Inside, replacing the original’s manually wound chronograph caliber, is the most up-to-date version of the El Primero, the automatic 4061, with a speedy frequency of 36,000 vph, a lengthy power reserve of 50 hours, and a column-wheel-controlled stopwatch mechanism. The Revival version, nicknamed “Shadow,” retains the period-appropriate 37-mm case size of its predecessor (the same case configuration as the A384) but replaces the black-coated steel with dark matte-gray microblasted titanium. The unconventional model got a new lease on life last year when Zenith - in its thorough search of the secret, walled-off attic where Charles Vermot (more on him here) stashed the parts and documents that preserved the El Primero through the Quartz Crisis - discovered one of the nearly forgotten prototypes. Even official Zenith records of the prototype are scarce, and only a handful of longtime employees even were aware it existed. Only a handful were actually made, and none actually made it to market. One year after releasing the storied, steel-cased Reference A384, the first watch containing the self-winding El Primero, Zenith developed another chronograph, this one with a manual-winding movement, whose case was made of blackened steel, a rarity in that era. This year, the manufacture follows up that mega-popular vintage re-edition with the Chronomaster Revival “Shadow” - the modern reissue of a rare, legendary prototype that has languished in secrecy and obscurity since 1970. Zenith’s history-making El Primero chronograph caliber famously marked its 50th anniversary in 2019, debuting a number of historically inspired timepieces, including a revival of the very first El Primero watch from 1969.
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