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The applied and facetted hour markers and hands are familiar, but the lume (Super-LumiNova C1) on the tips of the markers and down the hands glows a cool shade of blue in the dark. According to the brand, this decision was taken in the name of balance. All the printing on the dial is also picked out in grey and for those of you who have a phobia to date windows, this too has been suppressed.

The dial features a matte white background with subtle light-grey accents on the minute track and sub-dials. Gone are the colourful sub-dials and red central chronograph hand and instead, the watch presents an almost monochrome appearance. The real customisation tweaks though have to do with the dial. The case, with a height of 12.45mm, features the familiar alternating polished and satin-brushed surfaces of other El Primero watches but has bespoke satin-brushed pushers to match the lugs.

The Collective club has gone for the smaller 38mm steel case as opposed to the 42mm – selecting the same case size as the original 1969 model. What’s different about the Chronomaster El Primero C.01? As fans of Zenith’s El Primero, which incidentally celebrates its 50 th anniversary this year, the founders decided to kick off their members-only club with 50 customised watches of Chronomaster El Primero. Obviously the collector’s club founders – Gabe Reilly and Asher Rapkin – spotted a niche in this high-tech oasis for good old mechanical watches and created the club Collective. With such a high concentration of IT companies and the looming presence of Apple, it would be fair to deduce that most techie guys in Silicon Valley stick to techie gadgets when it comes to wrist wear.

A collector’s club based in Silicon Valley is the latest recipient of a customised Zenith watch for its members. It’s becoming more and more frequent for watch brands to create special, exclusive editions for bona fide collectors.

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