Ornatus-Mundi's detailed exploration of the Zenith El Primero Synopsis, presented as the first installment of his 'Coffee House Tales' series, offers a unique look at a significant Zenith novelty. This article delves into the technical and aesthetic choices behind the El Primero movement's non-chronograph iteration, providing valuable insights into Zenith's design philosophy and technological advancements, particularly its use of silicon components. His work provides a historical snapshot of Zenith's direction in 2014.
I met up with my undercover Zenith contact Miss R in one of Vienna's most traditional coffeehouse, the Kaffeehaus Sperl (see below), for an intensive horological session on all things Zenith. We will meet again in loose succession from now on.
Topic of our inaugural meeting was the one of the two Basel novelties which I did not see, the
Zenith El Primero Synopsis (for a preview
click here ). The watch's main feature is of course its El Primero-derived 36.000 bhp movement, stripped of all its chronographic features (and optical references as well):
Dominating the dials is of certainly the (known from other Zenith watches) aperture exposing the escapement. I am usually quite critical to dial openings of all kind, but here it really makes sense as the watch wants to highlight its famous escapement - and the new technological twist to it:
The Cal. 4613 is equipped with both the lever and the lever wheel made of silicon – a high-tech, anti-magnetic material ensuring excellent ef?ciency, technologies used since quite some time at Zenith with the original El Primero calibre and its many evolutions. Thus, the new El Primero Synopsis has technically inherited the precision of the famous original movement by Zenith (a bit more further down):
A dial opening provides a dizzying view of the regulating organ and an original vision of this fascinating ballet. Great concern for details extends all the way to the screw-fastened applique framing the opening, and to the 12 rhodiumed facetted and Superluminova-coated hour-markers ensuring a perfectly legible display of the hours and minutes, swept over by two hands, while the seconds are ticked off by a blued trident hand whirling over the mechanism revealed at 9 o’clock.
Overall I think the bold accents compliment an otherwise rather clean watch:
A note on the crown: I have not see a similar crown on Zenith watches yet (although it has some similarities to the
Star and the
Espada): Its conical shape certainly makes it visually attractive and easier to grip at the same time:
Flipping the watch over entirely reveals the new Cal. El Primero Synopsis 4613:
I have to admit being totally surprised at this view. I had expected a movement that more clearly hinted its origin as a chronograph movement, but this new iteration looks (almost) total different: clean and flat - a good move by Zenith. What is similar the older brother are the intermediate wheel of the automatic winding system and the balance wheel cog, here at 9 and 10 o'clock, respectively:
A completely new detail (and a nice solution in my opinion) is the tiny and almost fragile escapement wheel bridge:
Overall the movement features 160 parts.
Finally, I had the pleasure to inspect the bracelet version of this timepiece. The new steel bracelet matches the
restrained-with-boldness character of the watch nicely with its outer brushed and inner polished areas. Its comes with a double-flip deployant clasp. Unfortunately its haptic cannot match the design, and for men with hairy wrists it can be a pain. Or, as Miss R put it:
"its a women's watch!"
She might actually have a strong point: with 40mm case diameter, the watch is modestly sized for a contemporary watch. Still however, it has lots of presence, much more than I originally expected.
This presence is to a large extent due to the few but finely emphasised element of the dial. Expose it to daylight, and you have some magic going on:
Oh, yes, there is another aspect - I did my best to select a shirt which matches the escapement's colour. My position as your Zenith moderator left me no choice!
I stand by my old
Bottom line:Synopsis [greek]:
"A synopsis is a brief summary of the major points of a subject or written work or story, either as prose or as a table; an abridgment or condensation of a work." (definition: The Source aka Wikipedia)
???????? ??????? - the essence of the El Primero reduced to the max, and emphasised!
I hope you liked this new feature for our Zenith forum. Please let me know - I have which is most important to this -
Miss R's full support!
Best Magnus
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About our location: Kaffeehaus Sperl - located close to Vienna's world-renown Naschmarkt, the largest farmer's market in town. It is famous through many references in literature and cinema. 'Our' coffee house was created in 1880 by the renowned Viennese architect office Gross und Jelinek, who were responsible for the planning of the city's much loved boulevard Ringstrasse.
During the turn of the century from the 19th to the 20th century the Sperl became home the many composers, artists and musicians of Vienna's new pastime, the operetta. One of the most well-known operetta theatres actually belonged to the Sperl's founding family, (Raimund, thus the Raimund theatre, still in operation today).
At the same time, a dedicated group of habitués (included painters, sculptors, and architects) made a different dig in the history of arts: It founded the "Vereinigung bildender Künstler Österreichs Secession", short: Secession. The group objected to the prevailing conservatism of the Vienna Künstlerhaus (Association of Austrian Artists) with its traditional orientation toward Historicism. The first president of the Secession was Gustav Klimt. Only one year later the Secessionists spearheaded the construction of another world-famous icon in Vienna, the group's exhibition house also named Secession which was built in the vicinity of Karlsplatz.
The Sperl is one of my most favoured meeting places in Vienna, and it even has some horological history as Miss R told me: When I voiced my concern over our conspicuous dealings (exchanging watches, taking pictures of them) she told me not to worry: everyone is used to it, as the Sperl is known as the meeting place for the Austria watch collectors scene...
About this series:
Vienna - this is culture, opera - and the famous Viennese coffee houses. These are bona fide fixed institutions in the Viennese life, and I thought to bring this closer to you with a (very strong!!) focus on Zenith watches. In fact, since October 2011 the "Viennese Coffee House Culture" is listed as "Intangible Cultural Heritage" in the Austrian inventory of the "National Agency for the Intangible Cultural Heritage", a part of UNESCO. The Viennese coffee house is described in this inventory as a place "where time and space are consumed, but only the coffee is found on the bill."
Out locations will vary (in 2013 about 940 coffee houses were officially registered!) but the topics still will be anything Zenith, but not necessarily always watches.
I hope time and your interest will allow for this feature to be published in a regular pace. Stay tuned!
This message has been edited by Ornatus-Mundi on 2014-05-26 04:06:35 
