With a multiple of 10 teeth on each gear of this train, the teeth appear paradoxically frozen in time while the curved spokes of the gears rotate around as expected. The drive for the center sweep is taken directly from the main escapement and transmitted to the center seconds hand via a small secondary gear train that on close inspection reveals a beguiling treat for the observer. The escapement locking/unlocking 10 times per second, provides the precise mechanical impulses necessary to move the sweep hand on one 1/10 of a second increments. The 3600 movement is all new from Zenithģ6000 vibrations per hour are also necessary to obtain the mechanical resolution to measure 1/10th of a second. I am wearing my Sieko Lord Matic 36000 as I write this and its 10 vibrations per second sweep hand is smooth enough to entrance me but has just enough visible mechanical vibration that it does not scare me into thinking time is racing away out of my control. I feel like it is the perfect beat rate for a mechanical watch. Now as a watch enthusiast with an interest in hi-beat movements, my favourite number is obviously 36000. I suspect I was 4 years old the first time someone asked and that was the limit of my thought process back then. I don’t know why, I just remember blurting out ‘4’ whenever anyone asked. Growing up my favourite number was always 4. As with all Zenith caliber’s, it is fully developed and manufactured in-house. The Chronomaster Sport is not a limited edition, is available now and has a brand new El Primero 3600 movement. However, that was 10 years ago, and the Striking 10th was a limited edition of only 1969 steel watches. The Sport is not even the first El Primero to have this feature since the limited edition Zenith El Primero Striking 10th from 2010 had the same function and a very similar dial. It’s not the most precise mechanical chronograph either, Zenith made a 1/100 chronograph in 2018 with the Defy 21. The Sport is not the first 1/10th chronograph, Tag Heuer, Longines and Zenith themselves have made them before. Instead of making one revolution per 60 seconds as a regular chronograph, the Sport’s hand rotates once every 10 seconds, in 1/10th of a second increments.
In fact, it will take you exactly a 1/10th of a second to realize what that long red-tipped center sweep hand is now timing tenths of seconds rather than seconds. No Ordinary ChronographĪttempt to time anything on this watch and it will become immediately apparent that this is no chronograph in the 1969 model’s image. Is there a more iconic chronograph dial? The Rolex Daytona and the Omega Speedmaster would argue against that I suppose but I don’t think so… and talking of the Daytona, the new El Primero bears more than a passing resemblance to it with that black ceramic bezel. With the Sport, Zenith have re-used the classic blue, anthracite and light grey overlapping subdials of that original 1969 a386 El Primero chronograph. There have been many intermediate Zenith models in that time, however this latest Chronomaster Sport model is comfortingly familiar. It’s a long time since the El Primero debuted as the world’s first automatic chronograph back in early 1969.
Movement: Zenith 3600 1/10th second chronograph.Hands-On Zenith Chronomaster Sport (1/10th Second Chronograph)
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