Nostalgia has proven to be a powerful draw for watch enthusiasts in recent years, and Zenith has accordingly mined its archives for intriguing, and in some cases quite rare, timepieces to re-create for a modern audience. Last year saw the release of two historically inspired variations on Zenith’s famed El Primero from 1969, one based on the Ref. A384 (here), the other on Ref. A386. This year, Zenith revisits (you guessed it) the Ref. A385 from that same seminal year ? which featured, according to the Le Locle-based manufacturer, the watch industry’s first “smoked” gradient-effect dial.

Zenith El Primero Chronomaster Revival A385 on leather strap (Ref. 03.A384.400/385.C855)

Like several of its vintage-re-edition predecessors, the Zenith El Primero Chronomaster Revival A385 features a case that has been “reverse-engineered” to be as faithful as possible to its 1969 predecessor, using the latter’s original blueprints and production plans. The stainless steel case features the same 37-mm dimensions, tonneau shape, and pump-style chronograph pushers as the vintage model, which is known by connoisseurs as the model strapped to the landing gear of an Air France Boeing 707 in Zenith’s “Operation Sky” torture test in 1970. The watch famously kept ticking after being exposed to rough winds, temperature fluctuations and air pressure drops on a flight from Paris to New York. The small differences between the modern watc...