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.
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