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ZENITH continues to impress as it launches the impressive calendar complication for its Captain chronograph series

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Swiss watchmakers ZENITH recently signalled that it means big business in Hong Kong as it unveiled its first boutique in the SAR this year. Stepping into the Russell Street boutique in Causeway Bay, we found ourselves surrounded by its most sought-after watches beating to its Elite and El Primero in-house chronograph movements.

In reviewing ZENITH’s irresistible timepieces, we come across the watch brand’s latest achievement yet. Sitting in all its glory, encased in a glass case, sits inside the Captain Winsor Annual Calendar model in two versions: a midnight blue dial framed by a steel case; and a silver-tone dial in an 18k pink gold case.

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This complication is just as impressive as the mechanics of its predecessors: joining its earlier functions that include power reserve, moon phases and a second time zone, the new chronograph boasts an annual calendar to reveal the date, month and year from your timepiece.

The creation of the Captain Winsor Annual Calendar proves that two heads are better than one as ZENITH forms an alliance with with La Chaux-de-Fonds’ Musée International d’Horlogerie (MIH) to give birth to this complication. We find it hard to believe ourselves but we’re told that the calendar complication will only need to be readjusted once a year, from February to March.

Aesthetically, the complication wears three silver-plated concentric discs that cleverly reveals the date, month and week, and surprisingly only comprises nine mobile elements on the face of the watch, a far cry from the clutter of mechanics that calendar complications usually have.

The watch design reminds us of the vintage ZENITH watches we still love, reminding us of the first launched models of the original Captain watch from the 1950s, as well as the classic maritime chronographs that were used to navigate the positions of ships. But before we got too carried away, we are quickly taken back to reality by the sound of the gentle beating of the El Primero Calibre 4054 movement that the timepiece beats to – a noteworthy feature of the timepiece as it is one of the world’s first automatic chronograph movements (launched 42 years ago) that has made its name for itself in the industry for precision and its ability to beat at 36,000 vibrations per hour.

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