Zenith El Primero Limited Edition For Hodinkee

The El Primero Original Limited Edition For HODINKEE uses exactly the same 38mm case that was used by the original El Primero Reference A386 in 1969. The dial, which features just two registers, in homage to even earlier Zenith chronographs, allows for running seconds to be displayed above a cross-hair register, and chronograph minutes are shown at three o'clock. Here there's a feature borrowed from one of our favorite early Zenith models, the reference A271 – you will see dashes at the three, six, and nine minute markers. These dashes allowed the wearer to time long distance telephone calls, the rates for which went up at three-minute intervals. It's our nod to a true utilitarian function that many chronographs from the 1960s served.