Zenith chronograph for Yugoslavia army with caliber 143-6 from the 50’s

Zenith chronograph for Yugoslavia army with caliber 143-6 from the 50’s

Yugoslavian Air Force ordered about 2000 pieces and handed them over to their pilots.

Beautiful patina round black dial Zenith chronograph in stainless steel. Each hour is marked with Arabic numerals. The watch has an outer ring for the minutes. Two sub dials for minutes at 3 o’clock and seconds at 9 o’clock. It is a “Swiss” model. The hands are in steel with “Squelette” style. It is a screwed back case with engraved in 916250 and outside “Zenith Swiss Made – 9106201 – Waterproof – Shockproof – Non Magnetic – Stainless Steel”. The watch has a manual wind Zenith movement with caliber 143-6 and 17 jewels. The watch is in good working condition. The watch comes with a green leather strap.

History

A man called Georges Favre Jacot set-up a company in 1865. He experienced a large successful offering pocket watches as accuracy as possible. In 1896, it won a gold medal at the Swiss National Exhibition. In 1960, Zenith takes over Martel Watch Co., which developed the calibers 285 and 749 for Universal. They became the 246 Zenith family. In 1969, Zenith introduces the first ever-automatic chronograph with central winding rotor, the mythical “El Primero”. Since 1999, the company is owned by LVMH. Their current leading products are “Chronomaster XXT”, the tourbillon chronograph, the “Traveler” and “Defy Xtreme”.

Technical details

Manual Wind Zenith movement with caliber 143-6 (Excelsior Park 4) with 17 jewels, 18,000 A/h. It is Swiss Made movement produced between 1945 and 1956.

Measurements

Diameter excluding winding crown: 37mm


Length including lugs: 43mm