Introducing the Zenith El Primero Chronomaster 1969 Tour Auto Edition

The star of the show at the Zenith booth during this year’s Baselworld was undoubtedly the Academy Georges Favre-Jacot, a watch that paid tribute to the brand’s founder and featured an intimate look at a vintage inspired fusé-and-chain constant force mechanism.

Now with the fair in its rear-view mirror, Zenith has decided to vear off into a completely new direction with the El Primero Chronomaster 1969 Tour Auto Edition. An uncharacteristic Zenith watch, it showcases the brand’s newfound drive under Aldo Magada, as well as the speedy 5hz El Primero engine of the iconic Chronomaster 1969.

A rare limited edition timepiece, the Zenith El Primero Chronomaster 1969 Tour Auto Edition sports a host of features that will make any petrol-head tick to the beat of this watch. Imbued with mechanical meaning, it showcases the engineering behind its regulating organ in an opening of the dial at 11 o’clock.

Housed in the iconic Chronomaster 1969, a 42mm stainless steel watch, it features blue, white and red racing stripes symbolizing France, the country in which the tour takes place, on a stunning rhodium dial. As a result, the face of the watch reacts to its environment, similar the changing reflections on the body of a car as it races down the road.

If it looks pretty, it’s ready to put pedal to the metal and race into top gear. Under the hood, Zenith has outfitted the watch with the El Primero 4061, a high-frequency movement known for its reliability. With a power reserve of with 50 hours, the drivers of this Tour Auto Optic 2000 won’t need to make any pit stops to rewind this watch.

The 24th edition of the Tour Auto Optic 2000 will be held between April 20-25. This annual event, which gathers more than 220 classic cars from all over the world, is regarded amongst aficionados as one of the preeminent classic cars races in the world. Drivers will race from Paris, France to Biarritz (around 2.000 km) in a five-stage competition. The El Primero Chronomaster 1969 Auto Edition is issued in a 500-piece special limited edition. The back of the steel case bears two inscriptions in particular: the Tour Auto logo (on the sapphire crystal pane) and the serial number.

Photo Credit: Haute Time. For more information, please visit the official Zenith website. Follow Haute Time on Instagram to experience Baselworld 2015 in real-time and catch all of the new releases as they happen.