The new Zenith watches are out (or, more appropriately, are finally announced and will be in stores in ~6 months)! http://forums.watchuseek.com/f27/zenith-baselworld-photos-853394.html Rob at Topper is a good Zenith AD and always provides a nice summary of Zenith's new offerings. I'm particularly partial to the new limited edition 410, which is clearly taken from the 3019PHF prototype Zenith acquired at auction last year. New model: Original: (edit - updated photo)
The proportions of the original look better to me. Looks like they supersized the re-edition a bit much - plus they didn't reap any of the benefits of the increased size in terms of legibility.
It may be a matter of perspective. The folks on the Italian Zenith forum are calling it 42mm, but the current Zenith EP moonphase watches are all 45mm.
Agree - the proportions are out of whack (although this pic may exagerrate that). When your eye has already been broken in by the vintage original it's hard to consider the new one on its own merits alone.
For those not in the know, the original is a prototype of which it is believed only 25 were made. Shortly after Zenith introduced El Primero on January 10, 1969 - and while Heuer-Hamilton-Breitling-Buren was returning to the workbench to revise their competing caliber 11 because of various problems, Zenith introduced the first elaboration of their caliber, the 3019 PHF, which added Day-Month-Moonphase to the base automatic chronograph-date. The prototype was Zenith's first effort to house the caliber, before it ultimately went with the slab-case Espada. It is in the opinion of many - including me - a far finer design, but it never went into production. An example was sold at Christie's in May 2012 with a presale estimate of CHF 7-11,000. Many of us turned pockets inside out to raise funds for the inevitable battle, only to find out on sale day that we had brought a knife to a gunfight. Final sale price was CHF 37,500, being paid by the manufacture itself. http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/...3626&sid=7a9243fb-1a68-4b31-93ed-ef99a3c6eb7e For Primero fans, it remains one of the holiest of grails.
I agree about liking the proportions of the original much better but what really seems out of whack about the new one is the size of the subs on the new dial. The problem with my taste in this matter and...it may be a problem for many of us is that I am such a lover of the original dial that any change makes me cringe. People who have not seen or fallen in love with the original may go with what the Zenith Design/Marketing people have come up with. Who knows? JohnCote
I find the new version spatially challeneged as well, although the additional empty grey space on the dial adds a cleaner look. The problem is that Zenith is stuck with the original-size movement so cannot move the sub-dials out further to better suit the expanded dial. Even more troubling, aesthetically, is that Zenith uses the same old original-size day, month and date wheels, requiring the windows to be placed on the dial without regard to the opportunity for something different that the expanded size presents. But still more egregious: what's with the Dodge City Sheriff's stars at 10 and 2 o'clock? Is this the Marshall Dillon model?