Two years ago, Zenith got together with Revolution & The Rake to create a very sought-after El Primero reference; the A3818. The A3818 was termed as the “Cover Girl” by watch enthusiasts and vintage watch collectors after the watch had made an appearance on the cover of Manfred Rossler’s book “Zenith – Swiss Watchmaking Since 1865”.
The A3818 model first made an appearance back in 1971 and was only released for a brief time as it was produced in limited quantities. The recreation of this sought-after timepiece back in 2020 was named the Zenith x Revolution Chronomaster Revival A3818 “Cover Girl”, and the 100 units produced, all sold out within a matter of hours. The instant hit of this vintage timepiece is what led to Zenith releasing another iteration of this model, this time with a bit more of a modern twist. This latest reproduction has been given the name Chronomaster Revival A3818 “The Airweight Cover Girl”.
Bearing a similar resemblance to the 2020 rendition of the “Cover Girl”, this latest model is quite different.
Design:
The Chronomaster Revival A3818 “The Airweight Cover Girl” comes in a 37mm case which is now made from grade 5 titanium. The whole timepiece is crafted in titanium. Zenith has chosen to use this material and its grade, as it’s the only quality of titanium that allows for a mirror polish. With the 2020 rendition being steel, the switch to make it full titanium certainly came with its challenges in which Zenith states that “it required an arduous process of experimentation to get it just right”.
What draws collectors and lovers of the original A3818 timepiece is the dial on this watch. It has been faithfully recreated with the iconic parts retained, while still giving the watch a modern touch. The beautiful blue vertically brushed finish dial with Superman blue tone from the original A3818 timepiece is preserved. The modern updates however occur on the shark tooth scale, tachymeter scale, logo and text. This has all been updated. The hands and hour indices have updated Superluminova coatings as well, with this modern rendition using the more natural “C1” white colour coating compared to the green “C3” coating from the 2020 Revival Edition.
Movement:
The Chronomaster Revival A3818 “The Airweight Cover Girl” comes with an open case back in which the movement can be seen. Zenith has used the El Primero 400 calibre movement on this timepiece, which is a direct descendant of the original 1969 El Primero automatic high-frequency chronograph movement. The El Primero 400 calibre operates at a frequency of 5Hz (36, 000 VpH) and gives out a power reserve of approximately 50 hours.
The bracelet chosen for this Revival piece is the Gay Frères ladder bracelet. Designed by the famed Gay Frères company back in 1960, this choice of bracelet has been used in numerous Zenith watches and Revival timepieces.
However, for the first time, the Gay Frères ladder bracelet will be created in titanium, to match the titanium used throughout the Chronomaster Revival A3818 “The Airweight Cover Girl”.
Julien Tornare shared his views on Zenith’s extensive use of titanium on this timepiece by stating that “at Zenith, our tradition has always been to push boundaries as we did all the way back in 1969 with the introduction of the world’s first integrated automatic chronograph movement. We had used titanium for some of our A386 style cases such as our Chronomaster “Shadow” limited edition but, so far, not yet been in a bracelet. But we thought this would be the perfect time to try it. We love to work on limited editions that are ambitious and bring something of real value to collectors”.
This latest update featuring a very modern touch to a well sought-after timepiece is sure to fly off the shelves quickly. The Zenith × Revolution & The Rake Chronomaster Revival A3818 “The Airweight Cover Girl” is unfortunately limited to only 250 units and can be purchased from Revolution & The Rake as well as Zenith boutiques all around the world.
