to make the high frequency into a design language. That is why the minute Track is a shark tooth minute track inspired by an archive from the 60s at Zenith. And then, we use also laser engrave the new logo inspired by high frequency with a Z. It is a logo, but it also works as texture on the dial.
Wow. And another detail which is really fascinating is the clasp, which has a full centimeter of extra.
Yes, it is crazy because the bracelet took three years of development. It is now really easy to open the clasp just with one finger without scratching your finger inside. And then you can also do the adjustment on your wrist where you have five positions.
And what is so fascinating for me is that this micro adjustment is so stable and so smooth to operate.
Yes. We use some ceramic balls to have a nice feeling.
I'm also a sucker for bezel and the clicks of the bezel. And this is very, very nice on the Chrono Master Solo Sport. Do you want to tell me how you approached that part as a designer?
The idea was to create a full monoblock ceramic bezel without any metal ring outside. Most of the time you have a metal ring and an insert of ceramic. But we decided to create a bezel monobloc. The problem is that if you shock it, you can break the ceramic. So, the engineers had the nice idea of making the bezel a bit smaller than the case. It means if you if you leave the watch on the table and if you shock it, it will be the case and not the bezel that absorbs the shock. So, like that, the bezel is protected by the crown and at 9:00 by the case. We are talking about half a millimeter. The bezel is 39.5mm and the case is 40mm.
Wow. And is it also that extension that has got a convex shape?
Yes. So, it is also in, in order to protect the bezel, the convex shape you have on the case only. But only on the outside. Because on the other side you have the crown and the Crown guard.
And then is the bezel engraved and filled in with Super-LumiNova?
Exactly, and there is also Super-LumiNova on the indexes and the hands and also the small second.
It almost looks like the indexes are blocks of Super-LumiNova?
No, it's filled inside the indices.
Are there any other details that you would like to mention?
Yes, the black dial is a polished ceramic, so it is really glossy with, with the laser engraved pattern. The white dial is also ceramic. But this one has a sunray brush, and then we engrave it. It's really small details that make a difference.
Laser is being used more and more for precision decoration. There are two camps – people going in the laser direction and the other traditionalists saying that it should be made by hand. What is your opinion?
In general, we try to make things the traditional way. But the ceramic is too hard to engrave. So, we have to use laser; is not about taking a shortcut. At Zenith, we always find the technology that we need.
