Despite the fact that this is very much a monochrome watch, it seems surprisingly legible from the photos, with white contrasting hands and indices (which glow green in the dark) against the matte black dial. This brings out the texture of the case perfectly, thanks to that alluring dark grey colour.
Rather than black steel, the 37mm case (the same size as the A384 Revival, but smaller than the 41mm original) is in micro-blasted titanium. What Zenith has revealed now is far from an exact replica of that watch, but instead a stylish re-imagining to bring it firmly up to date with the modern world. Only a few of these prototypes were made and none were ever officially sold, but incredibly, one surfaced right here. This original ‘shadow’ watch prototype was a manual-winding chronograph in a blackened steel case – and you only have to imagine how avant-garde this looked half a century ago. What they found, among many other treasures, was a box containing the original prototype of a mysterious black chronograph that nobody had heard about since the 1970s. As the company was gearing up for the 50th birthday celebrations of the famous El Primero movement, the team began going through the famous boarded-up attic last year in the company’s headquarters, where Charles Vermot had once hidden all the blueprints and tooling for the El Primero – fearful that the era of mechanical watches was coming to an end (you can read more about this in our piece on the A384 Revival – the first watch to be fitted with the El Primero movement – here.)
The Zenith Chronomaster Revival Shadow - Image Credit: Zenith
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