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MMMD
·The Espada was, as many of you know, an early El Primero (so a self-winding chronograph with date feature) with added day, month and moon phase features... the most advanced mechanical wrist watch of the early 1970's. I have a Zenith catalog from 1978 that depicts a very lonely looking Espada, a relic of the Golden Age, surrounded by quartz watches and undistinguished mechanical ones. The Zenith Radio Corporation had by that time taken over the watch company of the same name, ceased production of mechanical movements, and was handing out left-over El Primero's to top TV salesmen as service awards. This might very well have been the last appearance of an Espada in a Zenith publication.
The watch seen at the lower left corner of the page - uncomfortably positioned next to a watch with flashing red LEDs - was the ref. 01.0400.418, or second series Espada, likely produced in 1974-75.
I had believed this to be the last Espada model produced... until I came across this Italian catalog from 1976, depicting a co-branded Movado-Zenith Espada:
This 18k Espada was advertised alongside a few other "late early" El Primero's, including the Pilot and the "TV."
The gold MZ Espada (ref. 30.0190.437) was not a clearance sale item in 1976. The price list below, from July 1976, has it at 1,351,000 lire, or about $1600 USD at the time. A "TV" El P could be had for 289,000 lire, or about $350. (The Pilot is listed as "esaurito," or "sold out.")
I imagine that production of the 18k MZ Espada was quite limited... and that very few, if any, of these golden dinosaurs were sold at such a hefty price as the world moved quickly toward quartz. But, if one of you has an NOS one stashed away in a sock drawer... dibs!
The watch seen at the lower left corner of the page - uncomfortably positioned next to a watch with flashing red LEDs - was the ref. 01.0400.418, or second series Espada, likely produced in 1974-75.
I had believed this to be the last Espada model produced... until I came across this Italian catalog from 1976, depicting a co-branded Movado-Zenith Espada:
This 18k Espada was advertised alongside a few other "late early" El Primero's, including the Pilot and the "TV."
The gold MZ Espada (ref. 30.0190.437) was not a clearance sale item in 1976. The price list below, from July 1976, has it at 1,351,000 lire, or about $1600 USD at the time. A "TV" El P could be had for 289,000 lire, or about $350. (The Pilot is listed as "esaurito," or "sold out.")
I imagine that production of the 18k MZ Espada was quite limited... and that very few, if any, of these golden dinosaurs were sold at such a hefty price as the world moved quickly toward quartz. But, if one of you has an NOS one stashed away in a sock drawer... dibs!
