Last year,as I started to collect vintage watches, my 25 year old son was very quick with his advice:

BUY A DAYTONA!!!!! EVERYONE WANTS ONE!!!! THEY ARE A GREAT INVESTMENT!!!

He even offered to wear it as well. Nice of him I thought.

As I started doing some research, I found out that the Rolex Daytona was a very exclusive watch indeed. A 6 month wait (at least) at an AD and then you had better be a good customer. People attempting to flip new, or fairly new, pieces for retail plus. Vintage models (especially the Paul Newman's ) going for mega bucks and a herd of sellers and dealers selling redials, frankens and reproductions. I also discovered an interesting fact that for a number of years (80's into the 90's I believe), Rolex did not have a suitable chrono movement for their Daytona and instead used a Zenith movement. I further discovered that Rolex then "dumbed down" the movement by slowing it down and eliminating the date feature.

Imagine my utter surprise (not really but it sounds good) when I checked the prices of similar era Rolex Daytonas vs their counterpart, the Zenith El Primero. I found out that for less than the (overpriced) Daytona with a dumb Zenith Movement, I could buy a few vintage Zenith El Primeros with the movement working the way it was designed. The styling, and reviews, of the Zeniths impressed me as well

And so I purchased a few. My son was not pleased but he has other nice watches to wear so he has survived.

Here is what I have and as I don't know that much about them, I value the opinions and comments of the numerous Zenith collectors on the OF forum.


El Primero 020313400 circa 1992, "Panda", Original Bracelet
El Primero Rainbow 020360400 Early 90's, On Black Strap
El Primero Rainbow Flyback 0200480405, Early 90's I think, Original Bracelet

BTW, within the last few months, my son has received numerous phone calls for his local Rolex AD informing him that new Rolex Daytona were in stock, no wait to get one anymore and would he like one at $12,000+. It appears that Daytona supply and demand have evened out.

 

That panda dial is pretty nice.

 

I like the black on black...

Your comment about Rolex slowing the movement down reminded me of a very informative thread I discovered last night. A few years ago @ulackfocus started a couple of threads on another forum called Smoke and Mirrors pts. I & II. Very interesting! All about how brands will tweak a basic ETA movement and call it their own.

 

That's a great start M

There's a nice link with these chronos, Zenith EP and RDay.

 

I also began collecting EPs after researching vintage Daytonas. These look like nice examples (though I think the hands on the De Luca panda are replacements; they look like later Rainbow hands). The black Rainbow is a sharp looking watch and an underappreciated reference. The De Luca and the colorful flyback are becoming canonical. Nice choices.

 

Yes, I see what you mean about the De Luca hands. There were original and service papers with the watch. Must have been changed during service. Will have to source an original pair. Goodie! A new hunt.

 

The Panda is a 2nd Gen De Luca. Here's it's grand father, the pre el primers de Luca 1st gen

 

All very nice watches. Of the three, the last, the Rainbow Flyback, has quite a devoted following. I am among them.

Any of the three Zeniths were made in far smaller quantities than the Daytona, other than perhaps some with with rare (and minute) variations.

Not that I'd turn down a nice PN.

 

Love the Rainbow!

 

The DeLuca is a lovely choice, I love these watches, so versatile.
Here are my two...

 

thought I should add mine to this old thread!

 

Acute necrothreadia.

 

haha yeah
nothing is ever read when reading
we wouldn't have Plato or Shakespeare
we'd only have Harry Potter

 

I really like this Zenith. While I don’t own this individual watch (I’m traveling and don’t have access to mine), I do have this model at home.

 

Nice group. Rainbow is my favourite. A lovely and really undervalued piece
Tim

 

Nice combo in this one...

GIGI

 

Very nice watches!