Zenith Heritage Pilot Café Racer Spirit

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Lately, Zenith has focused on vintage inspired chronographs and racing cars and motorbikes. That proves the Zenith Heritage Pilot Cafe Racer Spirit with El Primero Chronograph. As indicated in its name, this timepiece is inspired by the world of Café Racer motorbikes (bikers movement born in England in the 1920s). Its young, rebellious fans wanted a motorcycle that was both fast (up to 160km/h) and customised, enabling them to ride from café to café on the British motorways. This is the first time that Zenith features a stainless steel case with an aged treatment, resembling a patina. The case here measures 45mm and features the typical Zenith Pilot lugs, as well as the onion crown, also in aged steel. The vintage look of the case is complemented by a greenish, oily nubuck aged leather strap, which, fits very well the overall design. The caseback is plain and adorned with a nice engraving. Rather than displaying the movement, which would have been somehow lost in the middle of this large case, Zenith prefers to keep things hidden here, with this titanium caseback. The new chronograph has a slate grey dial with a minute totalizer at three o’clock balanced by the small seconds register at nine o’clock. Its chronograph is precise to 1/10th of a second, thanks to the 36,000vph frequency of its self-winding El Primero movement. This Calibre 4069, even if hidden, is finished as expected by the brand, with perlage, Geneva stripes and blued screws. The watch comes on green oily nubuck leather strap with protective rubber lining and titanium pin buckle. Its price is 7,400 Swiss Francs.