If you had to do it again, what would you start with?

jsaen · Jun 25, 2015

Hi all you Zenith owners. I'm new to watches as an obsession, and I'd like to build a collection with some kind of coherent theme. Right now, I think I want that to be Zenith, mostly vintage, but I'm getting a little discouraged by the fact that prices seem to have doubled in the last 12 months and it's really hard to find nice instances.

So, my question for you is, if you had to start over, what would you start your Zenith collection with? I don't mean the first one, but the first small collection, whatever that would be.

While I own a couple other nice watches, I don't yet own any Zenith. Instead I have an envy list of watches that I'd probably mug one of you for if I saw you on the street. (If it's not obvious, I borrowed pictures from this forum, since I don't have any

.)

Start with the obvious:

These are easier to find, but not quite as impressive as those first three:

I've just discovered:

And I'm ready to be an Italian Pilot:

And I really do think the striking 10th is great. It looks great, has a rare complication and lots of great history.

STANDY · Jun 26, 2015

What no turtle ?
Borrowed from @styggpyggeno1 and inspired my Zenith interest

dsio · Jun 26, 2015

Happy I started with the A386, the triple date moon phase in titanium just bumped itself up my list though.

Bienne2998 · Jun 26, 2015

the A386 are hard to find - so you have to start with something affordable and in nice condition available. Why not with a nice rose gold 146.
They wear bigger as they are (35 mm).

LouS · Jun 26, 2015

jsaen
Hi all you Zenith owners. I'm new to watches as an obsession, and I'd like to build a collection with some kind of coherent theme. Right now, I think I want that to be Zenith, mostly vintage, but I'm getting a little discouraged by the fact that prices seem to have doubled in the last 12 months and it's really hard to find nice instances.

So, my question for you is, if you had to start over, what would you start your Zenith collection with? I don't mean the first one, but the first small collection, whatever that would be.

While I own a couple other nice watches, I don't yet own any Zenith. Instead I have an envy list of watches that I'd probably mug one of you for if I saw you on the street. (If it's not obvious, I borrowed pictures from this forum, since I don't have any .)

Start with the obvious:

These are easier to find, but not quite as impressive as those first three:

I've just discovered:

And I'm ready to be an Italian Pilot:

And I really do think the striking 10th is great. It looks great, has a rare complication and lots of great history.

All of these will do nicely as a place to start a collection - really can't go wrong with any of the El Primero iterations. I will point out that Zenith is far more than El Primero. You could build a collection of pre-Primero chronographs, as Bienne2998 has suggested, on chronometers, on the calibers created by Ephrem Jobin, on the Captain line, on the Pilot line, Defys....so, so much. And I guarantee you, no matter how tightly focused you start, there will be "interest creep" that will lead you down all sorts of interesting byways

khmt2 · Jun 26, 2015

LouS
All of these will do nicely as a place to start a collection - really can't go wrong with any of the El Primero iterations. I will point out that Zenith is far more than El Primero. You could build a collection of pre-Primero chronographs, as Bienne2998 has suggested, on chronometers, on the calibers created by Ephrem Jobin, on the Captain line, on the Pilot line, Defys....so, so much. And I guarantee you, no matter how tightly focused you start, there will be "interest creep" that will lead you down all sorts of interesting byways

Sheesh, wish I knew about this 'interest creep' business before i started!

papaebetu · Jun 26, 2015

If you like the chrono, you can start with many reference
As manual wind you can also search the A277, and as Automatic El Primero, De Luca 1st execution.

Classic design with great movement, yesterday, today and tomorrow...

GIGI

jsaen · Jun 27, 2015

thank you all, very helpful as usual

I didn't really think about the fact all my examples were Chronos. It's not so much that I love Chronos, it's that I have no use for dress watches. I actually really like many dress watches, but don't want my watch to be too much dresier than my jeans (or shorts.) I have a 1969 Grand Seiko that I really like, but always feels too dressy for my workplace.

Despite all that, boy Bienne2998, that watch is very nice. I will be looking for a steel 146 in the future.

GIGI, the 1st De Luca was on my list, but only recently. I had not seen the A277. Very nice.

LouS, that is a lot of content in one paragraph. I had never head of Ephrem Jobin before. From googling him I see that's the 135. I had looked at those, but again, I think they may be too dressy for me.

jsaen · Jun 27, 2015

I was kind of hoping that people would submit their list of 3-5 watches that they would start over with.

I really do think the way people assemble collections is really interesting, even more than any one individual great watch.

papaebetu · Jun 27, 2015

In Zenith you can buy the watch what you like more:
Classic, Chrono, Diver and Sport..

Good luck

GIGI

jfwoodman · Jun 30, 2015

Not much to add, so many great pieces already shown here. The A386 is the pinnacle to me.
One additional thought...while most vintage EP's have indeed rocketed up in price, IMHO, the Defy remains a relatively good value for an interesting, fun Zenith watch.