Timeline / The first high-beat chronograph
The first high-beat chronograph
Zenith’s El Primero, calibre 3019 PHC, was the first chronograph to run at 36,000 vibrations an hour, fine enough to time a tenth of a second.
- The need
- Chronograph wristwatches were all hand-wound, and the usual rates could only time to a fifth of a second.
- Made by
- Zenith of Le Locle. Announced on 10 January 1969.
- What was new
- A self-winding chronograph designed as a single movement, with the rotor, column wheel and chronograph built together rather than stacked, beating at 36,000 vibrations an hour where rivals beat at 19,800 or 21,600.
- Worth knowing
- Zenith announced first but delivered last of the three 1969 automatic chronographs. When its American owners stopped production in 1975, the watchmaker Charles Vermot hid the tools and plans in the factory attic instead of scrapping them, which let the calibre return in the 1980s. Rolex used it in the Daytona from 1988 to 2000.
Historian’s noteFirst integrated self-winding chronograph is disputed: Seiko’s 6139 was also integrated and already in production. First chronograph at 36,000 vibrations an hour is not disputed.
SourcesZenith
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