Interesting watch and a good question. Most of these also had the lower duty 27 jewel movement, so it is hard to say. The movement, or rotor could have been swapped out due to wear/ damage but then again, Zenith saw lots of change during the 1970s, and there are inconsistencies with caseback numbers on some watches. You have probably seen this article but just in case.
My understanding is that there's a lot of fluidity between Movado and Zenith markings on watches from this era, so I think that's totally normal. Movado was the better known name in the U.S. and Zenith elsewhere. (There was also a prominent electronics and TV company in the U.S. called Zenith, so it may have also been to avoid copyright infringement.)
(There was also a prominent electronics and TV company in the U.S. called Zenith, so it may have also been to avoid copyright infringement.)
Enormous profitability led to expansion.In 1971 Zenith acquired a 93 percent interest in Movado-Zenith-Mondia Holding, a watch manufacturer.It also acquired a one-third interest in a Venezuelan television company in 1974 and significantly increased its U.S.product distributors.
I am not sure if Zenith ran out of Movado branded rotors. I have seen one or 2 with plain rotors, which I assumed were replacements.
There was a trademark suit between Zenith, the US based electronics company and Zenith the Swiss watch company. It came to an end in 1971 when the US company
The subject watch was produced after this acquisition and it is entirely possible that the rotor is original to the watch. I guess one can disassemble the watch to determine the jewel count.gatorcpa
If the watch works and the price is right, you'll have an interesting watch with an El Primero movement. Could be worse.
But two services in 6 months can mean the first guy cleaned it but found something out of tolerance or a worn part that he couldn't find to replace. Or he simply didn't have the experience for this movement, which I heard can be more challenging.
Who knew TV people hated watches so much.
