When we debuted the Zenith Chronomaster Sport back in 2021, we said: “What we have with the Zenith Chronomaster Sport is a luxury chronograph with an attractive mainstream design but a movement that will impress even the most jaded or seasoned watch enthusiast.” Almost exactly three years later, the collection still stands up to that claim, as it is still equipped with a modern version of Zenith’s mouth-watering “Striking 10th” movement with a 10-second central chronograph hand and the ability to measure time down to 1/10th of a second. Launching the collection into 2024 are three new references, a green bezel version on a steel bracelet or rubber strap, and an all-gold, gem-set version, a first for the Chronomaster Sport.

Gem-set chronographs are my kryptonite, so we’ll start with those — my Chrono24 notepad is full of obscure, ostentatious, and fantastic gem-set El Primeros and Daytonas listed for sale, and so, naturally, I love it when this dying genre receives a new impulse. The subdials feature roughly the same colors as those on the original El Primero that debuted in 1969: silver, dark gray, and blue, between 9, 6, and 3 o’clock, respectively. What’s fun here (or tragically tasteless, depending on who you ask) is that the bezel is set with four dozen sapphires that echo this color pattern, gradually going from a rich and saturated blue through dark gray to light gray.

You do lose the special 1/10th of a second readout from the bezel, which is a big price to pay — and that is before you see the bigger price still on the sticker. Still, the Chronomaster Sport, despite being called “Sport,” is a classy integrated bracelet chronograph watch with a more discreet 41mm diameter. As such, it wears this blingy, ’90s gold-and-sapphires outfit beautifully. Oh, have I mentioned that the dial is a meteorite, fitted with diamonds that look like light tubes? We must not gloss over that.

The other two versions are basically the same watch just with different strap options — you could say that both the bracelet and the strap should come in the box at this price and I’d be there to second that. We covered the Zenith Chronomaster Sport Aaron Rodgers limited edition watch hands-on, which was limited to just 250 pieces and rocked monochromatic subdials. For 2024, the green Chronomaster Sport is back, this time with the aforementioned historic subdial colors, which may be a developed taste against the green dial and bezel, especially with the blue subdial and the red details added into the mix. We’ll reserve final judgment for when we see these hands-on.

The movement inside remains the still relatively fresh El Primero 3600, built around the concept Zenith launched in 2010 when it finally figured out a way to utilize the El Primero’s 5Hz operating frequency to not only measure but also to display time with a tenth of a second accuracy. The solution then is what we still see today and it works brilliantly: Zenith replaced the ordinary 60-second central chronograph seconds display with one that was six times faster, therefore allowing for six times greater detail in legibility. The markers could be spread out further, leaving more space in between them where 10 notches for every tenth of a second could be placed and indeed read with reasonably good near-sight vision.

This then returned in 2019 with some 50th-anniversary limited edition El Primero watches, and then, in 2021, as part of the permanent Chronomaster Sport collection. It’s a great feature not because it’s the most useful feature ever but because it highlights the impressive nature and mechanical refinement that has lived inside every El Primero chronograph since 1969. Maybe if you have a really fast car, and you have a passenger to measure your 0-60 times with to-the-tenth accuracy, it comes in handy. You tell me below in the comments what other use scenarios you can think of but, again, the main utility of a “striking 10th” is to impress watch enthusiasts. The El Primero 3600 operates at 5Hz and matches that to an impressive 60-hour power reserve, which would be around 70 hours if matched to the lower and more common 4Hz frequency.

Be sure to read the green bezel Aaron Rodgers limited-edition watch hands-on and the debut article of the Chronomaster Sport, both of which we linked to above, to find a more in-depth analysis that is applicable to these new green and gem-set versions. We’ll end by repeating ourselves from 2021: “The Chronomaster Sport leans into what makes the high-beat El Primero so special” — let’s hope it stays on that track after the very recent changes to Zenith management that we reported on. The Zenith Chronomaster Sport watches with a green bezel are priced at 10,400 Swiss francs on the rubber strap and 10,900 Swiss francs on the steel bracelet, while the gem-set, all-gold piece is priced at an ambitious 98,000 Swiss francs. You can learn more at the brand’s website.