Zenith Cairelli A.M.I. Italian Air Force, late 1960s

Dealer description — S.Song Watches

While military watches, and in particular military chronographs, have been in hot demand of late, there is no denying that even then, the Zenith CP-2 A.M.I. retailed by famed Roman supplier A. Cairelli is at the top of the heap. A rare and important timepiece, these were made according to military specifications in the late 60’s and early 70’s for the Italian Air Force, or A.M.I. ( Aeronautica Militaire Italiana ). Sized at a hefty 43mm, the Zenith CP-2 certainly has a muscular, utilitarian presence on the wrist. Featuring a handsome black dial and aggressive bezel, the design remains very relevant and modern even today. Furthermore, with the added charm of a double-signed dial by A.Cairelli, it is no wonder this watch has become one of the hottest military chronographs to collect. ‘CP-2’ was the A.M.I’s designation for the wristwatches they issued, with ‘CP’ standing for ‘cronometro da polso’ , or ‘wrist chronometer’ in English. The Zenith CP-2 follows a lineage of previous issued wrist chronometers for the Italian Air Force with the -2 indicating that it was part of the second generation of timepieces. Other manufactures such as Leonidas, Breitling and Universal Geneve also made watches under the ‘CP’ designation for the A.M.I. Interestingly, while it is estimated that only 2,500 examples were produced- the A.M.I. cancelled the majority of the orders before they were delivered and therefore many were not issued. A. Cairelli subsequently sold the remaining stock privately to civilians as unissued CP-2s. This example though, is of the more desirable variant- as evidenced by the military numbers on it’s caseback. The engraved text ‘M.M’ ( Matricola Militaire ) translates to ‘military registration number’ which were not featured on the examples that were sold to civilians. Beating inside this Zenith Cairelli is the column wheel, manually wound Cal. 146DP made by movement makers Martel ,who at the time was owned by Zenith. It is a very attractive movement that later on served as the base to the revolutionary El Primero movement. With this Zenith CP-2 Cairelli, what you get is the perfect combination of historical importance, good looks and high quality.