Finally, a grail Zenith El Primero A386 from 1971!

Zenith El Primero A386, circa 1971

I've been looking out for the Zenith A386 for a long time - they're are not easy to come by at all.

Firstly, there aren't many of them around - only 2500 pieces were produced from 1969 to 1971.

And this is the model that all the Zenith and vintage watch collectors are searching for, so whatever comes up on sale tends to be snapped up, however overpriced or in bad condition they may be. Just as an example - this one featured in Christie's blog (with a nice write-up) has the wrong crown.

Then, because there's many photos of this model online, courtesy of proud owners wanting to share, there are actually scammers, using available online photos as their own and even impersonating well known watch dealers, offering to sell this watch to unsuspecting collectors! I know this for a fact, cos I was offered such a watch, and was very nearly scammed!

Lastly, to liven things up even more, recently there have been a bunch of forged ones trickling into the market, that have fooled more than a couple of collectors and auction houses - see this post and this post for details. Again, I was offered such a forged piece (by an unknowing seller, I must add), that I almost fell for.

So it's an understatement to say that I got all excited when I chanced upon this piece on offer over at Chrono24. It was not cheap by any means, but it was not exorbitantly overpriced like some others, plus I've long concluded that if I wanted this model I would have to put my money where my mouth was, so to speak (pardon the pun).

Most importantly, it looked all original - the wabi-ed dial, the 'El Primero' script, the hands, the '4-pointed star' crown, the caseback (with correct 'sunburst' rather than forged 'radial' brushed effect), and the c.3019 movement all checked out. This was important, cos a lot of these Zeniths had period incorrect service crowns, and of course, I had to make sure this wasn't one of those forged ones circulating around.

As a bonus, the store claimed they were offered this watch by the elderly first owner!

So a supposed all original first owner Zenith El Primero A386, patina and all, with a correct c.3019 movement, dating to late 1971 by serial number - it would have been criminal to pass this watch up!

So I promptly emptied my wallet and bank account (and then some), and pulled the trigger, and within a week it had arrived.

I've read a lot about this watch, about how stunningly beautiful in real life it is, plus I already have it's cousin, the 'panda' dial A384, but none of that adequately prepared me for the priceless moment when I opened up the box...

Zenith El Primero A386, 31J c3019 movement, circa 1971

It was indescribably gorgeous - words and photos simply fail to capture how timelessly pretty and perfectly proportioned this watch is, from the script on the dial, to the overlapping metallic tri-colored sub-dials, to the distinctive white 'plastic-looking' hands - everything about it was perfect.

Zenith, no doubt, made a legendary first 'high-frequency automatic integrated column-wheel chronograph' movement in the c.3019 (see here for Zenith's own take on the story), but it would be fair to say that their watch designers could not match up - some of their 70s designs have perhaps not stood up to the test of time - but whoever designed the Zenith A386 in the late 60s must have been supremely and divinely inspired to have created such a masterpiece.

I had read a well known vintage Zenith collector mention that if he was only permitted the A386 as his only watch, he'd not miss any of the others in his collection, and I now know what he meant.

With this watch as the 'final piece in the puzzle', I am happy to look no further and not feel that I'd miss out on any other watches, vintage or otherwise. There have been so many that I've eyed or considered - the Carrera 12 Dato, the Camaro 7220, the blue Skipper, the Rindt 2446 Autavia, the Rolex 5513 and 1016, the Grand Seiko 6146, but these will have to wait for another lifetime, or the next midlife crisis!

It's been an exhilarating and educational few years, where I've met lots of fellow collectors even more passionate that I am, and had the privilege of making more than a couple of friends, but I am finally content to proudly declare that I have 'completed' my vintage collection, themed around the the first automatic automatic chronographs, and other iconic watches, of 1969!

1971 japanese Zenith watch ad

1969 Omega flightmaster 910 ST145.013

Omega flightmaster 910, ST145.013, circa 1969

I was clearly in trouble now....not too long ago I had 5 vintage pieces, but with three recently acquired vintage Seikos, I now had 8 watches!

All of them had the world's first automatic chronograph movements (Heuer cal 11, Zenith El Primero 3019, and Seiko 6139A), and all dated from 1969 to 1972, bar one - my Heuer Autavia 11630P had the later Heuer cal.12 movement, and dated to approximately 1974, too late for me, so I sadly made the very reluctant decision to let it go.

Thankfully, I managed to find it a good home, and in it's place, I was very lucky to find (from a very cool collector of vintage guitars and watches in Sweden - thanks Arne!) a very early example of the Omega flightmaster 910, ST145.013, first released in 1969!

But why the manual winding flightmaster, one might ask? It's not in keeping with my theme of first automatic chronographs from Heuer, Zenith and Seiko, right? Well, the flightmaster is unique in it's own way, and very much an iconic watch of 1969 - how many watches, vintage or otherwise, can boast of having, in addition to the standard two chrono pushers, such a distinctive over-sized case, three crowns, and seven hands??

Plus, this was one of the very first flightmaster 910s (looking exactly like the one featured on the original flightmaster box - see above) - with no dots on either side of the 12 o'clock marker, and 'solid' pushers.

Early flightmasters supposedly had either solid red (for general public) or solid yellow (for pilots) chrono pushers, but in subsequent productions, Omega changed the 'solid' pushers to the distinctive, but much more common, 'half red, half yellow' pusher variant! Betcha didn't know that! =P

It also has the earlier 1159/155 bracelet/endlinks, which apparently were only used in the first year of flightmaster production, before it was replaced by the 1162/172 bracelet/endlinks.

In any case, I think no vintage watch collection from the late 60s/ early 70s can be considered complete without an Omega! 

I used to own a Jan 1970 pre-moon 861 Speedmaster ST145.022, which I never bonded with, but there was no such problem with this flightmaster 910 - I instantly fell in love with the funky colourful dial and the chunky case, which by the way, is very very comfortable on the wrist, in case any of you were wondering!

Original flightmaster box and manual

Heuer, Zenith and Seiko - the holy trinity of first automatic chronographs!

(L-R) Zenith A384, Monaco 1133G, Seiko 6139-6010, Autavia1163MH

I'm soooo thrilled to have found this little Seiko to 'complete' my collection!

As you may know, my humble little vintage watch collection is centred around the first automatic chronograph movements that came out in 1969, my birth year.

It's widely regarded that the three companies (Heuer, Zenith and Seiko) all managed to announce, and release these watches for general retail, sometime in 1969, with sometime being the operative word.

As documented by various internet resources, including this Hodinkee article by Blake Buettner, Jeff Stein's excellent 'Project 99' article, and this much less quoted but equally informative article The Great Race of '69 by Gisbert Brunner, it seems that:

- Zenith was the first to announce their El Primero 3019 movement in Jan 1969, but these went on sale to the public many months later in Oct 1969.

- The Heuer consortium was next, introducing their Cal.11 movement in March 1969, with public sales beginning around August 1969.

- In the meantime (pun intended), on the other side of the world, Seiko had apparently announced their 6139 movement in May 1969, with actual production samples quickly available for sale almost immediately after, in June 1969! Indeed, there are several JDM (Japan Domestic Market) 6139 samples amongst Seiko collectors with serial numbers dating to March 1969, and even (at least) two samples from Feb 1969 (see here and here)!!!

I'm not about to get into a discussion of which of these companies should hold the title of being truly THE FIRST to have an automatic chronograph movement...

Firstly (pun intended), there are many ways to interpret 'FIRST' - first to have a successful prototype? First to announce to the world? First to enter mass production? First to have a customer walk into a store, purchase, and slap it on his/ her wrist?

Secondly, these discussions can become terribly disagreeable and unfriendly - see here for an example - started off fine, but quickly degenerated into many pages of heated argument and ugliness.

And lastly, it's entirely pointless, cos the advent of these first automatic chronograph movements was quickly overshadowed by a more significant horological event that happened in 1969 (no, not the moon landing with the Omega 321 Speedmaster!) - the ominous arrival of the first commercial quartz watch, the Seiko (again!) Astron.....within a decade, these pesky quartz watches would have contributed to the decline and near-demise of the entire Swiss mechanical watch industry....

Heuer 1163MH Autavia with Cal.11, circa 1970

Heuer 1133G Monaco with Cal.11, circa 1970

Zenith El Primero A384 with 3019 movement, circa 1970/71

So anyways, having already owned two Heuers with the Cal.11 movement - a timelessly handsome pre-Viceroy Autavia 1163MH and a very McQueen-cool Monaco 1133G; and a Zenith El Primero A384 with the 3019 movement (with it's very distinctive angular tonneau case and 'ladder' bracelet), I've been looking hard for a Seiko with the 6139 movement.

Seikos are indeed plentiful on the used market (yes, even the 6139) - go onto Ebay and you'll easily find a gazillion 6139s at any one time - problem is, a lot of these are 'put-together' or parts watches.

Also, I didn't want just any old Seiko 6139 - preferably I wanted an early JDM specimen with 'Seiko 5 Speed-timer' markings on the dial, Proof dial, Proof caseback, notch case (the Seiko folks will know what I'm talking about), and a 21J 6139A movement (instead of the later 17J 6139B).

So, after casting my search-net worldwide for many monthly without fruit, last week I stumbled upon one on my home turf, Singapore!

It looked almost correct - Seiko 5 Speed-timer 'Proof' dial, 'Proof' caseback with serial number 01xxxx dating to Jan 1970, 21J 6139A movement, recessed dimpled crown, and it even had the period correct bracelet (the flimsiest bracelet design EVER, in my opinion).

The only thing 'wrong' with it is that the running chrono hand seems to be of the later type rather than the earlier 2-piece type! =(

I'm especially pleased to see this model appearing in the last page of a 1969 Seiko watch catalog (courtesy of Isthmus, global moderator of the excellent Seiko and Citizen Watch Forum)!!

Seiko 5 Speed-timer 21J 6139-6010 Sports Water 70m Proof

So when I viewed the actual watch on offer, it was prettier than in the pictures, and in pretty good condition (save for the bracelet, which is on it's last legs), but the seller did not know the service history, nor whether it was even running accurately at all - he sold new Seikos and Casio G-Shocks - what did he care about a 40+ year old vintage watch?

But for a price that couldn't even buy a quarter of a vintage Gay Freres bracelet, I just couldn't pass this up!

And what a punt it turned out to be - the watch runs smoothly and flawlessly, the kanji day-wheel, and even the bracelet, has it's own retro charm, and it didn't even need winding! The 6139 movement has no hand-winding capability - I suspect this was Seiko's clever way of forcing you to wear their 6139s on a daily basis in order to keep them running!

So here you have it...I proudly present you, quite possibly the first online photos of these classic 40+ year old icons with the world's first three automatic chronograph movements (Heuer Cal.11, Zenith El Primero 3019, and Seiko 6139A), together in a group shot.....enjoy!!

10 Essential Rules for the Aspiring Audiophile

A note of thanks and appreciation to the following: my uncle Su Lim who first started me on this hi-fi journey; my audiophile mentors Kuo YH, Ashley Elias, Sim TS, and Gabriel of Zenn Audio; and last but not least, the members of the group RFSG Vinyl, who have rekindled my passion for good music, and made me rediscover how fun this hobby can be - thanks guys!

The following are some basic rules that I didn't have the luxury of knowing when I started out on this hobby. After lots of painful trial and error, I think I finally have some of it figured out. 

Hopefully, some day I'd understand 'em all and achieve audiophilic nirvana, and maybe then I can finally stop buying audiophile grade CDs....

Listening Room, circa Jan 2008

1. Optimise the listening room.

If you have the luxury of a dedicated room, good for you! Most of the rest of us have to make do with a room that doubles up as the AV room, bedroom, study, living hall etc. Even then, it’s possible to optimise the room from an acoustic point of view.

Firstly, the room has to be balanced between acoustically live and acoustically dead. The average real-life room with lots of furniture, junk and gear should be fine, but beware of large swaths of glass or bare wall or floor - if you can discern echoes from hand-claps while walking about the room, it won’t hurt to lay down a rug or two, or a set of curtains.

Next, the speakers need to be positioned correctly – here there’s lots of resources online – the Cardas golden-ratio method, the Rule of Thirds etc. – so you’re welcome to explore and experiment, but do note that a correctly positioned pair of speakers will likely to be far out enough from the wall to incur (gasp!) The Disapproval Of The Wife, so be-warned.

Most people will place the rest of their audio or AV gear in the space between the speakers, but do note that this will negatively affect the speaker’s sound projection. Ditto for any piece of furniture (e.g. study desk or coffee table) between the speakers and you at your listening position.

If, and when, you get your listening room right, this is what should happen when you sit down at the listening position and close your eyes - the speakers, the whole system, should disappear sonically. With your eyes closed, you should not be able to discern where the speakers are - in front of you should just be a 'wall of sound'.
If, and when, you can achieve this - congratulations!

CEC ST930 turntable, Jelco SA250ST arm, Ortofon Rohmann cartridge, circa April 2013

2. Proportion the budget right.

This depends on how many sources of music you intend to play – obviously the more sources you want the more you’re going to have to spend. To keep this simple, let’s assume you just need one source, e.g. a turntable.

I would suggest a 3:3:3:1 split as a starting point, i.e. 30% of your budget for each of the source, amplification and speakers, leaving 10% for the rest (cables etc.).

There will obviously be much variability in this, but if you are eyeing a CD player costing twelve hundred bucks when your budget is two grand, then you might be in for a bit of a fix.

3. Find the love-of-your-life speakers.

The most important item to nail down right is the speakers. I cannot emphasize this point enough!

Just think of the speakers as your life partner. The same way you’d want to take your time to find the right life partner you truly love, you’d want to take your time to find the pair of speakers that you, your ears, and your heart truly love. Reviews and all can help, but at the end of the day, you’ve got to like, no, love how the speakers sound – you’re the one who’s going be listening to them day in day out, not anyone else.

So the same way you’d want to choose the girlfriend you wanna go out with, not the one your mother wants you to go out with; choose the speakers that you like, not the ones that the Stereophile reviewer likes.

Yugoslavian EI 6CA7s, Antique Sound Labs AQ1008 amps, circa Jan 2008

4. Match the amp to your speakers.

Once you’re found the speaker love of your life, then this next rule is easy – get the amp that best drives your chosen speaker. Do note that this might be easier said than done – getting a correct speaker-amplifier pairing can be a black art, but there are a few tricks....

The store where you bought your speakers – what amplification did they use to drive them?

When your speakers were designed, what was the amplification used? For example, Robin Marshall famously used Naim amplification when designing the Epos 14 speaker.

Go onto the forums – is there a particular pairing that many people seem to rave about?

Do note that good amplification often don’t come cheap, and cheap amplification often don’t sound good.

Lastly, just because the speaker and the amp share the same brand does not automatically make them an ideal pairing. Case in point – my Mission 751 speakers sound terrible with a Rotel integrated, pretty darn good with a Mission Cyrus amp, but exceedingly wonderful with an Audiolab 8000A!

Cyrus CDP, Audiolab 8000A, circa March 2013

5. Get the best source component that your budget allows.

You’d think this is an obvious no brainer, but what a lot of budding audiophiles tend to do is to overspend on fancy downstream gear, and then buying an entry-level source component.

As with most men’s toys, entry-level gear tends to get outgrown very quickly, thus it often makes more sense to go straight for mid-level gear right from the get-go.

Also, for the same quantum of money, it’s often more worthwhile buying used mid-level gear than new entry-level gear.

6. Don’t go overboard on accessories.

I’m going to stick my neck out here and boldly proclaim that if you follow the rules above and get the room, speaker, amp and source right, then accessories like cables and power cords etc. are going to matter much less - as in you won’t need to over-spend on hideously overpriced accessories and tweaks cos you’ve already got your basic components right.

The reverse is also true – if you’ve got your room acoustics wrong, or a poor source component, or a amp-speaker mismatch, then no amount of exotic cable upgrading, fancy tuning devices, power conditioners, tube socks, cleaning fluid, or green marker pens is going to right the fundamentally wrong sound.

7. Listen with your heart, not your ears.

The typical audiophile should be listening out for airy trebles, neutral midrange, tight bass, soundstage, detailing, micro-dynamics, PRAT etc. correct? My tip? Forget about all that!

Sit down, close your eyes, and just feel the music. Does it make you feel relaxed, or joyful, or as if you’re in a live performance? Do you feel an emotional connection to the music? Are you losing yourself in the song? Or does it make you tense, uneasy, wanting to get up and change the track?

If it’s the former, congratulations! If it’s the latter, time to go back - you’ve done something wrong somewhere (or you’ve used a non-audiophile approved disc! =P)
Also, it's important to make your judgement only after prolonged listening. A lot of hi-fi gear sounds great on first listen - be careful here - often these will tire you and your ears out on prolonged listening. But if you find that you can sit and listen to, and enjoy, the music over a prolonged session, then you're on to something.

David Ng, Mosaic Music Festival, March 2011

8. Listen to, and take reference from, live music.

Often, the audiophile will expect his speakers to reproduce tight bass – bass tighter than the botox-ed butt of that aging Hollywood star, but have you ever heard a plucked double bass in real life? A real life double bass doesn’t sound as ‘tight’ as your audiophile recording will have you believe. You don’t have to take my word – go have a listen for yourself!

So do go check out a classical concert, play a musical instrument, attend a live gig. Listen to, and learn, what real live music sounds like, and use that as a reference when tuning your hi-fi.

Collection, circa Jan 2013

9. Don’t limit your listening to just audiophile-approved recordings.

Just think – what percentage of recorded music has been recorded and released in an audiophile-approved format? 1%? 0.1% I don’t know, but you get my point – there’s a shitload of music out there that’s not pressed using Fancy Acronym Technology (FAT) on 188gm virgin vinyl using half speed mastering, and you’ll be missing out of all of that if you only listen to audiophile stuff.

10. Learn from your mistakes, and share on your experiences!

Lastly, in this audiophile journey, you’re going to make mistakes. Nobody’s going to get it all correct the first time.

You’re not going to believe the number of audiophile boo-boos I’ve committed and the amount of audiophile snake-oil I’ve fallen for - drinking by the label, buying entry level junk, wrong amp-speaker pairing, wrong speaker positioning - I’ve done ‘em all!

It’s ok - I was young and stupid then (now I’m just stupid). It’s called ‘school fees’ – we’ve all had to pay them one way or the other.

BUT we can learn from the mistakes of others! It’s in this spirit that I’ve penned this article…hopefully someone out there will read this and benefit from the folly of my audiophile ways.

Disclaimer.

I’ve been listening to hi-fi for many years, but that doesn’t make me an expert – the same way a lifetime of farting doesn't make anyone an authority on flatulence.

The above are my personal observations - you don’t have to agree with it, or even believe any of it.

If any of the above offends your own audiophile believes and inclinations – it’s ok, you don’t have to write in to complain – the world hasn’t ended and nobody's died - just close the page and move on to another Internet site – but thank you for reading this far anyway! =)

Michell Gyrodec turntable, Graham 1.5c tonearm, Ortofon Rohmann cartridge, circa Dec 2011