ARNOLD
TOURBILLON CHRONOMETER
NO36
DRAWING INSPIRATION FROM the John Arnold pocket chronometer No. 1/36, which
will mark its 240th anniversary in 2018, the Tourbillon Chronometer No. 36 is a
commemorative creation leading up to the milestone year for the historically
significant John Arnold chronometer. The tourbillon, a central element of this
timepiece, is held by a skeletonized and mirror-polished top bridge. The double
barrels, with laser-engraving decoration, provide power reserve of 90 hours when
fully wound. Impressive.
ZENITH
DEFY EL PRIMERO
21
ZENITH HAS LONG ENCOURAGED ITS COLLECTORS to take a peek under the hood, so to speak. Skeleton designs and large dial apertures on
many a Zenith watch have been instrumental in highlighting one of Zenith’s chief technical assets: its El Primero high-speed integrated
chronograph calibers.
This year Zenith has shifted into a higher gear with the new 44mm Defy El Primero 21, which is equipped with two independent
balances: one for the time and the other for the chronograph. Each has its own transmission and escapement system and there is no
coupling clutch.
Thanks to one balance operating at a breakneck 360,000 vibrations-per-hour, the watch’s central chronograph hand whirrs around the
dial, performing a full turn each second. It’s quite exhilarating to watch. The other balance, working at the standard, though high-speed, El
Primero rate of 36,000 vibrations-per-hour, keeps the time, which is well within the El Primero’s chronometer-certified range.
The system results in a dramatic central seconds chronograph counter that points to an inner bezel ring with a graduated scale (running
from 0 to 100) that helps the user clock the stop time to the nearest 1/100th of a second.
This dual-train system in this El Primero 9004 movement isn’t the first we’ve seen in recent years. Its general principle is echoed in
previous releases by Montblanc (Montblanc TimeWalker Chronograph 100) and by earlier work from sister LVMH brand TAG Heuer (remember
the Caliber 360 and the newer Mikrograph?)
But where those watches –like this watch– boast their own technical strategy to display 1/100th of second, this Zenith Defy 21 also
includes another: Both of the watch’s hairsprings are made with a carbon-matrix composite made even stronger with carbon nanotubes.
According to Zenith, the material, a type of graphene, is used here for the first time as a watch balance. The patented material is
lightweight, insensitive to temperature and highly resistant to magnetism.
And if that isn’t enough technical novelty for one timepiece, Zenith has also re-built the caliber’s chronograph-reset control mechanism
to now consist of three heart pieces and has created an entirely new starter mechanism. Zenith says this new design was needed to better
ensure simultaneous resetting of the seconds as well as the tenths and hundredths of a second.
While the chronograph will operate for fifty minutes with twenty-five clockwise crown turns, the timekeeping functions will retain
power for fifty hours.
The 44mm watch will be available in a brushed titanium case with a solid silvered dial ($9,600), a brushed titanium case and a skeleton
dial ($10,600) or a black ceramic-aluminum case and a skeleton dial ($11,600).
SUMMER 2017 | INTERNATIONAL WATCH | 125