SKU: 24915
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WHAT WE LOVE:
The El Primero's survival story is one of the most remarkable chapters in the history of watchmaking. In 1969, Zenith completed the El Primero — a high-beat automatic column-wheel chronograph operating at 36,000 vibrations per hour — and immediately found themselves caught in the quartz crisis that made mechanical movements commercially obsolete. Zenith's management ordered all tooling and parts destroyed. One employee, Charles Vermot, hid everything he needed to restart production in a loft space above the factory and waited. When Rolex approached Zenith in 1984 needing a high-beat automatic chronograph movement for the Daytona, Vermot's cache became a production line again — and the El Primero not only survived but became the foundation of modern Zenith.
The Flyback complication added in the Calibre 405B is the El Primero's most useful chronograph evolution. Rather than requiring the sequential press of two pushers to stop and reset the chronograph before restarting a new measurement, the flyback function achieves all three actions simultaneously: a single press of the reset pusher instantly zeros the hands and restarts timing. For motorsport, aviation, or any application requiring sequential lap timing, the flyback function is the correct specification. The Calibre 405B in the Stratos Flyback runs at 36,000 vph — 5 beats per second — and through the sapphire exhibition caseback the operation of the column wheel controlling the chronograph functions is clearly visible. The tri-register dial layout, the ceramic bezel, and the sapphire crystal with anti-reflective treatment are all elements of a watch that makes the technical argument through the movement rather than through surface decoration.
WHAT’S INSIDE:
Zenith Calibre 405B — 31-jewel automatic El Primero column-wheel flyback chronograph, 36,000 vph (5Hz, Hi-Beat), 50-hour power reserve, 331 components, sapphire exhibition caseback. Running seconds at 9, 30-minute counter at 3, 12-hour counter at 6, date at 6. 100-metre water resistance.
FIVEFORTYFIVE SIX MONTHS WARRANTY
