I have been looking at some Zenith watches.

I love to look of the bulbous Captain Chronometer.

I am trying to work out what is the difference in the numerous Zenith movements from the 60s. Some are automatic, some manual wind. They seem to have a particular naming convention, often beginning with 25xx.

I am sure that someone must have done a write up on this already but I can't seem to find it.

All assistance appreciated.

 

A good place to start would be Ranfft.de watch movements. This site a lot of information on.

 

@stuart70 - great idea. It never occurred to me.

It looks like the 3rd digit is the series number that it looks like indicates changes in the basic construction of the movement over the years. The 4th digit indicates the seconds hand - none (0), sub (1) and sweep (2). From 255x it looks like it is only sweep seconds (2552). The P at the end is automatic winding and the C indicates date. I wonder what the full word of the P and C are.

 

P is Power ( automatic rotor)
C is Calendar

Rick

 

Which model is this ?


This one ( @styggpyggeno1 s picture from below thread )



https://omegaforums.net/threads/turtle-tuesday.18023/

 

Those are the ones. I find the designs just extraordinary. They seem like they are designed in the past to represent the future.

 

Commonly known as the Zenith Turtle.

 

You may browse a bit here (https://zenhitsite.monsite-orange.fr)

 

And here is my 2511.

 

Thanks @mcemeren - that is the beautiful watch.

It looks like in the link that you posted, the pictures are not there - I expect that the website it older. the information is very useful though.

Zenith really did have some beautiful designs. It seems like the 25xx were the last set of movements before the Quartz era.

 

Lots of good info if you can read or translate French

https://sites.google.com/site/zenithistoric/