The Range Rover and Zenith El Primero chronograph

The year 1969 saw the creation of two of the most important landmarks in the parallel worlds of car design and watch making: Range Rover and #zenith.

In England, a team at the Rover car company led by Charles Spencer King first put pen to paper to create a vehicle that combined the off-road capabilities of a Land Rover with the comfort of the best-appointed saloon - the result of which was dubbed 'Velar' at the development stage before finally being given a name that has since come to be recognised the world over: Range Rover.

On January 10, 1969 meanwhile, the Swiss manufacturer presented a fully working prototype of the world's first self-winding chronograph movement, which it called the famous

El Primero chronograph movement, or 'the first'. Capable of recording elapsed times down to one-tenth of a second thanks to its ‘high-beat' oscillator, it was the most accurate wrist chronograph ever made.

Both the Range Rover and the #elprimero continue to be recognised as class-leaders in their respective fields. The latest, fourth-generation Range Rover because it combines supreme luxury with outstanding performance and off-road capability, and the #elprimero because, after 47 years, it is still the most precise, series-produced mechanical chronograph movement on the market.