Zenith Daytona Question

[Tony-GB]

Hi All

Daytona's are appealing to me more & more, but why are the Zenith models worth more & are so sought after?

As I understand it, the Daytona's with the inhouse Rolex movement have a better power reserve, are more accurate & have a more robust movement.

So what's the appeal of the Zenith...?

Thanks in advance

[mfer]

Just rarer. The unwanteds at the time.

Something to collect. The SS again are worth more. There are also subtle differences on the dial.

[padi56]

Well I would not say the Zenith is less accurate than the Rolex in-house movement.And the El-Primo movement has been around for almost 40 years so its a well proven reliable in its true form very high beat movement.While the Rolex in-house is a fine movement with a good power reserve but in movement term its still only a youngster.The Zenith powered Daytona was quite a short run so less of them around and definitely more collectable now and in future.

[Welshwatchman]

The Zenith SS was the first Daytona to have a supply/demand problem.

I remember a 1997 one being offered well over retail back in 1999.

[Mrdi]

The dials have a bit more contrast in the Zenith as well.
The white dial with the black sub-dial surrounds is most appealing.

[argee1977]

Originally Posted by mfer

Just rarer. The unwanteds at the time.

Something to collect. The SS again are worth more. There are also subtle differences on the dial.

There's a huge difference as well with the orientation of the sub dials

As for the Zenith Daytonas, i have to say i'm not a fan, i love the El Primero movement, had three of them and they are works of art and as accurate as anything else on the market, but Rolex detuned them and didn't use the date function, so you're not really getting a true EP movement, it was more an EP movement that Rolex wanted to mess about with to try and make it sound like it wasn't just someone elses movement stuck in their case.

As for power reserve, i wouldn't look too much into that, it really isn't a huge selling point, infact now you're getting 7. 8 and 10 day reserve watches from others which i wouldn't really rate as being better than either the EP or the Rolex movements, they've just used an area of the movement for power reserve instead.

[Mrdi]

Power reserve in the new movement is 72 hours.
That is a big deal for me, because my watch sits from Friday afternoon until Monday
head to the office and I don't need to reset it. Very Kool.

[argee1977]

Originally Posted by Mrdi

Power reserve in the new movement is 72 hours.
That is a big deal for me, because my watch sits from Friday afternoon until Monday
head to the office and I don't need to reset it. Very Kool.

Running it right down and not giving it a wind isn't the best way of working the watch, if i'm not wearing it for a few days i make sure to give it a manual wind every day just to keep it ticking over, i just don't see power reserve being a huge selling point, otherwise the daytona would be seen as completely inferior to the likes of the PAM270 which has over 3 times the reserve.

[Tools]

I think that Zeniths are getting their 15 minutes of fame because people are seeing what the early Cosmographs and Paul Newman's are going for..

Everybody is jumping on the "discontinued model" bandwagon...even if bazillions of them were made..

[Eli]

I traded my zenith straight to a z series and I didn't think about it twice...

[Mrdi]

"Running it right down and not giving it a wind isn't the best way of working the watch"
Says Argee.

It is not a battery, it's a spring.
Allowing it to become partially unsprung is not in any dimension detrimental.

[argee1977]

Originally Posted by Mrdi

"Running it right down and not giving it a wind isn't the best way of working the watch"
Says Argee.

It is not a battery, it's a spring.
Allowing it to become partially unsprung is not in any dimension detrimental.

You're right, but i tend to keep it within a similar tension, just something i like to do. But as i said, power reserve means nothing to me, 2 days or 3 days, it makes no difference to me, if it did i'd go out and get an 8 or 10 day reserve watch.

[DeepSeaDiving]

Is it true the 4130 Daytona movement is cheaper to make than the Zenith movement and that's why Rolex went in-house?

[ajmarton]

On another note, I have seen Zenith Daytona's with the inverted 6 sub dials. Is there any more value to that dial verses the more modern (?) dial.

[Z-Sub]

4130 is easier to service
it has slightly longer power reserve
it winds faster to full reserve and 4030 is as accurate as 4130.

[Tools]

Originally Posted by DeepSeaDiving

Is it true the 4130 Daytona movement is cheaper to make than the Zenith movement and that's why Rolex went in-house?

I can't imagine anybody in the know who would think this.

The 4130 was designed from the ground up by Rolex, specifically to be an in-house chronograph unique to Rolex only - they do not want to rely on another manufacturer for movements for their watches. It includes some of their own patents for certain, mechanics and engages the stopwatch function fully into the basic mechanics of the watch when activated to avoid chrono drift, reduce size foot-print, and reduce the number of parts in the movement..

It's considered to be one of the best movements to come along in quite some time, and one of the ten top movements ever..

So, no, I would not say that they just wanted to reduce costs.. I would say that the 4130 is a better, more modern and more sophisticated movement than the Zenith.