Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Fashion & Style
  3. News

Zenith watches have a new addition: A Chronomaster Original with first-ever feature you’re going to love

A tri-color dial might just push you to buy one

By
A side by side of the new and old Chronomaster Original watches.
Courtesy of Zenith Watches

From iPhones to watches — whenever a new model is dropped from our favorite brand, we go crazy. If you live for the newest release of wrist candy to see what simple but exciting update has been added, Zenith watches are giving you a feature to fall in love with. Known for vintage treasures from the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s, the brand just released a new version of its Chronomaste Original fans will rush to add to their collection, all thanks to one little but luxurious change.

The Chronomaster Original watch in stainless steel.
Courtesy of Zenith Watches

The Chronomaster Original

Remember the chokehold those Timex Indiglo watches had on us in the ’90s? We love it when a brand does something to make us go mad. Whether it’s as groundbreaking for the time as a light-up watch or something as elegant as a color update we didn’t see coming – we want it all.

Recommended Videos

Zenith watches have been around since 1865, making this one of the oldest watch companies continuously giving your wrist something to feel good about. That alone is impressive, but knowing they keep coming up with fresh ways to keep us interested is key.

The watch getting the update is the Chronomaster Original, which made its debut in 1969 in the form of the A386 El Primero. This release has all the same details as the version Zenith did in 2021 as far as the dimensions go, but still kept the original good stuff.

Chronomaster Original in stainless steel.
Courtesy of Zenith Watches

The dialed-in details

The main change

  • The black dial is a matte to keep that vintage style, not the shinier lacquer Zenith did for the Sport.

The detail Zenith has locked in is all about the dial. The original version had a silky white dial, which made the tricolor subdials stand out. Zenith decided to do what it had done to all of the other models and bring it back in black.

We think it’s a smart move. Not only was it the last version to get the update, but the tricolor subdials pop more against the darker hue. It looks even more prominent with the stainless steel band. It’s the little things that make a piece more exciting.

Other small changes

  • The date wheel has been updated to black as well.
  • The chronograph scales have been inverted.

Ways to wear it

  • You could grab the Chronomaster Original two ways. Go for a calfskin strip or the classic stainless steel bracelet.
  • The calfskin goes for $9,500.
  • The stainless steel version sells for $10,000.

If you are someone who likes to change their watch based on outfit choice, the calfskin strip would be the better fit, as you could get a gray, black, or tan strap.

From pro-athlete Aaron Rogers to actor Will Ferrell — even Mahatma Gandhi carried a pocketwatch — Zenith has created beautiful and timeless pieces that are enjoyed by many. Having one of the most precise chronographs out there might not be a bad thing, either. If you are looking to grow your timepiece collection, the Zenith Chronomaster Original is the perfect watch to get.

Learn More

Dannielle Beardsley
Dannielle Beardsley
Former Contributor
Dannielle has written for various websites, online magazines, and blogs. She loves everything celebrity and her favorite…
Topics
Breitling’s new Top Time is a wearable tribute to the Aston Martin DB5
The new watches rep the iconic Bond car right down to subdials shaped like its dashboard gauges.
Car, Watch, Man

Breitling just released a trio of heaters: the Top Time B01 Chronograph 41 Tribute to Aston Martin DB5, a three-edition collaboration with the British carmaker. The connection between the Swiss watchmaker and the British car company runs back to 1965, when a Top Time ref. 2002 appeared on Sean Connery's wrist in Thunderball, worn alongside the DB5 — the first Q-modified watch in the Bond series. It's a nice bit of trivia that the DB5 and that Top Time shared the screen in the same film, and both went on to outlive the movie by decades.

The car cues go deeper than the "squircle" gauge-shaped subdials: a wooden inner ring nods to the DB5's steering wheel, and each edition rides on a hand-colored gradient calfskin strap meant to read like automotive upholstery. All three run on Breitling's in-house Manufacture Caliber 01, a COSC-certified automatic chronograph with a 70-hour power reserve, visible through a sapphire caseback and finished with an Aston Martin-engraved rotor. The case measures 41mm. The editions are divvied up by material and rarity. Stainless steel with a silver dial is limited to 1,022 pieces and sticks closest to the original ref. 2002, while steel with a platinum bezel and black lacquered dial drops to 315 pieces.

Read more
Look to the sky for these space themed watches
These 5 space themed watches will have you seeing stars
Accessories, Strap, Wristwatch

It was the 1960s. We were in the middle of a Cold War with Russia, and instead of escalating to an actual war with bullets and bombs, we took the conflict to the sky. We created a war of economics, science, and morale in a race to the sky to be the first nation to reach the moon. While the race picked up throughout the decade, it came down to the wire before the USA won the race by landing on the moon (if you believe that sort of thing and don't believe Stanley Kubrick directed the greatest ruse of all time). In any case, no race can be run without a good timekeeper. And watches were a must-have for all involved. Ever since, chronophiles like me have been obsessed with space-themed watches and, in particular, moon mission watches.

That is why I happened to have this list in my head. Five watches that bring the space race and the great beyond to the forefront of thinking to build a collection that is out of this world.

Read more
Legendary designer has a project coming up you may not know about
Legendary designer, Tom Ford, is writing and directing a film adapting the Anne Rice novel, Cry to Heaven
Accessories, Formal Wear, Tie

Tom Ford is a name that every fashionisto knows well. He is the top of the top when you talk about famous suit makers. He began his career changing the landscape of multiple brands, including Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent, before launching his own self-named brand of his own in 2005. The brand has remained a mainstay in the industry for the last 20 years, including the acquisition of Estée Lauder in 2022 for an estimated $2.8 billion. For the movie buffs in the room, you also likely know about Tom Ford because he became the exclusive tailor and suitmaker for Daniel Craig's James Bond for Quantum of Solace in 2008. He carried that gig all the way through the series and defined men's style for two decades.

Now, for the real cinephiles in the room, you may also know that Tom Ford himself is a movie buff and entered the industry as a writer and a director in 2009 by directing A Single Man with Colin Firth and Julianne Moore. Then again in 2016 with Nocturnal Animals with Amy Adams, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Michael Shannon. Of course, the wardrobe was stellar in both, and we will get a chance to see his talents onscreen again this fall with a new Anne Rice adaptation, Cry to Heaven.

Read more