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Help with Zenith el Primero G581

  1. CarlosE Jun 4, 2018

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    Hi everybody. I'm new to the forum and in seek of advice of the Vintage el Primero Experts.
    I just won a web-auction in Switzerland for an el Primero G581. The seller seems trustworthy and has himself quite an impressive collection of vintage watches (J-Luc is his member name).
    I am not a collector or expert what so ever, but always wanted a watch from 1969, my birth year- my choice fell on the el primero.
    I have done some research the last couple of days and I am not quite sure if the watch is 100% as it should be.
    The dial is missing a small index at 6 o'clock - which is something the seller put my attention to, he does not now the reason why. Maybe a factory failure? Further when comparing it to other G581s I have the feeling the font of the numbrs 6 and 9 are different. The letter A in Automatic also seems different.
    After further comparisons with other G581s on the net, I also noticed that the tachymeter scale on this watch only goes up to 400, whereas on other G58x and G38x models the scale goes up to 500. Another difference is the second markers around the date window, these seem to be different as on other reference watches. Ist it possible that this is a service dial or has it been messed around with?
    I cannot say anything about the movement, as I have simply no idea being a novice to vintage El Primeros.
    I'll be picking up the watch on Wednesday and have not yet seen it in person. As it was by no way a "bargain" I would again be very thankful for any advice about authenticity and if any service parts depreciate its value.

    I thank you in advance for your help! 1.jpg 2.jpg 3.jpg 4.jpg 5.jpg 6.jpg 7.jpg 8.jpg 9.jpg 10.jpg

    CalosE
     
  2. papaebetu Jun 5, 2018

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    For your comparision with my babe naked...;)

    GIGI
     
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  3. CarlosE Jun 5, 2018

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    Thank you papaebetu, wonderful watch. The seller and I agreed this morning to cancel the tranaction. Although the dial does seem to be an original Zenith, it somehow does not belong to any model. The seller told me today that he had also contacted Zenith (we both live in Switzerland) and apparently they were also left somewhat confused and said that the watch should probably never have left the works.
    Anyway, I am sad the way things turned out, it will probably be a looong search to find and get hold of a gold El Primero from the 70's.
    Congrats to all happy owners of this models!
     
  4. bikehomero Jun 5, 2018

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  5. bikehomero Jun 5, 2018

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  6. CarlosE Jun 6, 2018

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    Minas1986 likes this.
  7. CarlosE Jun 6, 2018

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