Zenith’s history-making El Primero chronograph caliber famously marked its 50th anniversary in 2019, debuting a number of historically inspired timepieces, including a revival of the very first El Primero watch from 1969. This year, the manufacture follows up that mega-popular vintage re-edition with the Chronomaster Revival “Shadow” ? the modern reissue of a rare, legendary prototype that has languished in secrecy and obscurity since 1970.

One year after releasing the storied, steel-cased Reference A384, the first watch containing the self-winding El Primero, Zenith developed another chronograph, this one with a manual-winding movement, whose case was made of blackened steel, a rarity in that era. Only a handful were actually made, and none actually made it to market. Even official Zenith records of the prototype are scarce, and only a handful of longtime employees even were aware it existed. The unconventional model got a new lease on life last year when Zenith ? in its thorough search of the secret, walled-off attic where Charles Vermot (more on him here) stashed the parts and documents that preserved the El Primero through the Quartz Crisis ? discovered one of the nearly forgotten prototypes.
The Revival version, nicknamed “Shadow,” retains the period-appropriate 37-mm case size of its predecessor (the same case configuration as the A384) but replaces the black-coated steel with dark matte-gray microblasted titanium. Inside, ...