I don’t really get the Limited Edition for_____ thing but if you’re spending 20K I guess a 50 year warranty is a good thing. I’m guessing in 50 years it will need service and Zenith will say ‘Hodinkee?’ They went out of business 40 years ago

https://limited.hodinkee.com/zenith/

 

The case appears to be very nice, but the dial design is inferior to some of the originals. Why? Because all three sub-registers and associated hands are the same color.

 

Agreed with above; nice case but dial leaves a great deal to be desired. Not a hard pass, but a certain pass at the price. Nature of the 51 of them (including 0/50 shown on Hod.) being a limited edition doesn't really mean enough for me, almost feels like contrived exclusivity.

 

If you service the watch on average once every 10 years, that is like min $5k value

 

PS I think all watches should come with 50 years warranty!

 

This is a reissue and is faithful to the original G381 Tony.
The movement is the only change I can see. Or am I missing something?

 

Not an exact replica but not far off at all.

 

I don't disagree that it appears to be faithful to that specific reference. But in some ways the watch is a broader homage, as evidenced by the Hodinkee reference to 50 years of the movement, and 50 examples. In my view, any chronograph dial design, including this and the original G381, which fail to differentiate between the chronograph sub-dials and the simple second sub-dial, suffer from am obvious design flaw.

The best designed are those which have different color chrono hands, so that the ability to read the chronograph at a quick glance is enhanced. But even those which employ different types of chrono sub-dial hands, or different color sub-dials like the A386, were at least designed with more serious use in mind.

Of course I am being pedantic to some degree, but chronographs are quintessential tool watches, and as such, should be judged at least in part by their utility. Nothing wrong with designing one primarily for fashion, but I would certainly take those less seriously as tools.

 

It has a red chrono hand. And white hands on black sub dials. I’m not a racing car driver but think that’s easy enough to read.

The A384 has a very similar layout

 

Regardless of its faithfulness to the original, it’s a stupid idea making these for Hodinkee or anyone else.

 

Not a fan...

 

I don't think that you read my initial post carefully. I was referring to the sub-dial hands, and the A384, as attractive as it is, suffers from the same flaw as the subject watch and the G381.

I doubt that one would need to be a race car driver in order to understand the advantage of this type of color coordinated design, though some actually did use this watch.

 

The G381 is my favorite Zenith el primero, and I think this is a lovely watch. But I’ve seen original G381s trade for 8k-12k, so why not buy an original instead??

 

G381 being made of 18k gold I doubt was designed as a tool watch per se

A lovely design, flawed as it may be

 

+1

 

I think particularly on the dark brown alligator strap they paired it with, and with the outift in this photo below, it looks absolutely stunning.

To be fair the photo is clearly heavily filtered (not much saturation), but still!

I think there are a lot of very compelling options at this price though, if you're gonna be buying a gold zenith for $19k USD, solid 18k gold breitlings are probably the most direct competitor for 30% less second hand (not LE) - also Lange and Patek become very viable options too.

 

Of course your are being pedantic and we love you for that.

My favorite Zenith chrono was always the “Cover Girl” although it would fall onto your shitlist for its color scheme, but my secret fling was the G381 because it’s just damn sexy and I’d pick it over any Daytona.

Don’t we often lust after a sportscar because of its looks and not because it is the fastest on the track?

 

This would have to be the first Hodinkee LE that didn’t sell out in hours.

Perhaps the “gold watch revival” isn’t a thing after all...

 

Too much of a niche fan base for a piece like this - also it just doesn’t seem like a $20k watch. Not sure if they bother to study what the market might deem a reasonable price to clear 50 examples, but you’d have to be an ultra Zenith / Dink Fanboy to care about it. Looks like a Zenith vanity project. There are easily hundreds of other watches I personally would rather plonk $20k down on. I might think about it at half the price, then I’d end up deciding there are hundreds of other watches I’d rather spend $10k on..... Icarus comes to mind.

 

For me it is not an option, I like the watch but there are some issues that disappoint me, so I will not go for it (although I love the design).

Another HODINKEE step to get them rich.
It is an A386 revival with different dial.
Vintage is between 8k and 11k, and still more strong personality.