That makes this both one of the rarest and highly-collected Zeniths of all time. Total production stopped at 1000 examples, as confirmed by Zenith SA. That calibre was housed in the highly-faceted tonneau-ish 37mm case first seen on the A384/5. Important points like the technically-advanced (taking seven years to develop) 3019 PHC remained. The dial is what many call petrol blue, but with contrasting subdial tracks in black and light blue. In addition, the four-line text signature is printed slightly differently than other El Primero references of the era. The beautiful shark’s tooth seconds track pattern you see here is a result of practically seeking to visually display granularity this movement was capable of measuring. This dial embraced the 36000 vph beat rate by demarcating 300 fine marks accurate to one-fifth of a second, in line with the 5Hz pulse. The Cover Girl was a small-production dial variant released just after the first-ever El Primeros. So what watch could possibly grace its exterior? You guessed it, hence the moniker. Manfred Rossler’s Zenith: Swiss Watch Manufacture Since 1865 is one of the if not thee definitive texts of Zenith collecting. For vintage hi-beat heroes, it really doesn’t get much better. The Cover Girl isn’t just a pretty dial, but one of the rarest and most nuanced El Primeros ever. Obscure Pokémon references aside, that changed today when this gem was listed. I once described Zenith’s easy, breezy, beautiful 1971 Cover Girl both legendary and seemingly unattainable, something of a Mewtwo amongst El Primeros. Make no mistake, this is no revival reissue.
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