# Zenith Elite 681 Ultra Thin



## kafvyn

Hi Guys,

My new zenith elite ultra thin.


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## LouS

OUTstanding. Please post a few more pix when you get a moment - a lateral, and especially a wristshot|>


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## kurwenal

very strange to see this here today. I put exactly this new Elite is on my shortlist a few days ago, after realizing there is no classic "dresswatch" in my box.
truly a remarkable watch. Congratulations!, and thank you for showing. (Although I agree with Lou, more pictures would be wonderful!)


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## kafvyn

kurwenal said:


> very strange to see this here today. I put exactly this new Elite is on my shortlist a few days ago, after realizing there is no classic "dresswatch" in my box.
> truly a remarkable watch. Congratulations!, and thank you for showing. (Although I agree with Lou, more pictures would be wonderful!)


Hi

Thanks for your compliment. I am a sucker for dress watches,especially with small sub seconds. will post wristshot soon, when I am dress for work. cheers!


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## Gombrich

Very nice indeed! How thin is the Ultra-Thin? I know I could look it up but humour me.

Dave


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## Rickr23

That looks great, congrats.


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## D N Ravenna

Pretty sweet! Wear it in good health! 

Dan

Below is my dress watch. ;-)


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## kafvyn

kurwenal said:


> very strange to see this here today. I put exactly this new Elite is on my shortlist a few days ago, after realizing there is no classic "dresswatch" in my box.
> truly a remarkable watch. Congratulations!, and thank you for showing. (Although I agree with Lou, more pictures would be wonderful!)


Here it goes, wrist shot of zenith ultra thin


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## kafvyn

Gombrich said:


> Very nice indeed! How thin is the Ultra-Thin? I know I could look it up but humour me.
> 
> Dave


Although it is not as thin as JLC ultra thin, it is still tuck nicely under our cuff, it fact it looks better than JLC because of lug design, well of cos IMO only.


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## kurwenal

Thank you for the additional pics! Looks very good indeed!


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## LouS

Very elegant design. I could have wished that Zenith had downsized its new model cases 2mm across the board -- chronos at 40mm and dress watches at 38mm. The sleeker and more austere the dials are, the more inappropriately large they look to me. This is not apropos of these pix - I like this watch a lot - but of having tried the watches on myself.

Oh well, it is not the trend these days, and probably my perspective has been ruined by the vintage models.


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## kurwenal

yes; 40mm sounds almost too big for a dresswatch. But I have yet to try it on and see for myself. The older 37mm model I do not like for its rather large numbers. I prefer indexes to numbers.
Height is 7.6mm, by the way, and while this is 1.3 more than the JLC Ultra Thin 38, don't forget that the JLC is handwound.


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## LouS

kurwenal said:


> yes; 40mm sounds almost too big for a dresswatch. But I have yet to try it on and see for myself. The older 37mm model I do not like for its rather large numbers. I prefer indexes to numbers.
> Height is 7.6mm, by the way, and while this is 1.3 more than the JLC Ultra Thin 38, don't forget that the JLC is handwound.


I think the Zenith ranks right up there with the thinnest for an automatic. Over on the main forum there was some talk of a Blancpain Villeret being the thinnest, but on the Blancpain website, it shows a thickness of 8.55mm. There is a Longines (ref. L4.801.4.11.2) that is also 7.6mm.

I find the indices on kafvyn's watch sublime.


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## kurwenal

oh my. I saw two Ultra Thins, both white and black dial, in the window of an AD today. They also had the Captain Central Second there, which I don't like for its white date dial. Well, I walked in and tried the UTs on. They are beauties. kafvyn, as great as your pics are, the watch is even prettier. The dials have a kind of satin finish, and in the black version, the indexes seem to almost glow. The glass back shows the gorgeously decorated 681 movement. 
The flatness is spectacular; and the watch feels almost weightless. I'm usually not a fan of leather straps, but this one has a rubber coating on the inside which felt quite pleasant. It was hard to leave the store without a new watch around my wrist...


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## kafvyn

kurwenal said:


> oh my. I saw two Ultra Thins, both white and black dial, in the window of an AD today. They also had the Captain Central Second there, which I don't like for its white date dial. Well, I walked in and tried the UTs on. They are beauties. kafvyn, as great as your pics are, the watch is even prettier. The dials have a kind of satin finish, and in the black version, the indexes seem to almost glow. The glass back shows the gorgeously decorated 681 movement.
> The flatness is spectacular; and the watch feels almost weightless. I'm usually not a fan of leather straps, but this one has a rubber coating on the inside which felt quite pleasant. It was hard to leave the store without a new watch around my wrist...


Hi mate,

hope that it be on your wrist soon! cheers:-!


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## v76

I think the thinnest auto currently in serial production is the Paiget Altiplano 1208P (5.25 mm case thickness). The Vacheron Constantin Historique Ultra-Fine 1968 is another modern marvel of thinness (5.5 mm thick case). 

The original VC 1955 had a case thickness of just 4.1 mm, but that was a handwind model. Some of the micro-rotor autos from the '60s and '70s were very thin, but very few with under 8 mm case thickness, I think.

The old Elite 680 is infact thinner than the new ultra-thin 681, I had an example with under a 7 mm case thickness. The 680 movement is just 3.28 mm thick (one other popular thin caliber, the GP3300 is 3.2 mm thick).


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## Gombrich

Yes, the "Ultra-Thin" tag seems more marketing blurb than statement of fact. I have a cal 682 that's only 8mm case thickness and that's the dual timezone version.

That's not to take anything away from the new models which are really very nice indeed.

Dave


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## Hartmut Richter

The thinnest automatic movement ever is the Lassale Calibre 2000 at 2.08mm. However, this was apparently fraught with problems and it is said (in the German watch literature) that the new Piaget calibre, at 2.35mm, is the thinnest "reliable" movement. Another thin calibre is the Patek Philippe cal. 240 with 2.4mm thickness. Both are microrotor movements. The thinnest central rotor movement I can think of offhand was the Longines 990. This did have some stability problems as well and it was only unidirectional winding. The Girard Perregaux 3xxx family is 2.98mm thick and unidirectionally winding whereas the Zenith "Elite" is 3.28mm and is bidirectionally winding. On the whole, the Zenith "Elite" is therefore still one of the slimmest (perhaps even *the *slimmest) movements of its type.

Hartmut Richter


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## D N Ravenna

Hartmut Richter said:


> The thinnest automatic movement ever is the Lassale Calibre 2000 at 2.08mm. However, this was apparently fraught with problems and it is said (in the German watch literature) that the new Piaget calibre, at 2.35mm, is the thinnest "reliable" movement. Another thin calibre is the Patek Philippe cal. 240 with 2.4mm thickness. Both are microrotor movements. The thinnest central rotor movement I can think of offhand was the Longines 990. This did have some stability problems as well and it was only unidirectional winding. The Girard Perregaux 3xxx family is 2.98mm thick and unidirectionally winding whereas the Zenith "Elite" is 3.28mm and is bidirectionally winding. On the whole, the Zenith "Elite" is therefore still one of the slimmest (perhaps even *the *slimmest) movements of its type.
> 
> Hartmut Richter


It is all really quite interesting. A watch, being a mechanical device, relies on precise alignment of the parts to work reliably as well as tell time accurately. It only takes a small amount of misdirection or twist to make things go awry. The same goes for tolerances when putting together the watch. This is in reference to Hartmut's reliable and stability problems.

Cheers!

Dan


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## skybeaver

Does it have exhibition case back? Can you post a picture of case back, please?


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## kafvyn

skybeaver said:


> Does it have exhibition case back? Can you post a picture of case back, please?


hi mate,

will do when I get back to work. Left my camera in the office


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## skybeaver

Thanks in advance, I’m looking forward to see it…


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## kafvyn

kafvyn said:


> hi mate,
> 
> will do when I get back to work. Left my camera in the office


hi skybeaver,

back case of zenith elite 681 as requested.


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## sempervivens

According to Ranfft the Longines 990 (2.95 mm) was the thinnest for a very long time (since 1977) and perhaps still is, if you consider central seconds and date.

Only automatics without date and/or central seconds do better ?



> 1977-
> Das komplett ausgestattete 990 war bei der Vorstellung 1977 das flachste Automatic-Werk mit Datum und Zentralsekunde; auch 2003 wird dies nur von Werken ohne Datum und/oder Zentralsekunde unterboten.
> Mikrometer-Reglage
> zwei Federhäuser in Serie gekoppelt, eins mit fester Feder, eins mit Schleppfeder
> baugleich mit Lemania 8810...
> *Daten
> *11.5''', Dm= 25.6mm
> H=2.95mm
> 25 Steine
> f = 28800 A/h
> Gangreserve 40h


It may have only unidirectional winding, but it does have two barrels, so power reserve is not a problem. It was later bought by Lemania and further refined.

I do like the look of this : 


> back case of zenith elite 681 as requested.


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## bograd

How big is the case 40mm?


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## D N Ravenna

sempervivens said:


> According to Ranfft the Longines 990 (2.95 mm) was the thinnest for a very long time (since 1977) and perhaps still is, if you consider central seconds and date.
> 
> Only automatics without date and/or central seconds do better ?
> 
> It may have only unidirectional winding, but it does have two barrels, so power reserve is not a problem. It was later bought by Lemania and further refined.
> 
> I do like the look of this :


BY definition, an automatic cannot be thinner. You have to add the height of the rotor... ;-)

Dan


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## skybeaver

kafvyn, thank you very much. She's a beauty, enjoy it!


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## Hartmut Richter

D N Ravenna said:


> BY definition, an automatic cannot be thinner. You have to add the height of the rotor... ;-)
> 
> Dan


Well, it all depends on what you want. I believe the Lassalle movement actually had a central rotor rather than a microrotor and it was only 2.08mm thick! However, it only had hours and minutes - no seconds, no date. The same is true of the other super slim movement, the LeCoultre Cal. 920. This was never used by JLC but made exclusively for Audemars Piguet (there named Cal. 2120), Vacheron Constantin (Cal. 1120) and Patek Philippe (Cal. 28-255). It is 2.45mm thick according to some sources (which makes the PP designation strange - they give the movement size in mm before the hyphen, the thickness in hundredth of millimetres after the hyphen so you would expect 2.55mm), but it also has only hours and minutes. Once you put in a date, the thickness goes up to 3.05mm, once the central second hand comes in, it goes up further to 3.4mm. Not so slim in comparison with other movements with the same features (3.5mm for the ETA 2892, 3.28 for the Zenith "Elite"). So, the Elite is still one of the slimmest of its type. Anyone who can better those figures without chucking out functionality?!b-)

Hartmut Richter


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## v76

I think I like the movement decoration in the old Elite 680s a little better. Circular striping on the rotor (semi-skeletonized) and underlying bridges and perlage on the base-plate. The base-plate seems to be unadorned on the new 681s. The movement looks a little strange in the large case as well (it looks just the right size in my 36mm Elite).

The dial side looks very nice though, extremely elegant.


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## exoticwatches

kafvyn said:


> hi skybeaver,
> 
> back case of zenith elite 681 as requested.


How is the watch performing now ? Any need for servicing ? Is it keeping good time ?


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## dantan

I am considering a Zenith Captain Ultra Thin 40mm myself.
I tried a Rose Gold version last Saturday and fell in love with it. I am not able to afford it so my Authorised Dealer has kindly secured a Stainless Steel version for me to try on this weekend.
Any feedback on your watch, kafvyn?


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## dantan

A very nice watch, in both Rose Gold, and Stainless Steel. The RRP in Australia is $5,400.00 for the Stainless Steel ($13,300.00 for the Rose Gold), which is reasonable.


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## spidaman

Sorry to resurrect this zombie thread. I'm looking at buying this watch, and wonder if any owners have words of advice. Thanks in advance!

Cheers,

SPIDA


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