1969

This is my favorite new Zenith watch for 2009 and is the El Primero New Vintage 1969 collection. These watches are called "new vintage" because they are not only a "reissue" of a watch movement from another era (the first El Primero), but share the iconic styling of watches from that time period. The El Primero is a high beat movement operating at 36,0000 bph (beats per hour). This gives it the ability to have a chronograph that measures 1/10 of a second (most mechanical chronographs measure maybe 1/5 of a second). The movement is the automatic Zenith El Primero 469, with a column wheel chronograph and date, with a 50 hour power reserve.

Three versions of the lovely watch will be offered, each being really nice and worth the investment. Which is a blessing and a curse given that the collection will be offered as a limited edition and only in 2009. There is the black titanium model, stainless steel model, and 18k gold model. Each in the 40mm wide classic looking case. The black titanium model features a curious skeletonized dial with markers applied on a sapphire crystal as the dial, while the steel and gold have very cool looking overlapping subsidiary chronograph dials and an easy to read face. The whole collection with its alligator or crocodile straps and retro styled case is quite hip looking - again, one of the best Zenith watch collections this year.

Ariel Adams publishes the popular watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.