The Zenith Captain Winsor Annual Calendar is one of the best value propositions today. It features an annual calendar module, using the simplified mechanism Ludwig Oechslin designed for the MIH watch, on top of the El Primero calibre. All of that in a watch that retails for about US$8000 in steel.

Previously the Winsor Annual Calendar was available only with the guilloche dial and baton markers that are typical of the Zenith Captain line. A few weeks ago Zenith announced the new boutique edition of the Winsor, which has a new dial with railway track minute index and applied Arabic numbers.

I like the boutique edition in rose gold in particular. The dial is glossy white lacquer which goes well with the rose gold numbers and blue steel hands. It is slightly reminiscent of the IWC Portuguese.

Each of the sub-dials and windows for the calendar are ringed in rose gold, giving this a more refined appearance than the regular edition. The “Annual Calendar” text beneath the Zenith logo doesn’t sit well with me though.

The boutique edition is also available in steel with a grey fumé dial. This mildly charred look was first used by H. Moser and I do not like it at all, though it does offer something unusual at a very reasonable price.

Compared with the first prototypes of the Captain Winsor from several years ago this boutique edition has improved considerably in terms of dial case and finishing, which were a major weakness before. The only shortcoming was the consistency of the printed text on the dial, but these were prototypes and I expect the production pieces to be superior. The boutique edition is priced the same as the regular Captain Winsor, but it will only be available at Zenith boutiques. In rose gold it retails for CHF20,200 (or SGD28,300) and in steel it is CHF9400 (or SGD13,800). – SJX