Vintage Zenith El Primero Chronograph ref. A 783 – 1971 (1500 ever made), cal. 3019PHC, Original bracelet

During the 1960s, four major brands got into intense competition over creating the first automatic chronograph wristwatch. Heuer and Breitling collaborated and were supported by Hamilton, Buren, and Dubois-Depraz, while Zenith and Seiko went their own way. By early 1969, all four companies had come up with a chronograph wristwatch that featured automatic winding. The Caliber 11 from Heuer, the 6139 from Seiko, and Zenith’s El Primero all proved to be incredible movements and have each inspired a diverse line-up of respective successors.
The watch on offer here is among the first iterations of the El Primero Chronograph and was produced in a limited run of 1500 pieces, which has made it one of the most sought-after variations of the model. The A783 dates back to 1971 and features many of the elements that have since become synonymous with the El Primero, such as the overlapping subdials, the textured dial, and the asymmetrically-placed date display. The watch comes equipped with a tonneau-shaped stainless steel case, which we’ve come to think of as typical of the 1970s, thanks in large part to the trends Zenith helped set. The dial is well-preserved – as are the case and bracelet – yet it shows moderate signs of aging, which play into the vintage aura of the piece quite well. The integrated stainless steel bracelet shares its hairline finish with the case and ties the design together wonderfully. The A783 is powered by the spectacular El Primero caliber 3019PHC, which runs at 36,000 vph and boasts a power reserve of 50 hours.
The condition of our offering is very good – it was serviced in late 2019 and is ticking confidently, case and bracelet look very sharp, the inner bezel has lost its color like many examples from those years, but still shows the base 1000 readings ok.

The watch is covered by 1 year of limited warranty, starting on the date of purchase.