The Breitling Watch Source Forums

I found this cool diagram of my beloved caliber 11 movement on the internet...

a few questions for the experts:

1) what makes this different from the Zenith/Movado "El Primero" movement? I can clearly see the most obvious, which is the rotor design comparing the two.
2) The watch movement is independent from the chronograph movement for the caliber 11 correct? Two sandwiched movements put together? My assumptions correct?
3) Besides any biased opinions from us being Breitling lovers, which movement out of the two from a design point of view is better?
4) Why are these Zenith "El Primero"s more expensive? (I want one... just to say the fact that I have both of the world's first auto chrono watches, shall I say first Breitling and second Zenith )

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"I don't got the bright watch I got the right watch" -Jay Z

The "El Primero" was the first integrated automatic chronograph. It was designed from the ground up as a movement providing all the features. The Breitling/Hamilton/Heuer cal. 11 was the world's first automatic chronograph. The difference is that the cal. 11 is a marriage of the Buren 1281 automatic movement with the Dubois - Depraz 8510 chronograph.

The rotor on the Buren 1281 was designed to keep the movement thinner. When the rotor is on the outside of the plates, as in almost all automatics, it makes the movement, and ultimately the cased watch, thicker.

There were some modifications to the 1281 when it was joined to the 8510, but essentially they are two different pieces.

There is a multitude of information available on the internet.

http://www.timezone.com/library/archive ... 4105468750 is some information on the cal.11 movement.

There is a discussion of the cosmo here: http://forums.watchuseek.com/showthread.php?t=4034

As to the prices, who knows? Mystique? Desirability? Name? All of these are factors in the amount one person is willing to pay and another is willing to take for something.

Hope this helps

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1809 Cosmonaute
1903 Navi
Navi Olympus
Super Avenger

In terms of value there is also the perception that the El Primero still lives as Zenith use the El Primero name today, albeit a rather different family of movements.

The popular belief is of course also that the Zenith was the first automatic chronograph movement. Technically that's true, beating the calibre 11 by about 8 weeks although the 11 was marketed first in a watch.