I recently purchased a Zenith Captain Central Second and thought of putting up a short review of the watch and the experience I’ve had with it so far.
I wanted a dress watch with a leather strap. A simple watch with a date complication. After browsing at different watches it came down to either a Baume & Mercier Clifton or the Zenith Captain central second.
After weeks & months of procrastinating and trying out the watches in different stores and even in a different country, I got the Zenith Captain central second. There were a few choices of dials, Black, silver & brown. In the end I got the black dial watch with silver indexes.
Please mind the photos as they were taken with an iphone.
Watch designThis watch comes in a stainless steel case, with brushed and polished finishes. The case measures 40mm. Sits very nicely on the wrist.
The watch dial colour is black sunray. You can only see the sunray effect when its exposed to sunlight.
The indexes and hands are faceted, which gives it a very nice finish.
The central second hand has a red tip which adds a nice contrast to the watch design.
This watch comes with a leather strap with a protective rubber lining. This lining really helps in our hot weather as the sweat from my arm wont affect the leather strap too much. The strap originally came with a pin buckle. But I decided to change to the folding clasp. Hopefully by using the folding clasp, the leather strap would last longer.
One of the things I like about this watch is its thinness. Not as thin as a higher end watch, but for the price I paid, its a pretty good deal. The case thickness is 8.15mm
MovementThis watch is powered by a Zenith Elite 670 movement. This movement was completely designed using CAD (computer aided design) and won the best new movement in 2004 (If I'm not mistaken)
The technical specs on the watch state a power reserve of 50 hours.
The decoration on the movement is nice which can be viewed through the sapphire glass case back.
ExperienceWhen purchasing the watch in the store, the sales guy wound the watch manually for me. A few turns on the crown and I put it on straight away. About 40 minutes later, the watch stops. Oh-oh something is not right. I manually windthe watch some more and the watch starts ticking again. After 30 minutes or so the watch stops again. I decide to try and charge the spring in the movement by moving my hands (auto winding).. the watch starts going again, but after 30 or so minutes, it stops again.
I give up and decide to bring it to the LVMH watch service centre in Kuala Lumpur.
The next day I send the watch in for a check. The customer service representative at the counter was shocked to see the date on the warranty card.. Purchased yesterday and already there’s a problem.
They take my watch to check and a few minutes later tell me that it needs a minor adjustment. About 20 minutes later my watch is returned and seems to be working fine. I asked them what was wrong and all they said was they had to adjust something in the movement..
After wearing the watch on my wrist everyday for 5 straight days, I decide to let it rest to check on the power reserve, What I found was that the power reserve was only 26 hours or so.
I decide to repeat the same thing the following week. When I put the watch to rest, the power reserve was still at 26 hours.
So this time I decide to contact Zenith through their website. I explained the situation with the low power reserve after purchasing the watch and after sending it in to the service centre.
A few days later, a representative from LVMH Singapore replied my email. She said that its normal for my watch to behave the way it does and that a representative from Malaysia will call me to explain things. 1 week goes by and still no phone call. Finally 2 weeks later someone from LVMH Malaysia calls me and says that they need to re-look at the watch again. So I said no problem I’ll send in the watch to the service centre when I’m free.
A few days later, I manage to send in the watch, the customer care Exec who contacted me was on hand to explain to me about my watch. He said there could be 2 problems with the watch that is causing the low power reserve:-
1. The hour, minutes & second hands could be touching. The clearance between these 3 hands is very small due to the slim case design and therefore the possibility of these hands touching each other could happen. When this happens the movement loses its power reserve faster due to the increased power required to overcome this friction (of touching hands)
2. The rotor could be sticky and is not charging the spring adequately.
So they take in my watch again. Apologies were given along with a complementary Zenith branded pen. The pen is nice and comes in a nice presentation box.
1 week later when I was nearby the service centre, I decide to call them and check whether my watch is ready for collection. The customer rep checks and says the watch is ready.
After lunch I proceed to the centre and confusion occurs, the customer rep checks at the back office and says that my watch has been serviced but they are still monitoring it to check the power reserve. They need another week to monitor the watch.
However, she says that I can take back the watch now if I am unable to return next week.
I decide to take the watch back since I miss having this watch on my wrist. Its still under warranty and I can always bring it back in if they are any problems, which I hope there isn’t.
I asked her what was wrong with the watch, and she replied there was a low power reserve and it has been serviced.
I ask her again what exactly was the problem and that if she could check with her technician. She goes to the back office and returns and says there is a dent on the case and this might have compromised the movement. They serviced the movement and it should be working fine now. They’re not very helpful when you want to know more bout the technical aspects of what went wrong with your watch.
What I noticed after the service was that the rotor moves more freely compared to before the service.
I wore the watch daily for about 3 days and let it rest after. When I let it rest crown up the power reserve lasted for about 33 hours.
I told myself I’ll repeat this next week, this time wearing the watch for 5 days daily. When I let it rest with the crown facing down, the power reserve lasted for 27 hours.
After 2 weeks of tests, the power reserve is still very much below the stated specifications. Guess the service done by the watch service centre did not manage to fix the problem. I’m still undecided on whether to send the watch back to the service centre. But somehow I’m not disheartened by the low power reserve. Guess I like the watch that much!
Thanks for reading.
p.s. What would you do if you were in my situation? Send the watch back for service or live with the low power reserve.