Futur, Amerique, Time Command. Same model, different names. Whatever you call it, it was the Bringer of a Decade of Darkness. The first effort at a quartz watch by Zenith, and the only fully in-house quartz watch they made. Why would I want this harbinger of doom? Well, a man needs something to test the accuracy of his mechanical watches against. With an accuracy of something like 1 minute per year, it did kick Primero butt. But batteries are cheating, and cheaters never prosper. According to Rössler, it couldn't be produced profitably, so Zenith subsequently used quartz movements made by other manufacturers. Here it is, in Time Command form, ca. 1975-1976:

Not cheap at $295 in 1976. Heck, you could have gotten yourself a Movado Astronic for $360 in 1974. More on that another time.





Nothing says "built by an American television maker" like wood-grained plastic. Don't believe me? Check out the Zenith Space Command, ca. 1973. Same marketing folk, no doubt, and the same plastic: Zenith Space Command .







Clearly not worn too heavily... still some protective plastic on the back.



The red LED display (for seconds and date) must have blown minds in 1976, baby (date feature demonstrated with the assistance of my good lady wife):



I haven't taken the back off yet... gotta get the proper screwdriver. Here's an informative website with some photos of the Zenith Cal 47.1, like the one inside my watch:

Zenith Futur

I hope you enjoyed this little trip to the Dark Side.

 

Battery powered assaults on horology, I say!