![]() ![]() You don’t need to look too hard, either, to find elements of Zenith’s 1990s Rainbow (named after the 1934 America’s Cup-winning yacht) or the Stratos Flyback Striking 10th, as worn by skydiver Felix Baumgartner during his recordjump from the edge of space in 2012. So why is the new Zenith different? For a start, it’s fair to say that inspiration came from the brand’s back catalogue – the three-colour subdials are straight from the A386 launched in 1969 (the year Zenith perfected its El Primero, the first self-winding chronograph movement), while the pump pushers are reminiscent of the 1980s De Luca chronograph. ![]() But, until the arrival of Zenith’s just-launched Chronomaster Sport, there hasn’t really been a contender that is of comparable quality, that’s fairly priced and is historically legitimate (i.e. It won’t take long to find a dozen or more watches that are ‘inspired’ by the look of the Daytona, and you might even find one or two that are worth having. But, just as people are beginning to seriously question the logic of being so blatantly shafted for what is a largely unremarkable if undeniably well-engineered watch, so a challenger to the Daytona has arrived from an unexpected rival – Zenith. The market is so hot that such watches are finding buyers easily, despite prices being vastly inflated. The Rolex RRP for its so-called ‘watch born to race’ is a more reasonable £10,500. The first result thrown up by a Google search for such a watch offered a 2021 model delivered in three weeks for a price of £27,880. Demand is so high that dealers’ waiting lists now stretch into the next decade, so the only way to secure a ‘new’ Cosmograph is to look to the preowned market and pay a huge premium above retail for one that’s being ‘flipped’. ![]() Anyone who keeps an eye on the modern watch market will know that it is currently a waste of time to walk into a Rolex retailer that deigns to allow you to purchase a steel Cosmograph Daytona chronograph. ![]()
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