Watches and cars - the two are often teamed together on the basis of their good looks and precision mechanics. While the same attributes apply to a new partnership between Land Rover and Zenith, here the synergy drives deeper.
Not only were both brands' landmark products – the first luxury off-road vehicle and the El Primero chronograph respectively – revealed the same year, in 1969, they have an intrinsic understanding of adventure and the instruments required to survive it. Perhaps the best example is that just three years following the launches, the two items auspiciously met in the hands of renowned explorer John Blashford-Snell, where they played a key part in his navigating the inhospitable marshland and forests of the Darien Gap, a break in the highway between Colombia and Panama.
Today, their coming together has manifested itself in a limited-edition timepiece. Powered by the El Primero 400B movement, a worthy heir to the ultra-precise original, its 36,000 vibrations per hour enable it to display the time to a tenth of a second. In addition to bearing the inscription "Zenith Range Rover" on the dial, there are numerous nods to the iconic model, such as its aluminium case recalling the car's chassis.
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"The Zenith El Primero is one of the most distinctive watch designs ever produced, in my view," says Gerry McGovern, Land Rover's chief design officer. "We looked to the reductive nature of a modern Range Rover interior and the Zenith team translated that into the dial of the watch, keeping it simple and unfussy. The matte finish simultaneously suggests understatement, sophistication and durability. Like a Range Rover, it's an object you look at and immediately feel an emotional connection."
zenith-watches.com; landrover.co.uk
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