By Jovan Krstevski
Of all the watches in the racing world, nothing has been as elegant and efficient as Zenith, it’s not that surprising for another mind blowing release from the makers of the popular sporty technical watches. This particular release comes in two faces, one being in rose gold while the other in DLC-coated stainless steel, either way they look really nice and of course, sporty.
Known for sturdy and elegant watches at the same time, Zenith has a reputation to protect, and this release keeps their name on the board, they still got it and the fans are in for another surprise. The watch had been solely designed for Spindrift racing, and boy will you look at just how fantastic the design is.
The two models of the watch are identical except for the colors and obviously the general appearance of the dial; other than these minute differences, everything moves the same under the hood.
The thickness of the case is barely noticeable at 14.10 mm; I mean if you think about it, the watch is designed to be functional and we’re not looking at formal watches here, the rugged and thicker it is, the better although that’s just me. I don’t understand the purpose of using rose gold case though, even women these days prefer something serious in their wrists so I think the black version has more depth on it and looks a lot sportier than the rose gold version.
The printed Arabic numerals and markers on the bezel are just fine and the dial including the sub-dials all conform to the general appearance of the watch. The crown being sandwiched by the two pushers are also finely positioned as the ridge-like finish on the bezel side does indicate that the watch is serious about its business. The hands and the seconds hand including the tiny hands for the chronograph all conform to the sporty attitude; so I don’t expect anyone to complain if the looks are dull, there are specific watches for everything. On the other hand, I can’t help but notice the mechanism at 10 o’clock; it does make everything fuzzy to read, I mean the case back should be fine for exhibition purposes.
The real excitement lies in the engine of the watch. Remember that this particular watch is made for racing so a lot of racing DNA has been incorporated in the main design. Zenith overcame the challenges by employing column wheel and rotating bezel to achieve stability and powerful performance. This is made possible by the in-house Calibre 4061 or simply known as the Automatic El Primero. It boasts of 5 Hz frequency, which is very high thereby resulting to a minimum of 50 hours power reserve.
The watch is water resistant to 10 ATM although racing doesn’t happen underwater but it’s good to know if you’re an amateur racer and you happen to fall off your racing sail boat wearing the El Primero Stratos Spindrift racing watch. Another fantastic addition to the watch is the use of a flexible strap made of structured fibre fabric to ensure smooth sailing. The extra robustness and comfort means a lot to racers even if you’re just after the brand, it has the premium label all over it. For more info, please visit zenith-watches.com
Jovan Krstevski – Founder, Proprietor & Executive Editor
Watch collector, aficionado and a Event profile in the Swedish nightlife. He launched Watchgeek back in 2011, which is now known as WristReview and is one of the most widely read watch blogs on the Web. He quotes ’WristReview is a site to help people find, explore, discover and enjoy wristwatches.’ His passion jump started in his early teens, when he was given his first mid-range wristwatch which was an Omega Seamaster. Since then he has always been in love with wristwatches! Besides WristReview, he also writes for a number of publications. P.S: He is also a huge fan of The Man of Steel/Superman. Read his articles here.
