Zenith CP-2, a New Riff for Vintage Mil Watch Fans.

A wrong, righted.

In the spring of 2016, Zenith announced they would reissue their historic cronometro polso, or wrist chronograph, and I was immediately smitten. That fall, I found a brand new one at an authorized dealer in the US, but the $7700 price tag was out of my reach. When the AD sensed I was wriggling off the hook, they offered a significant discount off retail and 0% financing for a year. I took the bait hook, line, and sinker. I registered the watch with Zenith to extend my warranty and proceeded to fall head over heels with it over the next several years.

The Zenith CP-2 on Horween’s Bourbon shell cordovan.

I always had it in mind to write a review of the watch here on the Rover Haven blog, but for no particular reason I just never got around to it. And then in February of 2023, after six-and-half years of ownership, I sold the watch to my good friend Matt. He and I have been comparing notes and trading watches since 2010, and he had claimed dibs on the Zenith when I bought it. The winter of 2023 saw some significant house projects and two transatlantic trips for me, and although I loved the watch, I had to admit that maybe the honeymoon was over, so moving it on to a good home made sense, right? Well, maybe intellectually, but it never felt right in my watch heart. And I guess I should be glad, since the CP-2 that Zenith is producing today has a significantly higher price tag.

Exquisite dial details of the Zenith CP-2.

A year later, I confessed to my buddy Matt that I still missed the watch. And to my only somewhat small amazement he offered that he’d gladly consider sending the Zenith back my way. So perhaps for the first time in my watch collecting journey I cashed in on reverse dibs. The Zenith arrived on a Friday, and on the following Saturday morning my long-suffering spouse and I departed on a previously planned overnight adventure to the New Riff Distillery in Newport, Kentucky. It seemed like the perfect time to right a wrong, and do a weekend-on-the-wrist review of the mighty Zenith.

At the New Riff Distillery, awaiting our 2 pm tour.

A Brief Primer on the CP-2.

In the late 1950s, the Italian armed forces needed to renew their historic Type 1 “cronometro polso”, or CP-1 wrist chronograph, that was standard equipment for pilots of the Aeronautica Militare Italiana and the Matricola Militare. The CP-1 had been produced most notably by Leonidas and was a hand-wound 38.5 mm chronograph that utilized the Valjoux 222 with flyback complication. The new technical specifications called for perfect legibility, a larger 43 mm case that could be worn over pilots’ flight suits, and good access to the pushers and bezel. The hand-wound Zenith Calibre 146 DP was one of the most renowned and reliable movements available at the time, and so it was selected as the movement for the CP-2.

The CP-1 as produced by Leonidas. Image compliments of Andrea Foffi @meridianae.com.

In a way that was common in the 1960’s, the watch was procured by the Italian military through Zenith’s Rome-based distributor, A. Cairelli, so the dial of the original CP-2 has this name right on it just above the 6. One of the most beautiful military-issued chronographs of all time, the Zenith CP-2 was worn by the pilots of the famous American Lockheed F-104 Starfighter, my favorite real-life Johnny Quest fighter jet when I was a lad. Zenith made 2500 of these watches in the 1960’s for the Italian government, and today the originals are rare, wildly collectible, and expensive.  Design-wise, they are a close cousin to the Heuer 1550SG, so of course the CP-2 has always appealed to me.  Little wonder, then, that the re-issued watch exerted such a gravity-like pull on me.

One that got away, the Sinn-dialed Heuer 1550SG.

There is a ton of information on the Web about Zenith’s 2016 release of the CP-2 reissue, so I will let your fingers do the walking if you want more background information about it. I found Hodinkee’s original review from October 2016 to be quite interesting. What you won’t find, however, is long term ownership experiences, so I hope to correct that here.

On the Wrist.

Although 43 mm sounds huge, the relatively short lugs and low height of the watch make for a very wearable timepiece. The Heuer 1550SG exhibits this same magic, by the way, so don’t let the dimensions scare you off if you are interested in pursuing either of these amazing watches. The 22 mm strap bars on the CP-2 (removable spring-loaded jobbies, of course) are located far enough along the lugs to give ample clearance between your strap and the apex of the case. The day my CP-2 arrived back home with me, I made a 22/18 Arts & Crafts strap in Horween’s rare Bourbon color for it. I mean, given our upcoming travel plans, what choice did I have?

Paired for adventure, or bourbon tasting.

I would go so far as to say that second only to the Speedy Pro, that Strap Monster To End All Strap Monsters of a watch, the CP-2 is your proverbial strap oyster awaiting the pearls of your strap collection. Love the romance of a rustic leather pilot’s strap? It’ll fit, and it’ll look great. More of a 1970’s nylon NATO type? The CP-2’s low height and location of the strap bars mean it rides great on your beefiest, seat-beltiest NATO strap.

The CP-2 wears great on a thick, beefy nylon NATO strap.

The CP-2’s bi-directional bezel has a silky smooth, 120-click action; if I’m being honest, I’d prefer a little more worsted wool resistance and a little less spun silk smoothness. But having said that, the easy action of mine has never been disrupted by an errant Two-Hearted-Ale-fueled bump while grilling steaks or, you know, flying my F-104 Starfighter at Mach 2.1. And having all 60 minutes actually graduated on the bezel is a welcome detail, and should cause innumerable dive watches that give up on minute hachures after 15 or 20 minutes immeasurable embarassment.

Relaxing with the CP-2.

El Primero.

The new CP-2 is powered by Zenith’s El Primero automatic chronograph movement. I wish I could show you a picture of mine, but the watch has a solid caseback so pictures will have to wait for servicing time. The star of the show here is the 36,000 vph frequency of the movement, giving both the continuous and chronograph seconds hands a smooth, fluid motion. Your eye can barely detect the individual ticks and tocks, which is just a neat detail that never fails to thrill your inner watch nerd. I have one other watch with a 36K vph movement, my Guinand AS Flieger.

El Primero caliber 4069. Image compliments of Hodinkee.

New Riff.

We arrived at the distillery in plenty of time for our 2 pm tour and met up with friends. New Riff was founded in 2014 by an entrepreneur named Ken Lewis. One thing I appreciate about New Riff, besides the amazing whiskey they produce, is that they didn’t find some old, defunct brand name to dust off and re-invent with a dubious backstory, a strategy as common in the bourbon biz as it is in the watch industry. It is a new brand, making some of the finest bourbon whiskeys, all produced to the Bottled in Bond quality standard, at a very affordable price point. A bottle costs $45 in my state, but drinks like a $100 bourbon in any state. There are rarities available only at the distillery, as well, such as an incredible and difficult to describe sour mash single malt whiskey. Imagine an all malt whiskey made with traditional bourbon techniques, and you’ll get close.

If scotch and bourbon had puppies.

After our tour and tasting, we stopped in the gift shop to pick up a t-shirt for a friend back home and a bottle or two for ourselves. Then it was back to the room for a pre-dinner happy hour, where I used the CP-2 to time an improvised champagne chill in the hotel’s ice bucket. How on earth people survive without a cronometro polso at the ready is a mystery to me.

Happy hour, at last.

After dinner out in Covington, Kentucky, we found a splendid Irish bar called Molly Malone’s, where I happened to meet a trio of Guinness-quaffing DHL pilots. They were from Belgium, France, and Germany, respectively, and flew an Airbus A330. I was hoping one of them would notice the Zenith on my wrist, but they were all wearing soulless digital thingamajigs, so I suppose it’s little wonder that they didn’t. Sigh.

Do you own a Zenith CP-2 or other Zenith chronograph? I love hearing from readers and welcome your comments and factual corrections. Please share your thoughts below, and thanks for reading.