Order a Zenith Chronomaster Sport: Its Hand Ticks Ten Times Per Second

Track officials flag a false start any time a sprinter leaves the blocks within a tenth of a second of the gun. That sliver of time decides medals and careers, it passes in about the time of a blink.

The Zenith Chronomaster Sport puts that sliver on your wrist, where you can watch it go by. Its central chronograph hand lapped the whole dial every ten seconds, six times faster than an ordinary seconds hand, and it counts off tenths as it runs... a silver comet on a black ceramic track. Collectors have a name for watches with this kind of pulse: high-beat. The wider Zenith Chronomaster family shares that same 36,000-vibration rhythm. Start the chronograph once, and your thumb will wander back to that pusher all afternoon for the pleasure of the blur.

The Heartbeat Inside the Zenith Chronomaster Sport

Each tenth of a second on this watch begins inside the El Primero 3600, the newest generation of the movement Zenith introduced in 1969. Zenith tunes its balance to 5 Hz, which works out to 36,000 vibrations per hour. Do the math and you get ten beats every second.

A standard 28,800 vph chronograph beats eight times a second, so its finest readable step is an eighth. Those two extra beats give the El Primero its tenth-of-a-second resolution, and they set the balance wheel atremble like a thoroughbred in the starting gate,.

Flip the watch over for the good part. A sapphire caseback shows off the column wheel, a tiny castellated turret that conducts every start and every reset with the poise of an orchestra leader. Zenith pairs it with a lateral clutch, the classic arrangement collectors adore for its crisp, springy feel under the thumb. A stop-seconds function freezes the running seconds when you pull the crown, which comes in handy for anyone who sets the time against an atomic clock (go ahead, this hobby rewards that kind of obsession).

Zenith's engineers trimmed the component count and still squeezes 60 hours of power reserve out of the 3600, ten hours more than the standard El Primero 400. Leave the watch on the dresser Friday evening and it will tick right through to Monday morning.

The bloodline runs back to the A386 of 1969, and the case borrows its silhouette from the later Chronomaster De Luca. That gives the Zenith Chronomaster Sport a vintage pedigree on the outside and a far fresher engine within.

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Reading Tenths on the Zenith Chronomaster Sport Dial

All that speed would go to waste on a sleepy dial. Zenith gives the central chronograph hand, a full lap every ten seconds, and the hand covers that lap in 100 tiny steps. Each step equals one tenth of a second. Stop the chronograph and you read the result straight off the bezel.

That bezel earns a round of applause. Zenith shapes it from glossy black ceramic and etches 100 hash marks around it, and bold numerals stand at each second like mile markers along a racetrack. Press the pusher and the hand turns into a silver pinwheel in a stiff breeze. It looks faster than any seconds hand you have owned, because it runs six times faster.

Below the bezel, the subdials overlap like coins tossed onto green felt. They wear the El Primero tricolor from the 1969 A386, a blue disc beside two shades of grey (anthracite and a paler, silvery tone). Collectors spot that palette from across a dinner table.

The 60-second counter sits at 3 o'clock with the 60-minute counter down at 6. Running seconds tick along at 9, & a date window tucks in at 4:30 where your eye finds it fast. Older El Primero layouts used 30-minute and 12-hour registers, so Zenith rearranged the furniture on the Zenith Chronomaster Sport and let a full hour of timing live on a single counter. Time a sprint or a soft-boiled egg, and the dial hands you the answer down to the tenth.

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Choosing Your Zenith Chronomaster: Sport or Original

Zenith drops the El Primero 3600 into two distinct cases, and your wrist gets the deciding vote.

The Chronomaster Sport measures 41mm across and carries 10 ATM of water resistance, with pump-style pushers that look ready for pit lane duty. Case options run through stainless steel, featherweight titanium, steel with an 18K rose gold bezel & full 18K rose gold. Dials span six moods, from crisp white to a forest green that looks fresh from a summer rainstorm. Pair any of them with a steel bracelet for the office or a rubber strap for the beach club.

The Chronomaster Original goes back to the 38mm proportions of the 1969 A386. Inside sits the same El Primero 3600 with its 60-hour reserve, and the tenths scale moves onto the outer edge of the dial beneath a slim steel bezel. Water resistance drops to 5 bar, so treat it as a poolside companion and save the cannonballs for the Sport.

Each of them run on the same caliber, so your choice comes down to wrist size and wardrobe. Larger wrists and busy weekends call for the Sport. A smaller wrist or a closet full of tweed makes the Original the smarter buy.

Picture the Sport on a rubber strap at a paddock club, your forearm on a railing as the cars scream past. The Original suits a gallery opening better, and it peeks from a navy wool cuff whenever you raise a glass of something sparkling. Your Zenith Chronomaster looks at home in each room, of course... so pick the room you visit more.

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Own the Tenth of a Second

Back at the starting blocks, a tenth of a second belongs to officials and their sensors. Strap on a Zenith Chronomaster and a slice of it belongs to you: ten tiny steps every second that sweep across black ceramic in whatever metal suits your mood. WatchMaxx carries the Zenith Chronomaster Sport in steel, titanium, rose gold and two-tone, along with the vintage-flavored Chronomaster Original for slimmer wrists. Shop 100% genuine Zenith Chronomaster watches backed by a WatchMaxx guarantee. Order one for the wrist that times your morning run, or for the friend who watches the stadium clock harder than the game. Then press the pusher, the comet will take care of the rest.