FLOAT 100 · Watches · No. 95
Zenith Chronomaster Sport
Fifty-two years after the El Primero beat everyone to the automatic chronograph, Zenith finally gave its movement a sports watch that made it a mainstream hit, with a seconds hand that sweeps the whole dial every ten seconds.
- Year
- 2021-present
- Maker
- Zenith
- By price in watches
- 76 of 100
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Create a free account- Maker
- Zenith, Le Locle, Switzerland (LVMH since 1999)
- Launched
- January 2021
- Reference
- 03.3100.3600 family; 03.3100.3600/21.M3100 is black dial on steel bracelet
- Case
- 41 mm stainless steel, 13.6 mm thick, about 46.2 mm lug to lug, 100 m
- Bezel
- Black ceramic, engraved with a 1/10-second scale
- Movement
- Automatic El Primero 3600: 36,000 vph (5 Hz), column wheel, 60-hour power reserve
- Signature
- Central chronograph hand makes one full turn in 10 seconds, reading to 1/10 second
- Dials
- Black lacquer or matte white with gray, slate and blue registers
- Launch price
- $9,500 on strap, $10,000 on steel bracelet
A sports watch for a 1969 movement
Zenith unveiled the El Primero on January 10, 1969, as the first high-frequency automatic chronograph movement. It beat at 36,000 vibrations per hour, or 5 Hz, fast enough in principle to divide a second into tenths. For half a century, though, the El Primero lived mostly in vintage-style Chronomaster and Revival watches, in the futuristic Defy line, and, from 1988 to 2000, in modified form inside the Rolex Daytona.
In January 2021 Zenith introduced a duo that filled the gap between those extremes: the Chronomaster Sport. It took cues from classic El Primero chronographs and from the under-appreciated Zenith De Luca, and paired a panda or reverse-panda dial with a ceramic bezel and a thoroughly modern movement.
The comparison everyone made was with the Rolex Daytona, a watch that used to run on an El Primero. At launch one reviewer noted the ceramic-bezel Daytona 116500LN retailed for $13,100 but was trading for $25,799 and up on the secondary market, against $9,500 to $10,000 for the Zenith.
The El Primero 3600 and the ten-second hand
The new caliber, the El Primero 3600, first appeared in a few limited editions around 2019 for the movement's 50th anniversary, with the date at six o'clock. The Chronomaster Sport moved the date to 4:30.
The 3600 keeps the 5 Hz beat and the column wheel but adds what owners of older El Primeros asked for: hacking seconds, a quick-set date and a 60-hour power reserve. Its party trick is that the central chronograph hand runs once around the dial every ten seconds, so the hand itself reads tenths of a second against the scale on the bezel. Zenith lists 311 components; one launch review counted 314, down from 326 in the El Primero 400.
The movement is finished with blued screws and a star-shaped rotor.
How to identify one
The steel case is 41 mm across and 13.6 mm thick, with about 46.2 mm lug to lug, beveled edges, a mix of brushed and polished surfaces, pump-style pushers, and 100 meters of water resistance. The black ceramic bezel carries the 1/10-second scale.
The three registers keep the El Primero's tricolor scheme, in gray, darker slate and blue, each with a guilloché outer ring, and they barely touch instead of overlapping heavily as on vintage models. The two chronograph registers have red-tipped hands, and the date window at 4:30 matches the dial color.
The core references are steel with black lacquer or matte white dials, on a rubber strap with a Cordura-like finish and steel deployant buckle, or on a steel bracelet. The black dial on bracelet is reference 03.3100.3600/21.M3100.
From two watches to a collection
The Chronomaster Sport has grown into one of Zenith's mainstream breakout hits. By April 2025 the range included titanium (without the ceramic bezel), two-tone steel and gold, solid gold on strap and on bracelet, gem-set gold models, and a blue ceramic edition for Zenith's 160th anniversary in 2025.
U.S. prices in April 2025 ran from $10,200 for steel on strap and $11,800 on bracelet, through $12,300 for titanium, $16,500 and $19,300 for two-tone, $22,700 for the blue ceramic anniversary piece, and $24,800 and $43,000 for solid gold, to around $100,000 for gem-set models. In October 2026 Zenith's U.S. site listed the black-dial steel bracelet model at $12,300.
The numbers
- Reference
- 03.3100.3600 (e.g. /21.M3100, black dial, bracelet)
- Caliber
- El Primero 3600, automatic, 311 components per Zenith
- Frequency
- 36,000 vph (5 Hz), 1/10-second chronograph
- Power reserve
- About 60 hours
- Case
- 41 x 13.6 mm, stainless steel, ceramic bezel, 100 m
- Production
- Since January 2021; numbers not published
Timeline
Georges Favre-Jacot begins making watches in Le Locle.
Zenith unveils the El Primero, the first high-frequency automatic chronograph movement.
Rolex begins using the El Primero in the Daytona (until 2000).
LVMH buys Zenith.
El Primero 3600 appears in limited editions for the movement's 50th anniversary.
Chronomaster Sport launched in black and white dial, strap and bracelet, at $9,500 and $10,000.
Blue ceramic Chronomaster Sport marks Zenith's 160th anniversary.
Steel prices stand at $10,200 on strap and $11,800 on bracelet.
Black-dial steel bracelet model listed at $12,300 by Zenith in the U.S.
The world in 2021
Supporters of President Donald Trump attack the U.S. Capitol.
Joe Biden is sworn in as the 46th U.S. president.
NASA's Perseverance rover lands on Mars in Jezero Crater.
The container ship Ever Given runs aground and blocks the Suez Canal until March 29.
The postponed 2020 Summer Olympics open in Tokyo.
The James Webb Space Telescope is launched.
Price record
| Date | Price | Kind |
|---|---|---|
| Jan 21, 2021 | $9,500 | Asking price, not a saleLaunch retail price, steel on strap. |
| Jan 21, 2021 | $10,000 | Asking price, not a saleLaunch retail price, steel on steel bracelet. |
| Apr 20, 2025 | $10,200 | Asking price, not a saleU.S. retail price, steel on strap. |
| Apr 20, 2025 | $11,800 | Asking price, not a saleU.S. retail price, steel on bracelet. |
| Oct 3, 2026 | $12,300 | Asking price, not a saleZenith U.S. list price, 03.3100.3600/21.M3100, black dial, steel bracelet. |
This is an asking price, not a sale. It is what a seller wanted on the date shown. Asking prices often sit above what buyers pay, but an ask is not a ceiling: a sale can land on either side of it. It is not a value.
By reference price, Zenith Chronomaster Sport is number 76 of 100 in the watches entries of the FLOAT 100. 54 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (95 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.
Did you know
- The chronograph seconds hand completes a full lap every ten seconds, not every minute.
- The tenth-of-a-second scale is on the ceramic bezel, not on the dial.
- The El Primero 3600 first appeared in a few limited editions with the date at six o'clock; the Chronomaster Sport moved it to 4:30.
- The Rolex Daytona that the Chronomaster Sport is compared with ran on a modified El Primero from 1988 to 2000.
- Zenith marked its 160th anniversary in 2025 with a blue ceramic Chronomaster Sport.
How this page is made
- The figure
- One reference price, shown with its own kind. FLOAT does not average it with anything or adjust it for time.
- Realized or not
- A realized price is a completed sale. An asking price, an estimate and a price-guide value are not sales, and are labeled as such wherever they appear.
- The story
- Researched from published records and checked fact by fact. Updated Oct 3, 2026.
- Archive
- Oct 5, 2026