BGBG
·looking around all the other forums it appears the heuer and Seiko camp are outraged. I think they are considering having a day to celebrate the day their watches were put in a jewellery shop.😜
If the Zenith announcement was a low-key, local event, the flamboyance of the Chronomatic group in announcing the arrival of their automatic chronograph was at the opposite extreme. On March 3, 1969, Heuer, Breitling and Hamilton-Buren held press conferences at the Intercontinental Hotel in Geneva, Switzerland, and the PanAm Building in New York City, with a large group of media present at these press conferences. Additional press conferences were held in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Beirut.
Mr. Gerald Bauer, President of the Federation Horlogere Suisse (the Swiss watch industry's trade association, known as the "FH") was the keynote speaker at the Geneva press conference, with another FH officer making remarks at the New York press conference. Prototypes of the Chronomatics were shown, and some lucky members of the audience -- selected by a drawing -- even went home with the very first samples. These March 3, 1969 press conferences were a sensation for the Swiss watch industry - the era of the automatic chronograph had arrived!
By contrast, at the time that I researched the "Project 99" webpage (say, 2008), Seiko had published all sorts of histories of the company, but did not even mention its claim to making the first automatic chronograph. As the saying goes, "it's a sorry dog that won't wag it's own tail."
I love this disagreement/fight....just as long as no punches are thrown.
It is the loyal passionate Seiko and Heuer fans who are trying to grab onto something.
Zenith made the first automatic chronograph in the world. It is the loyal passionate Seiko and Heuer fans who are trying to grab onto something.
Absolutely wrong, in my humble opinion . . . but also not worth further debate. If it makes you happy believing this, then maybe that's all that matters.
Ah yes see what I mean. History is what matters, 10th January 1969, you have seen the evidence but still you grab on with your integrated and modular nonsense and first to sell nonsense Next you will try to argue that heuer were the first to produce an automatic movement with blue screws and gold plated movement and so on good grief . Personally I think us zenith chaps should not respond to such utter nonsense anymore, but then again life would be boring without you heuer folk. Merry Christmas and a happy new year ps keep the 10th January free.
Thanks to the crew here for an interesting discussion . . . you guys have a nice community with lots of great information being shared.
Let's make that "most of the crew".
We'd probably know more about the early history of these fine automatic chronographs if it weren't for the technologically inferior Speedmaster hogging all the chronograph news bandwidth in Spring/Summer 1969. I blame the Omegans for the entire debate.
History is what matters, 10th January 1969, you have seen the evidence but still you grab on with your integrated and modular nonsense and first to sell nonsense.
Personally I think us zenith chaps should not respond to such utter nonsense anymore, but then again life would be boring without you heuer folk. Merry Christmas and a happy new year ps keep the 10th January free.