Breaking with tradition, however, is the shape of the hands. It’s not the most logical layout, but it has a very pleasing chromatic symmetry to it. Typically, we would use a single color for a complication, like all chronograph hands being blue and all others being silver, but in keeping with the A273, we opted for the three sub-dial hands and the seconds hand to be blued while the hour and minute hands are silver. The blued hands and champagne dial complement one another, each making the other more vibrant and visible. Thus, the chronograph complication could help its owner in the rather mundane task of reducing his phone costs. I’m told (I wasn’t alive at the time to offer my own testimony) that these marked the intervals at which long-distance phone calls increased in price. This was a feature found not only on the A273 but on a variety of vintage Zeniths, and while it might look flamboyant, it had an extremely utilitarian nature. The three small lines on the minute sub-dial, pointing to 3, 6 and 9, have undoubtedly piqued your interest. In these photos, with a white light box and perfectly even lighting, the dial comes off almost as silver, but in most situations, it’s a more appreciable champagne, or as some have commented, cream. A good sunburst finish, like this one, almost disappears in some light, appearing flat and non reflective, yet in other lighting, usually more direct, it comes alive with vibrant, brighter colors. The best way to accomplish that, we’ve found, is via a sunburst finish. The dial itself had to be both understated yet have a charming, dynamic character that keeps it from ever becoming boring. It must be balanced with other design goals.
Pursuing simplicity is, in our view, a good thing, but left unchecked it would inevitably lead to a uselessly blank dial. Those were, at the end of the day, counterproductive to the task of simplification, but without them, the watch would lose almost any connection to the A273. While it lacks unnecessary writing or a date complication, the tachymeter remained, as well as the distinctive 3/6/9 lines on the minute sub-dial. It had to be reduced to the essence of what a chronograph must have while nonetheless balancing some of those traits that defined its ancestor. This watch, therefore, would have no date and it would have no “El Primero” or “36,000 VPH” writing on it. I find that the need for simplicity is greatest in chronographs, and other watches with intrinsically busy dials. That meant removing almost everything that was superfluous. For this watch we wanted to use a dial that was extremely understated and clean, yet never boring. Almost everything that defines a model as a unique, distinctive piece can be found there. The aesthetic heart of any watch is its dial. Let’s take a close look at the Timeless Chronomaster Heritage Chronometer and learn more about both its predecessor and the limited edition. Instead, it takes a leap forward, and not only in terms of the movement as we’ve made subtle updates throughout the watch. It’s closely inspired by that A273, of course, but it is not a reissue or a new version. The watch we’re looking at today does have an El Primero, but it’s not the A273. It’s the new Timeless Chronomaster Heritage Chronometer limited edition. There it remained, largely unnoticed even among Zenith collectors, awaiting the time it too would receive the El Primero. Unlike the El Primero, the A273 was powered by a beautiful, yet far less revolutionary, hand wound movement. Because of this coexistence, it was doomed to be overshadowed by its more prolific brother, which continues to be available today. Yet the A273 itself had committed an offense: it was offered during the same basic time frame as the legendary tri-color El Primero. Zenith, to their credit, almost had an answer to my question already: the criminally overlooked A273, a classic chronograph that had a measure of civility to it. And thus, my two favorite watch brands were chosen: a restrained and sophisticated dress watch and a wild, avant-garde sports watch. Zenith might be a Swiss brand, but it always seems to have an American-grade boldness to it, a panache matched by none, at least none with Zenith’s horological pedigree. Where Grand Seiko possessed a certain austerity to it, a degree of refinement I found in few, if any other places, Zenith was quite the opposite. In my mind, they offered two intriguing sides to the same high-frequency coin. More specifically, it was and remains in my top two favorite brands of all-time, the other being Grand Seiko.
From a fairly young age, not long after high school, the brand occupied an elite status in my mind. Zenith has always held a special place for me.
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