Like the hours on an Urwerk Satellite or AP Starwheel, Zenith spent years wandering. As watchmaking lore so often reminds us, its El Primero was the world’s first automatic integrated high-frequency chronograph caliber, and the very movement that sustained the Rolex Daytona through the late 1980s and 90s.
Brandishing a ceramic dial and bezel, the Zenith Chronomaster Solo Sport houses the tried-and-tested Caliber 3620 in a 40mm steel case.
Yet despite the movement’s legendary status, the brand spent subsequent decades drifting through a crowded sea of luxury sports watches in search of its true visual identity.
An often-overlooked epoch came under former CEO (and current Rolex CEO) Jean-Frédéric Dufour. Between 2009 and 2014, Dufour successfully streamlined Zenith wristwatches back to elegant proportions and vintage symmetry, anchoring the brand’s aesthetic around its signature overlapping, tricolor subdials.
His successor, Julien Tornare (now helming Hublot), further endeared Zenith to modern collectors by refining its contemporary cases, sharp angular geometry, and elegant bracelets.
Now led by Benoit de Clerck, Zenith has reintroduced the Chronomaster with a new “Z” motif and proprietary clasp.
Introducing the Zenith Chronomaster Solo Sport
Designed as a versatile everyday luxury watch—as you can tell from the style of photography—the Zenith Chronomaster Solo Sport debuted today as a 40mm steel three-hander, available with or without a date, powered by the fabled Caliber 3620.
A workhorse movement that powers several current catalog models, the Caliber 3620 features a silicon escapement, a stop-seconds mechanism, a bi-directional winding system with Zenith’s trademark star-shaped rotor, and a 60-hour power reserve.
The four new references feature ceramic dials and bezels. The date variant (US$10,900) comes with a polished brown, polished black, or sunray-finished white dial. The no-date option (US$9,800) is offered exclusively with a polished black dial.
While recent Zenith dials featured four-point star motifs, these debutants are engraved with a dynamic 45° “Z” pattern. The dial layout is accentuated by signature details, including Zenith’s “lightning” seconds hand counterweight, a “shark tooth” minute track, and Super-LumiNova-coated hands and hour markers.
The three-link bracelet is secured by the 41-component Zenclasp™ introduced by the brand in April—a design that required thousands of hours of research, development, and testing. Emblazoned with the Zenith star, its safety-lock system is lubricated by ceramic ball bearings. This patented clasp allows for tool-free micro-adjustments in 2.5mm increments, up to a total of 10mm.
It is a handsome and genuinely innovative bracelet system, though my personal bias still leans toward the historic Gay Frères “ladder” bracelet seen on pieces like the USM and 4th of July special editions. Thinking about Zenith’s recent double-signed release with Naoya Hida too makes me weak in the knees.
These and the Zenith Chronomaster Solo Sport are available now at Zenith boutiques, online, and through authorized retailers worldwide.
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