My favorite Zenith watch is the vintage El Primero unveiled at BaselWorld 2009. Indeed, the company had some other nice watches as well, but the majority of their designs seems going too far away from the mainstream. Zenith had begun to lose its following over the past five years, since too many ambitious watches were so off from the original Zenith look. However, in 2009, Jean-Frédéric Dufour, who previously worked for Chopard, Ulysse Nardin and the Swatch Group, started his turnaround strategy for the steadily deteriorate company: reducing the number of references and bringing the company back to the basics. As the key part of his recovery program, Zenith will present an completely new El Primero Chronograph watch, a excellent timepiece with contemporary look and the complication of Foudroyante, a very cool new jumping seconds function.

The new 4052B automatic calibre, a variation of the famous El Primero movement that was originally introduced in 1969, powers the new El Primero chronograph model. Like the original movement, the new one runs at the high rate of 36,000 vph. However, unlike the original this version is equipped with a foudroyante (jumping/flying seconds) function. And unlike any other foudroyante on the market, that I can think of, this one can display chronograph times with 1/10 of second accuracy, as opposed to 1/8th or 1/6th, like most jumping seconds chronographs. That is not all though, it can also display the jumping seconds differently than any other watch on the market. Instead of displaying a fraction of a second in a subdial, the measurement is displayed by a central hand. I think the new Zenith El Primero Chronograph Foudroyante will look amazing in person.