Please post your vintage zenith

Wow! Killer piece, thank you for sharing. I have a Longines with a very similar dial from 1940, invoiced to Panama. Interestingly, it looks like the square indices and sub-dial printing on your Zenith are on top of the black layer. On my Longines, the square indices and sub-dial printing are on a lower plane than the black layer. I suspect that both dials were made by Stern Freres, but I am not certain.

32mm

here’s the 1938 ad with the white/ivory ? Version

Are we looking at perfection! - 1st execution 1968 Zenith A3630 - cal. 2542 PC on original signed Gay Freres ladder bracelet.

What a cool piece, congrats!!

Here's my latest EP that sat in a safety deposit box until I got around to getting it serviced, recently.

Hi, I inherited my Grandad’s zenith when I was 6 years old in 1981 and it’s been sat in its box since then. Any help please on what model it is and what era it’s from. Looks like a fairly simple dress watch and has clearly been damaged with the hands. Serial number on back is 148D106.

also would be keen to hear views on whether it’s worth restoring, and if so any recommendations as to where (I’m in Yorkshire, UK)

Sorry for rubbish pics!

late 1960s model. The D in the case number dates it. No idea what model if any.

Needs a little work, but it's my first Zenith (that's not a TV, heh) thanks to @janice&fred for allowing me to get a watch on another thread.

I've posted my Keyhole before, but it is one of my favorites to wear:

This is the fourth Zenith with cal 135 movement in my collection

This is spectacular but I think it's time to stop hoarding and leave a few for the rest of us mere mortals.

This Zenith is the most valuable to me. The first series, they are not on the market

Here´s my former 135, sold it some years ago (compensation balance & "the pinion" near the crown wheel):

Here's an explanation of the "pinion":

An excerpt from Helmut Kühnhans, from "Die Uhr", No. 10, 1954 (German)

and an excerpt from Norbert Enders' essay "Zenith Calibre 135 - You watches on your bracelets, who has the biggest balance in all the land?":

...with the center wheel mentioned above - it is driven by the change wheel (direction of rotation!) - an additional transmission element had become necessary, which displeased Monsieur Jobin very much, because he wanted to transfer as much as possible of the precious energy of the mainspring barrel to the balance in order to obtain a powerful oscillation. Compared to the balance, the barrel is smaller than usual anyway - inner diameter 12.5 mm (picture 3).
Now, conventionally constructed small movements with crown winding afford themselves a certain luxury in terms of energy: the hand setting wheels always turn as well, driven by the change wheel. For reasons of stability, they are mounted on rather thick pivots - when setting the hands, the friction of the hollow drive on the shaft of the minute wheel has to be overcome - so some energy can be wasted.
Jobin put an end to this waste by using an ingenious device to establish the power flow between the change wheel and the following wheels only when it was necessary. For this purpose, the setting lever carries a pin on its underside that engages in a slot in a further lever mounted on a shaft below the setting lever. When the winding stem is in the normal position, the spoon-like end of the lever presses against the conical lower part of the second hand wheel, moving it upwards against the force of a leaf spring and thus out of the gear teeth of the change wheel . When the crown is pulled, the additional "spoon" lever moves away from the pointer setting wheel, which is pushed down by the leaf spring that engages in a groove of the hand setting wheel, and establishes the connection between the change wheel and the first hand setting wheel, which in turn is driven by the Rainure wheel (clutch drive). The shaft for the additional lever can be seen to the right of the minute wheel.

(Sorry - poor translation by me)

Kühnhans:



Nobert Enders' pics:

1. The spoon


Winding position
Setting position:



From above:

Thank you for sharing this information, and translating it! I remember reading about this years ago, but I had forgotten how it worked. I suppose that the later versions of the movement do not have the same mechanism?

EDIT: I think that the later versions also have the pinion, but its arbor is not visible from the bottom of the movement. See example here: https://watchguy.co.uk/cgi-bin/library?action=show_photos&wat_id=3808