Timeless Revival: Restoring a Zenith El Primero Rainbow to Glory

[@jhuventdavid1233]

Que hermoso mecanismo 20 ańos de mi vida dedique a esta hermosa profesion saludos desde Ecuador

[@FrenchWatchCollector]

👍

[@pipodorologio1648]

merci for sharing this and the time to put this video together, it is a joy to watch every time

[@FrenchWatchCollector]

Thank you for your support

[@tiberiuvincze8288]

Nice, nice and nice! the watch , video and service thank you!

[@FrenchWatchCollector]

Thank you to you

[@brucebarlow6604]

Yes Perfect. A lovely watch with many parts great work. Regards for the festive season.

[@FrenchWatchCollector]

Thanks Bruce. Regards to you too for this festive season

[@overhyped108]

Amazing video, I'm curenty going to go to school soon to become a watchmaker and watching your videos get me excited to start school as soon as possible, keep up the great videos.

[@FrenchWatchCollector]

Very good choice. Enjoy your education it is wonderful. Thank you for your comment

[@canadianwatchmonkey3992]

Thank you Charles Vermot ❤

[@FrenchWatchCollector]

Thank you 😉

[@antonioferreira2996]

1 hour plus of full therapy 😊. This caliber is my favorite, but seems to be very tricky to work on... I mean all chronographs are, but this one is more pretty and seems to be more hard work.😅

[@FrenchWatchCollector]

Thank you very much. Glad you liked it. It is a bit more complex than other chronographs calibers but there is some that are even more complicated 😅

[@RabbitWatchShop]

Looks better and has more character than a Daytona. I prefer this over Zenith’s modern chronograph, which looks a tad too similar to the Daytona. Kudos on another skillful, adept restoration 👍

[@FrenchWatchCollector]

Thank you so much 😊. Love it too

[@jpwillm5252]

Quel beau mécanisme ! Les prises de vues sont parfaites, et en plus, vous êtes vraiment un très bon horloger. 👍

[@FrenchWatchCollector]

Merci beaucoup. Ça me fais beaucoup plaisir

[@cafemolido5459]

Great job, I bow to you.

[@FrenchWatchCollector]

☺️

[@fjones1914]

These watches are amazing pieces of art & engineering! Thank goodness there were/are some really intelligent people on the planet!! We'd still be making fire with rocks if it were left up to some of us...LoL!

[@FrenchWatchCollector]

So true. Thank you for your comment

[@mercuriall2810]

The El Primero is a wonderful movement. It’s amazing to think that Zenith ordered the destruction of plans and tooling to make it during the quartz crisis. If not for a disobedient employee who hid everything behind a false wall, the movement would be lost to us now and wouldn’t have gone into production again once demand for it resumed. The idea of replacing screws onto the movement as you disassemble it is sound, I do it too with chronographs and other high complications, but when a watch has signs of attention from a less experienced watchmaker, you cannot trust that the correct screws are in the correct locations. Never assume that the previous watchmaker assembled the watch correctly.

[@FrenchWatchCollector]

Thank you so much for your comment. The story on the el primero is crazy and I would not thanks enough the employees who saved this beautiful caliber. For the screws you are right and if a screw is not placed correctly you can see it or feel it that something is not working propping the caliber.

[@mercuriall2810]

@@FrenchWatchCollectorIt is crazy to think that this incredible calibre was nearly lost forever after only a few years of production. The history is well documented if you search for it. A senior engineer at Zenith, Charles Vermot, directly disobeyed orders to destroy all blueprints, parts and tooling for the El Primero. It took him and a few trusted co-workers so much time, after working hours, to hide everything behind a false wall in a hidden attic at Zenith that his wife became suspicious and thought he was having an affair! The El Primero was not just one of the first automatic chronographs, it was also one of the first hi-beat chronographs, running at 36,000 vph - far faster than the competition at the time. They pioneered the use of a dry molybdenum sulfate lubricant to achieve this. The 50 hour power reserve, especially at such a high beat rate was also groundbreaking. It’s incredible that the future of such a wonderful movement could be deliberately destroyed. It’s interesting that the Rolex Daytona watches that used this movement were built to run at a slower beat rate, which means that some parts aren’t interchangeable with the high beat version. One small suggestion - when using epilame, it is best practice to only dip the pallet stones, as opposed to immersing the whole pallet fork. It’s easy to clean the epilame off the pallet fork pivots, but this still leaves it on the pallet fork horns, which can lead to issues over the long term. I immerse the escape wheel and cap jewels completely, but never the whole pallet fork.

[@samnova450]

Fantastic job done on that watch. Plan to practice on a China ST19 Chronograph as a Hobby watchmaker. Happy New Year to you.

[@FrenchWatchCollector]

Very good idea. Happy new year to you too

[@etienneguyot9069]

Awesome job! Joyeuses fêtes de fin d'année !

[@FrenchWatchCollector]

Thank you 😊. Joyeuses fêtes de fin d’année à vous aussi

[@ForestWoodworks]

Beautiful watch, masterpiece for sure

[@FrenchWatchCollector]

Than you so much 😉

[@Mike-pg6gs]

Fantastic

[@FrenchWatchCollector]

👍

[@tachibanaukyo]

looks amazing, thanks for sharing

[@FrenchWatchCollector]

My pleasure 😇

[@neilbotha3527]

Love your videos, utterly brilliant. How about a piece on your own personal collection. Was ironic to see you wearing a moon swatch whilst working on Zenith automatic chronograph 😂

[@FrenchWatchCollector]

Thank you very much. True that the moon swatch and the el primero are both on the opposite side. I love them both even if I prefer the el primero 😉

[@ygrbooks]

Great work on a very nice caliber: 👍👌👏! My son also has an El Primero from around 2008 and the cushion inside the box also totally disintegrated 😩, which is really weird.

[@FrenchWatchCollector]

It is the same for my cushion. Unfortunately the material of the cushion used during this era was not great at all.

[@madmike6942]

gorgeous watch...better than rolex

[@FrenchWatchCollector]

Better I don’t know but different. Both have they own differences

[@madmike6942]

@FrenchWatchCollector brother for me Rolex is a douche watch...everybody has a rolex...i have a tissot powermatic,a seiko samurai and a pressage....gorgeous watches...i have friends that have rolex and it looks..meh...it's not standing out...

[@BokiPetrovic88]

Great video! Are you happy with Vevor polishing machine and what is the slowest rpm? It looks like the motor is moving when you apply little pressure. Thanks

[@FrenchWatchCollector]

The rpm start at zeron and can go very slow. Yes it move a bit but it does the job.

[@jjver]

Thanks for the video! If I may ask, if you got the Bergeon glass press, why do you use the Horotec one also?

[@FrenchWatchCollector]

They are not exactly the same. I prefer the Bergeron for some applications and the horotec for some other. Just a different feel on the machine and way of working

[@canadianwatchmonkey3992]

How is it even possible that the El Primero Rainbow cal 400 is not more coveted then a Rolex Daytona?

[@FrenchWatchCollector]

Obvioulsy the Rolex name is doing for something

[@canadianwatchmonkey3992]

@@FrenchWatchCollector Zenith’s weakness is Rolex’s super power, marketing.

[@jbbennett57]

I see you're wearing a MoonSwatch?

[@FrenchWatchCollector]

Yes I have some MoonSwatch too 😉

[@slammermx]

Did I see a moon swatch on your wrist?

[@FrenchWatchCollector]

You are right

[@CAMPEDELLaurent]

Désolé mais la traduction automatique de KZbin est insupportable. 😢😢

[@FrenchWatchCollector]

Il y a la video en français sur Montre & Restauration

[@CAMPEDELLaurent]

Pas fait attention que la montre était déjà passée sur l'autre chaine... 😊

[@pghgb5572]

Impressive chronograph calibre, but somehow not as visually appealing as the vintage chronograph calibres from Venus, Valjoux, Lemania et al, perhaps

[@FrenchWatchCollector]

I agree that it can be less beautiful than some manual vintage calibers.

[@rickseconds7676]

Zenith watches are beautiful, but this one I am not a fan of.

[@FrenchWatchCollector]

It is an opinion of taste but this watch is already sold in less than an hour

[@rickseconds7676]

@FrenchWatchCollector Totally agree, glad it sold.