The discovery of treasures hidden in the attic during the darkest days of the factory by Charles Vermot will be a game changer for Zenith.

This is the only reason we can say today that the first automatic winding clock movement in the world, the 1969 El Primero, was actually loaded into an A384 before the A386.

Since its revival in 2013, the A384 has been the subject of some of most emotional vintage-spec'ed reissues. Zenith x Revolution Chronomaster Revival ref was inspired by the A384's lore,Patek Philippe Replica Watches not to brag but we didn't want to oversell ourselves. A3818 Cover Girl in early February 2020.

Zenith's famed attic is still revealing more treasures. Treasures like the prototype watch which inspired the Chronomaster "Shadow" Zenith announced today.

The CEO of Zenith, Julien Tornare, shared with us the story behind the watch. He said that the prototype was found in an old box hidden in a room in the attic.

This prototype was in poor shape when found. The watch's condition also suggested that it had been in the same place for a long time. Romain Marietta, Panerai Replica's head of products and keeper of Zenith's history, shed light on the protoype, explaining that they discovered something important, and that they should make a new timepiece taking inspiration from the findings.

The prototype found isn't an A384, and it also doesn't have a round case. Julien says that the treatment of the watch was "PVD during those years". Zenith's team has discovered that the prototype exists in four different versions. One was found in the manufacturing process, another is not accounted for, and the two last examples were allegedly sold many years ago.

The team knows that one of the two last ones has been spotted in the auction world quite frequently. It was most recently seen on Hodinkee, where it sold to Zenith.