El Primero – the story of the legendary movement

Text: Britta Rossander

In the early 1960s a competition was going on in several places in the world. A chronograph construction with an automatic movement was to be developed by any means. In the Swiss Jura mountains a consortium of companies with a shared interest was at work. It was Heuer, Buren, Hamilton, Breitling and Dubuis, who were working towards the same goal. On the other side of the globe the Japanese Seiko stubbornly fought on with its project. But it was the underdog Zenith from Le Locle in the Jura mountains that won and that stood there with a finished movement in 1965. Eqotime’s Britta Rossander gives you the story of the legendary El Primero movement.

Automatic chronograph movement

It had taken them a couple of years from sketch to finished prototype. But now they had the first Swiss-made self-winding (automatic) movement with an integrated chronograph. The task Zenith's watchmakers were given was to construct a calibre that was fully integrated, without a module and with a central rotor mounted on ball bearings. It would also need to beat at a high frequency in order to be the most accurate chronograph. To complicate matters further they had to miniaturise the parts since a mechanism for date display also had to fit. 

Ahead of the launch, which took place on 10 January 1969, the movement was named El Primero and has since then been regarded as a movement with dizzyingly high cult status. El Primero, which means the first in Esperanto, is still regarded, a good 50 years after the launch, as perhaps the best chronograph movements in its price class. When it arrived the movement was far ahead of its time with its smooth sweep of the seconds hand. And consequently the movement is also loved by ”watchlovers” and the accuracy of the timing down to 1/10 of a second.

A little Zenith history

It is in Le Locle that Zenith's cradle lies and its founder Georges Favre-Jacot, an apprentice in a watchmaking workshop, understood early on that manufacturing had to be rationalised and new production methods created. He saw that the craftsmen were spread out in small workshops around the village and many of them quite far away. Most of them also worked at home. Favre-Jacot realised the importance of gathering as much as possible under one and the same roof. When, as his own businessman in 1865, only 22 years old, he had large bright premises built, he gathered the entire body of trades required for a watch to be finished. He was thereby also part of tangibly changing the conditions for movement manufacturing.

With all production in the house it became easier to keep control of quality. In this way Favre-Jacot could meet the growing demand for watches that actually showed the time correctly. Precision also became a large part of the company's brand. Good results, reliable watches and a good reputation meant that Zenith established itself properly on the international market during the latter part of the 1800s.

Favre-Jacot was a visionary and together with the top architect of the day Alphonse Laverriere, who worked for industrial products to have an aesthetic and artistic dimension, they created what today is called a ”branding”. They influenced how the shops looked, how the logotype was used, how the cartonnage was designed etc. All in order to stand out from the other watch workshops. In 1911 the company definitively changes its name to Zenith but the address is still Le Locle.

El Primero

The El Primero movement unfortunately went out of production in 1975 because the then owners of Zenith wanted to move the focus to quartz movements. The end of the 1970s was, as is well known, a horrible time for movement manufacturing in Switzerland and many companies fell because of the success of the quartz movement. El Primero was thereby banished to the shelves and for the Zenith watches the future looked dark.

But the wind turned and in 1983, thanks to buying interest in the remarkable movement from both Ebel and Rolex, Zenith could start manufacturing movements again. Then by using its old stock, which most people had completely forgotten. And shame on the one who gives up – a couple of years later El Primero was back in full-scale production.

In 1999 the conglomerate LVMH cast such long glances at the unique movement manufacturer that they put a bid to the then owners, the Dixi Group. The Dixi group accepted the bid and under LVMH’s direction even more life was blown into El Primero's cult status. The successes then grew under the leadership of the trend-sensitive Theirry Nataf who took the CEO post in 2001. Zenith's watches were given, among other things, holes in the dials so that the movement became visible.

The controversial Thierry Nataf brought El Primero properly to life and the following year we could see the movement in Louis Vuitton's first chronograph model Tambour LV Cup. It was LV’s first watches in that genre and for those in the know the chronograph was considered a good buy precisely because of the movement. 

In 2005 came the model Zenith Port Royal, design Nataf, who said:

– In the case sits El Primero with 36.000 vibrations. Through the open dial you can see the movement of the transitions' bridges and wheels, the most important automatic chronograph calibre ever created!

Say what you will about the controversial Nataf but he put El Primero back on the throne and a trend was born consisting of a viewing hole in the dial, something Frederique Constant says they were first with but forgot to patent…

Jean Frederic Dufour

Jean Frederic Dufour, CEO of Zenith 2009-2014, handpicked by Jean Claude Biver and with, among other things, a job at Chopard in his back pocket. A skilful player in the watch world (nowadays CEO of Rolex) who built up El Primero's status even more. Among other things through several new models and a substantial injection of history to the market.

A devoted journalist colleague from Germany with movement constructions as his specialitét says:

”El Primero has stood the test of time and the movement is probably the most important automatic chronograph calibre ever created”, a statement that shows how watch connoisseurs look at the movement.

Over the years there are many well-known brands' watches that have been fitted with El Primero movements. Two previously mentioned examples are Rolex with the Daytona and Ebel with its classic chronograph. But experimental manufacturers such as Uhrwerk have also been customers in Le Locle. When Louis Vuitton launched the model Tambour in 2002 there was an El Primero movement in the chronograph's case.

The very choice of movement also meant that that particular model was considered a bargain when the company presented its first watch collection. Today Zenith may only supply the movement to its sister brands within the LVMH Group. So nowadays we see El Primero in, among others, Bvlgari's watches.

A few exceptional El Primero models

In 2005 came the model Zenith Port Royal, design Nataf, who said:

– In the case sits El Primero with 36.000 vibrations. Through the open dial you can see the movement of the transitions' bridges and wheels, the most important automatic chronograph calibre ever created!

Zenith El Primero A386 Revival for the auction Only Watch In connection with El Primero's 50th anniversary. A ”one-of-a-kind” model in white gold where one of the smaller dials is turquoise. The signature colour for that year's Only Watch auction. On the case back there is the engraving Only Watch – Unique Piece. The El Primero movement celebrated fifty years and the edition is delivered with a lifetime guarantee including service. In addition, a visit to Le Locle and a guided tour of Zenith's watchmaking ateliers were included.

El Primero Skeleton – Tribute to The Rolling Stones. Since 2014 Zenith has followed The Rolling Stones. And to honour the band 250 examples of El Primero were made in black ceramica with the bright red ”tounge and lip” logo. Originally drawn by the graphic designer John Pasche for the record Sticky Fingers which came in 1971.