Zenith Pilot Cronometro Tipo CP-2 Flyback in aged steel
It's the revival of the Cairelli model from the 60's but with a modern manufactured heart: El Primero 405 B automatic. Running at 36,000 VpH, or 5 Hz, and includes a flyback movement which allows the chronograph hand to return to zero quickly and restart a measurement.
Unlike the other Zenith Pilot watches, these are in 43 mm cases with domed AR sapphire crystal with caseback showing the movement, and includes a bi-directional bezel. Also comes in bronze case with distinctive bronze grained dial. They both ship with oily nubuck leather strap mathing the case.
But perhaps the pilot series that is most associated with Zenith Pilot watches is the one with the distinctive large round dial with cathedral hands, 45 mm case with short lugs, and the fat onion crown: Type 20 Chronograph.
First a bronze version with automatic El Primero 4069 with matt blue (above) and also matt back. And three more versions in aged stainless steel with slate gray grained dial and matt black (below).
And a distinctive one with matt blue dial and bronze case. All also are with matching oily nubuck leather straps.
And finally a new smaller 40 mm model, that Zenith call "Extra Special" on the dial, without chronograph, using the Zenith Elite 679 automatic movement. There are various versions (only two shown) varying mainly the material and dial color.
Aged stainless steel with blue grained and (not shown) with burgundy, olive, and black grained dials. In bronze with matt blue and matt black dials. Finally, a limited Cohiba edition in rosé gold with black dial (also not shown). All ship with oily nubuck leather matching straps.
After trying them on, albeit for a few rushed minutes, I believe these new Zenith Pilot models are worthy of your attention and are priced (except gold) reasonably, between $5,700 for the small 40 mm Pilot to $7,100 for the Type 20 Chronograph version, and $7,700 for the new Tipo CP-2 Flyback. Find details at your local authorize dealer or on Zenith's web site.
One of the winners in the 2019 GPHG awards in the first week of November was a two year old upstart watch brand from Kuala Lumpur named MING Watches. The young brand won best watch in the Challenge category at the Geneva show to the delight of its founder and watch aficionados who have regularly helped sell out the brand’s 11 prior releases since its debut of the 17.01 watch.
MING watches are not limited per we but are produced in small batches of a few hundreds, which in effect make them limited. A quick perusal to their web site shows that all models, except for the two new 2019 models have sold out. Interestingly the new models are also priced much higher than the previous ones. However, before getting ahead of ourselves, how does one go about seeing or trying on a MING watch?