Zenith has always been the brand that watch nerds tattoo on their hearts and casual buyers walk straight past. That’s not a criticism. It’s the whole point. And at Watches and Wonders 2026, the Le Locle manufacture doubled down on exactly that identity with four releases across two collections: a skeletonised Chronomaster Sport in four executions, a two-tone limited edition Chronomaster Sport, and two new G.F.J. references housing the reborn Calibre 135.
None of these watches are trying to convert someone who doesn’t already get it. And that, frankly, is what makes Zenith so damn interesting.
The Chronomaster Sport Strips Down To Its Bones, Literally
The headline piece is the Chronomaster Sport Skeleton, and it’s the kind of watch that makes you lean in at a display case.
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Zenith has taken the El Primero 3600 SK calibre, the skeletonised version of its legendary 5Hz high-frequency chronograph, and framed it behind a sapphire dial that fades from smoked black at the edges to fully transparent at the centre.
It’s a genuinely clever piece of design work. You can see the column wheel (finished in blue, naturally), the horizontal clutch, the silicon escape wheel, the whole mechanical orchestra playing out beneath the glass.
And because this is still fundamentally a Chronomaster Sport, you still get the 10-second central chronograph hand, the 1/10th of a second readout against that ceramic bezel, and the tri-colour overlapping counters in grey, anthracite and blue that trace a direct line back to the original 1969 El Primero.
The case is 41mm stainless steel with alternating brushed and polished surfaces. Power reserve is 60 hours. Water resistance is 100 metres. All the vitals you’d expect.
A Clasp That Took Three Years To Build
But the detail that caught my eye is the new patented folding clasp. Zenith spent 1,800 hours developing it. The thing is made up of 41 individual components, including four double-ball pawls and two single-ball pawls, and it’s been validated through simulations exceeding 10 years of use (more than 600,000 cycles).
The micro-adjustment system lets you resize the bracelet without tools in 2mm increments across five positions, giving you 10mm of total adjustment. You can even extend it on the wrist without taking the watch off.
This is the kind of thing that only matters to people who actually wear their watches every day. Which is to say, it matters a lot. The clasp will roll out across other Chronomaster Sport references and is backward-compatible with existing bracelets. Smart move.
The Skeleton comes in four versions. Two in steel: one with a black ceramic bezel and tri-colour counters, one with a green ceramic bezel and grey-toned counters.
Both ship on bracelet with an extra rubber strap. There’s an 18-carat rose gold on rubber, and a 10-piece limited edition in rose gold with a gold bracelet and 52 baguette-cut diamonds on the bezel at 99,000 CHF. That last one isn’t for most people. But then again, Zenith has never been for most people.
Specifications
| Spec | Detail |
|---|---|
| Reference | 03.3130.3600/01.M3130 (black bezel) / 03.3131.3600/01.M3130 (green bezel) |
| Case | 41mm, stainless steel |
| Bezel | Black or green ceramic, 10-second graduated |
| Movement | El Primero 3600 SK, automatic, column wheel chronograph |
| Frequency | 36,000 VpH (5 Hz) |
| Power reserve | 60 hours |
| Functions | Hours, minutes, small seconds at 9, date at 4:30, 1/10th of a second chronograph |
| Dial | Openworked tinted sapphire, tri-colour counters (black bezel) / grey-toned counters (green bezel) |
| Water resistance | 10 ATM |
| Bracelet | Steel with new micro-adjustable folding clasp, additional rubber strap |
| Price | 14,900 CHF / 16,500 EUR / 16,700 USD |
Two-Tone Chronomaster Sport: Mother-of-Pearl and 50 Pieces
The other Chronomaster is quieter but just as considered. Steel and rose gold two-tone, mother-of-pearl dial, limited to 50. And where the Skeleton is all about showing you the mechanics, this one is about mood.
The 41mm case keeps the same sharp architecture as every other Chronomaster Sport, but the rose gold bezel, crown and pushers change the whole conversation. Against the steel case and bracelet, the warmth of the gold reads less like bling and more like a deliberate choice. The integrated two-tone bracelet carries the contrast through, with rose gold centre links echoing the bezel. Alternating brushed and polished surfaces keep it from feeling dressy. This is still a sports chronograph. It just happens to clean up well.
The mother-of-pearl dial is the thing you need to see in person. Photos flatten it completely. In real life, light moves across the surface throughout the day, shifting from cool silver to warm pink depending on the angle. The signature 3-6-9 overlapping counters sit on top, and the faceted hands and gold-plated applied markers are filled with Super-LumiNova C1 for legibility when the sun goes down.
Inside, it’s the same El Primero 3600 running at 36,000 vibrations per hour with 60 hours of power reserve. Central chronograph hand completing one rotation every 10 seconds, 1/10th of a second measurement read directly off the rose gold bezel.
Through the sapphire caseback, the openworked rotor engraved with the Zenith star and the column wheel chronograph architecture are on full display.
The tone is different from the rest of the Chronomaster lineup.
Less weekend warrior, more “I’ve been collecting for 15 years and I want something that works with a navy suit.” Two-tone watches have been creeping back into favour across the industry, but most brands are playing it safe with steel and yellow gold. Zenith going with rose gold gives it a warmth that feels modern rather than retro.
At 50 pieces and 17,900 CHF, this is the kind of limited run that will move quietly and quickly. No waitlist drama, no secondary market hysteria. Just 50 people who wanted a Chronomaster Sport that does something a little different. And then it’s gone.
Specifications
| Spec | Detail |
|---|---|
| Reference | 51.3102.3600/01.M3100 |
| Case | 41mm, stainless steel and 18-ct rose gold |
| Movement | El Primero 3600, automatic, column wheel chronograph |
| Frequency | 36,000 VpH (5 Hz) |
| Power reserve | 60 hours |
| Functions | Hours, minutes, small seconds at 9, date at 4:30, 1/10th of a second chronograph |
| Dial | Mother-of-pearl with tri-colour counters |
| Water resistance | 10 ATM |
| Bracelet | Steel and 18-ct rose gold with double folding clasp, additional black rubber strap |
| Edition | Limited to 50 pieces |
| Price | 17,900 CHF / 20,200 EUR / 20,100 USD |
G.F.J. in Yellow Gold: Bloodstone, 2,333 Prizes and the Calibre That Won Them All
The G.F.J. collection is where Zenith gets properly nerdy, and I mean that as the highest compliment. Named after founder Georges Favre-Jacot, this is the home of the reborn Calibre 135, the hand-wound observatory chronometer movement that won more prizes than any other calibre in watchmaking history.
We’re talking 2,333 chronometry awards. The competition version, the 135-O, took five consecutive first prizes at the Neuchatel Observatory from 1950 to 1954. Nobody has matched that since.
The new yellow gold edition is limited to 161 pieces. The 39.15mm case sits at 10.5mm thick with a 45.75mm lug-to-lug, wearing like a perfectly proportioned 1950s chronometer because that’s exactly what inspired it. Stepped bezel, curved lugs, gold glow. It’s classically handsome without being safe.
The dial is the star. A central disc in bloodstone (jasper), where the natural veining and inclusions mean no two dials are identical. An oversized small seconds counter at 6 o’clock in mother-of-pearl. And a peripheral guilloche sector inspired by the brick facade of the Zenith manufacture in Le Locle. It’s a lot of texture and material interplay in under 40mm, and somehow it all works.
The Calibre 135 is hand-wound, COSC-certified, regulated to plus or minus 2 seconds per day, and puts out 72 hours of power reserve. Through the sapphire caseback you get Cotes de Geneve, hand-chamfered bridges and a dark ruthenium finish with yellow gold engravings. Ships with three straps: beige nubuck alligator, green alligator and black calfskin. An 18-carat yellow gold bracelet is available as an optional purchase.
Specifications
| Spec | Detail |
|---|---|
| Reference | 30.1865.0135/56.C216 |
| Case | 39.15mm, 18-ct yellow gold, 10.5mm thick, 45.75mm lug-to-lug |
| Movement | Calibre 135, hand-wound |
| Frequency | 18,000 VpH (2.5 Hz) |
| Power reserve | 72 hours |
| Functions | Hours, minutes, small seconds at 6 |
| Dial | Bloodstone (jasper) centre, mother-of-pearl small seconds, brick guilloche outer ring |
| Finishes | Cotes de Geneve with ruthenium finishing |
| Water resistance | 5 ATM |
| Straps | Beige nubuck alligator, green alligator, black calfskin, yellow gold pin buckle |
| Edition | Limited to 161 pieces |
| Price | 48,900 CHF / 54,000 EUR / 51,900 USD |
G.F.J. in Tantalum: 20 Pieces for the Obsessives
And then there’s the one that will have collectors losing sleep. The G.F.J. in tantalum is limited to just 20 pieces.
Tantalum is one of the most difficult metals to work with in watchmaking. Incredibly dense, brutally hard, resistant to corrosion, and it requires specialised tools and painfully slow fabrication processes to machine to any kind of acceptable standard.
The payoff is a blue-grey tone that sits somewhere between reflective and matte, with a weight on the wrist that lets you know exactly what you’re wearing.
The dial swaps the bloodstone for black onyx, which gives it a polished, almost liquid surface. The small seconds counter is grey mother-of-pearl. Eleven baguette-cut diamond indices (0.45 carats, F-G colour) punctuate the dial with the same kind of restrained precision that defines the whole watch. Hands are 18-carat white gold.
Same Calibre 135 inside. Same COSC certification. Same 72-hour power reserve. But in tantalum, the whole thing takes on a completely different personality. Darker, heavier, more serious. Ships with a blue nubuck alligator strap, plus a black alligator and grey calfskin as extras. Titanium pin buckle.
Specifications
| Spec | Detail |
|---|---|
| Reference | 98.1865.0135/21.C205 |
| Case | 39.15mm, tantalum, 10.5mm thick, 45.75mm lug-to-lug |
| Movement | Calibre 135, hand-wound |
| Frequency | 18,000 VpH (2.5 Hz) |
| Power reserve | 72 hours |
| Functions | Hours, minutes, small seconds at 6 |
| Dial | Black onyx centre, grey mother-of-pearl small seconds, brick guilloche outer ring |
| Hour markers | Baguette-cut diamonds (0.45 cts, F-G) |
| Hands | 18-ct white gold, faceted |
| Finishes | Cotes de Geneve with ruthenium finishing |
| Water resistance | 5 ATM |
| Straps | Blue nubuck alligator, black alligator, grey calfskin, titanium pin buckle |
| Edition | Limited to 20 pieces |
| Price | 73,900 CHF / 82,700 EUR / 83,400 USD |
DMARGE’s Two Seconds
Zenith at Watches and Wonders 2026 is a brand that knows exactly who it is and who it’s talking to. There’s no celebrity collaboration, no hype-driven colour drop, no attempt to compete with Rolex for the attention of people who just want a status symbol.
This is a manufacture that turned up with a skeletonised El Primero, a tantalum chronometer and a clasp it spent three years engineering, and said: this is for the people who care about this stuff.
And that’s the thing about Zenith. The people who love it really love it. It’s a ride-or-die brand in a way that very few others manage to be. You don’t casually own a Zenith. You own one because you understand what a 5Hz chronograph actually means, or because the Calibre 135’s observatory record genuinely moves you.
The risk, of course, is that this approach keeps the brand small. But watching Zenith lean further into its own identity rather than dilute it for broader appeal is, hand on heart, one of the more refreshing things happening in the industry right now.
