Nearly all the Zeniths from the era of the Efrem Jobin movements (cal 71, 133, 135) are beauties inside and out - nice, big, fat, heavy gold cases to go with the superb-looking and -performing movements - classics. BTW, y'all can stand back - I have first and second dibs on this!
Zenith is definitely way out of my wheelhouse but: 1. Does the "Zenith" font not look too spread out and a bit off? 2. The "Swiss Made" I have seen on other similar examples is noticeably wider. 3. Was this order of the text more frequently seen on slightly later examples? 4. The dial is immaculate and very white (too white?). I hate to be the noob who cried redial but I am very curious.
I think its original. Its more inline with the last picture you posted. Yet on these watches there are tons of variations.
I also thought the font looked a bit off somehow - but it was hard to articulate. And the harsh white dial, too. Not really experienced enough with these Zenith's, though. Still - this one ticks it off for me!
The "Swiss made" is quite a bit wider and the "Zenith" and "Chronometer" fonts look much tighter on the last example.
It's the center-second variant of the 126-6, I believe. I only opened it once. Again - no movements shots yet. As for the serial number - I'd be interested in that, myself.
I'd say a very elegant dial/watch you got there @kyle L ! .....and deserves an equally elegant leather strap Nice catch Kyle!
In your 71 the spacing of the letters in "automatic" is wider, the letters of "Zenith" are horizontally elongated (note the E), the letters of "Chronometre" are closer together, and the "Swiss made" is approximately 4 minutes long versus 2. I acknowledge that there are variations I just have not come across one like it yet.