Manfred Rössler's Zenith El Primero Anthology

During the ViennaTime 2016 exhibition, a small group of selected guests were treated with a special delight: a private lecture with legendary Zenith historical expert Manfred Rössler, author of the famous book (published by Damiani) on the brand. Mr Rössler not only shared his immense knowledge on the brand, but also exhibited his private El Primero collection and presented his newest booklet, an anthology of historical Zenith El Primero watches produced between 1969 and 2001, when the first models designed under the LVMH patronage were released.



Having a watch expert of such profound knowledge as Mr Rössler at hand is a rare delight, and even more so as Mr Rössler is a gentleman at heart, and more than generous to share his passion with fellow watch enthusiasts.

We met at the Vienna Park Hyatt, a refurbished former bank building converted into a hotel breathing the spirit of imperial Vienna. Conference rooms certainly look not always this opulent:



Alexander Seidl, CEO of Zenith Austria & CEE, offered short but a warm welcome to us. I should note that Mr Seidl maintains that having a hands-on experience with historical Zenith pieces is mandatory to understand the past of the brand; and therefore he puts quite some effort and resources into acquiring significant pieces to display on various occasions. The PuristPro audience has profited repeatedly from this stance.



Enter the stage of Manfred Rössler, who lives and breathes Zenith. Enthusiastic, extremely knowledgeable and happy to share. Rössler recapitulated the gestation of the El Primero, the troubles the brand had to endure alongside the quartz crisis and under the Zenith (the US radio company) ownership, and its lucky revival thanks to Ebel and Rolex (and of course to the fact that Charles Vermot did not honour the order of the then American owners to destroy all El Primero movements, parts, tools and construction documents).



Noted watch author Alexander Linz completed the session with providing a roundup on the last decade at Zenith, and how he sees its future will develop. His perspective was not exclusively centered around Zenith, but offered the context within the wider watch industrial landscape.



Following the talks, guests were invited to marvel at the displays with historical Zenith El Primero watches from Mr Rössler's private collection (and a few from Zenith Austria). PROMISE: I will show you all of the watches there in separate posts at a later time point!



A very special treat were old Zenith advertorial videos, videos which told how the brand conceived itself in the past - fascinating stuff, and I certainly will try to obain them!


 
So, a very sucessful evening!



But for now back to Rössler's El Primero book:



The book presents a comprehensive account on the famous movement and its environment, which includes contemporary advertisements...



... vintage sales material...



... as well as  technical details and documents:



Different El Primero versions are shown with photos ...



... and detailed technical drawings highlighting their respective features:



Finally, the book contains what might be the most complete overview of the various El Primero collections, each with reference number, techncial details (movement, case, dial, else), production number and - in most cases, an image.

The overview even considers El Primero movements used in other brands' watches.



Where there is light there is also shadow: First, the booklet is only available in German. Second, its not really accessible to the public, as it is mainly intended to service the Zenith dealership as reference. Thus, I would definitely encourage you to contact your AD or boutique and see if they can locate one such booklet for you. Even if your German is rusty, the sheer value of the technical documention can be appreciated without language expertise.

If sufficient demand is signalled, Zenith might consider making this piece more broadly available.

I hope you like the short report.

Cheers and thanks for reading,
Magnus

P.S.: Surely I did not fail to ask for the obvious: