I’ve had two or three El Primero-driven watches in the past, and the last one I sold rather reluctantly was the De Luca. Zenith are a bit of a mixed bag, really, with some absolutely stunning models and others that are quite… well, not as stunning. One that seems to fly under the WIS radar, however, is the Chronomaster and I have to say that I don’t know why. It’s a genuinely beautiful watch, and is a great mix of sporty and dressy. With a case size a tad under 39mm it’s also very, very wearable unless you have particularly large wrists. Inside is an El Primero calibre 400 movement, dictating the consequent subdails at 3 (chronograph minutes), 6 (chronograph hours) and 9 (running seconds). Unlike, say, the Daytona the Chronomaster also has a date window between 4 and 5.

This particular watch is actually quite unusual in that it has a deep blue dial. Most that you see have a silver/white textured dial and whilst they’re lovely it’s always nice to find something less common than the norm. The indices are applied (I have no idea if they’re steel or white gold, and can’t find the info anywhere on the net) and the subdials have an outer ring in whatever material it is. With the deep blue of the dial the effect is absolutely lovely, and very striking.

This watch is in great condition (having just been serviced by Zenith) and came on a brand new Zenith alligator strap with Zenith’s single-fold deployant clasp. Its as comfortable as any watch I’ve ever worn bar the Aerospace, and I’m sure I’m going to enjoy wearing it a lot, either dressed up with a suit or dressed down with jeans, etc. I think it’s an amazing watch.