The early Zenith chronographs shown in Roesslers book at least for me belong to the most beautiful watches I know.
I must confess that I have always felt a bit envious about these rare pieces. Unfortunately there is not much further information added in the book about their history. Some experts here at OF already have pointed out that there are some inaccuracies and mistakes in Roesslers great compendium too.

One of these rare pieces that made me wonder is the Zenith Compur shown on page 219. First of all the ascribed size of 46 mm looks strange to me. The sector dial design is quiet common for that time period, the hands may be added later (Cairelli?). But most important, the movement definitely is not a common Martel movement as used in later Zenith Compurs. So I was always wondering what kind of watch that might be...?




Well due to some happy coincidences I was able to add this Zenith Compur to my collection some days ago. I started an additional research and here are the results.




Just some brief facts concerning the case:

• The size mentioned in Roesslers book is just wrong, as the watch has a diameter of around 37-38mm
• The watch is triple signed (dial, inner case back, movement)
• The beautiful snap back case is in “staybrite steel” and has a concave silver bezel.
• The two oval pushers just end at the beginning of the lugs

The movement
The basis movement of the watch is a highly finished Valjoux 22 GH movement (15 linien) with Breguet hairspring and compensation balance. But just be aware that the Valjoux 22GH is usually a one pusher movement, and that the watch shown here has two pushers!



Due to a gorgeous research of Nicola1960, who shares his knowledge generously here at OF and an early article from the German watch expert Gisbert Brunner from 2007 we know more detailed why there are two pushers and how the movement works.


Image via Orologi Passioni

Zenith added a second column wheel to the movement, which is mounted on the front plate beneath the dial. The additional pusher at 4 o’clock allows the chronograph hand to be stopped and restarted during operation without it having to return to zero. Universal used a very similar mechanism based on a Martel basis movement (described in Sala´s UG book on page 48).



Image via Orologi Passioni

This feature, called additional stop function, was replaced by Zenith (and Universal) only one year in production (1934 to 1935), switching towards regular two pusher Martel movements for their Compur/Compax lines. There is a production number engraved in the inner case back (556´1XX), which is very close to the very few known examples of early Universal Compur “additional stop” chronographs (based on Martel movements). Christie´s just sold a very similar “sister” Universal Compur with a black sector dial and case No. 554'767 on the last Geneva watch auction back in November 2016.
So due to the nearby case back numbers in the UG and the Zenith Compur I guess the chronograph was built around 1935. The watch might be even build at Martel/Universal factory. There is an additional number (No. 57) stamped onto the movement plate (maybe an internal production number).

Conclusion
Well there only exist very few informations about these watches and only a very small number is known today. I just found three (!) examples of these 1. gen. Zenith Compur during my research and around ten to fifteen “Universal Compur” with similar (Martel based) movements.


Image via Orologi Passioni

Nicola1960 even found an advertisement from the 1930´s that proofs that these early Zenith chronographs are not only prototypes, but offered as “regular” watches to the market.

Looking to the results of my research, from my point of view these 1. gen. Zenith Compurs , as what supposed to be the very first “modern two pusher” chronograph ever made by Zenith, mark an important milestone in Zenith´s brand history!

 

A very nice reading for a very nice watch!

Thanks for sharing your investigation and for correcting Rossler!

 

Judging by the Martel-esque balance cock, I would suspect that it was.

@valjoux72 This is your second one isn't it? https://omegaforums.net/threads/extreme-rare-zenith-compur-1-generation-around-1934.32695/

 

Given that the Val. 22-GH has a diameter of 33.84 mm, could one not estimate the diameter of the sector-dial Zenith in Rössler's book by using simple maths?

Case diameter = (119.5 mm)(33.84 mm) / (103 mm)
= 39.26 mm

This result (39.26 mm) is 3.3% larger than the actual 38 mm diameter. However, for the diameter that Rössler alleged to in fact be true, this result would have to be off by 17.2%. This strongly suggests that the watch's diameter is not 46 mm but quite a bit smaller.

Please note that the image below has been enlarged and the figures on it are therefore too small. The screen that you view this on will have an impact on the size of the image, as well.

 

Thank you LouS, I really appreciate your judgement about the watch and my writing.

Well, to be honest I´m at least not sure if the watch was not restored in earlier days. But I didn´t want the discussion just to turn towards originality of the dial, as I think the technical solution and the historical significance of these early Compur chronographs (Zenith & Universal) are much more important. At least the dial is very close to the one shown in the add above, so it is fine for me.

I really was surprised that I couldn´t find more information about these early two pusher Zenith Compur at all. As said before most of the merits for digging out this fragment of unknown Zenith history belongs to Nicola 1960. He owns one of the very few 1. gen. Universal Compur watches and did a great research about it at Italian forum O&P. To be honest, as a noob with only three years of serious collecting, I wasn´t quite sure if it really was an important discovery. As DirtyDozen12 pointed out, I already found an other example of these 1. gen. Zenith Compur a year ago in Italy. I posted a thread here on the forum with some blurry pictures. Well there wasn´t a big excitement about my post, so I decided that my discovery might not be as important as I thought. But the auction at Christie´s opened my eyes and brought the issue back into consciousness...

And thanks DirtyDozen12. Well math wasn´t my best subject at school, so I decided that it might be easier just to add the watch to my collection and use my ruler. Reminds me that I should ask my wife for a caliper as a christmas present. But your method would have helped me making some misleading purchases in the past.

 

Bravissimo !

 

I concur. While I am a pretty new member, this is the kind of thread that I keep on going back to read again and again.

@valjoux72, thanks for taking the time and making an effort

 

It is really interesting to compare the additional start-stop mecanism on the frontside of the main plate.
The one at the Zenith looks in my untrained eyes even a bit more sophisticated. Was it standard at Zenith in these early days to have a perlage finish of the plate even towards the dial?
And the "integration" of the olive pusher towards the lugs is just extraordinary and looks amazing.

These two observations may be only minor details, but for me they are a sign that Zenith was aware of the importance of this "new invention" and wanted to underline its high craftsmanship.

 

Very interesting post, like others, these are the ones I enjoy the most.

Does that mean that the top pusher still works like a single pusher start/stop/reset and the second one is an additional control that lets you restart without reset?

 

It allows you to stop the chronograph and then resume without having to reset to zero. If you would like more information, considering reading these: http://orologi.forumfree.it/?t=66408710 andhttp://orologi.forumfree.it/?t=71799764

 

Grazie

 

Thanks Nicola for adding the picture to explain the function of the additional stop.

As DirtyDozen12 mentioned before, I had the big luck to find a second 1. gen. Zenith Compur a year ago.

So we can take a look at the two movements (unfortunately I don´t have a pic of the start stop mechansim from the second one yet).

First the Roessler watch has only a 30 min chronograph counter, therefore the minute wheel is different. The central wheel looks a little bit different too. And the end of the plate circled on the left side has a slightly different form. Easy to recognize is that some of the wheels differ in colour.
If anybody has better trained eyes or is more experienced and is able to identify other differences, please let us know...

Roessler Compur



Second Compur (I call it Scarface)


Sorry to get a bit enthusiastic at the end. But I really love the finish of both movements A LOT!

 

Just want to add a picture of the second 1. gen. Zenith Compur (Scarface) that is part of my small chronograph collection.
Found this one a year ago from a private sale at interwebs, just left the watch in finding condition...
38mm, stainless steel, movement shot just below.
Really remarkable that such extremly rare watches can still be found out there...

 

The dial on this one is gorgeous. Not to mention those hands.

 

Another examples of these very first Zenith Compurs (here with Savoia knot) popped up on italian forum O&P some days ago.
With tachymeter scale and quite similar dial than my Zenith "scarface" shown above. This one is missing the "Compur" signature. Case in gold more "old style" but with the same olive pushers and Valjoux 22gh movement. So that is the fourth one I have found on my research.

Here is just one picture for documentation and the link to the original post.

http://orologi.forumfree.it/?t=66408710&st=60

 

Another one, unfortunately with a refinished dial: http://www.ebay.fr/itm/ZENITH-CRONO-ACCIAIO-/201834527601?hash=item2efe467b71:g:qUwAAOSwImRYMrXqPurchases made through these links may earn this site a commission from the eBay Partner Network

 

Saw that, shame about the dial. Thanks for keeping this thread alive, still hunting for one of these!