In charitable support of the Wounded Warrior Project, Zenith has announced the Zenith Cronometro Tipo CP-2 USA Edition watch, a stars-and-stripes interpretation of the existing CP-2 design. With Zenith’s history as a military watch manufacturer and the CP-2’s designation as a pilot’s watch, Zenith has appropriately decked out the CP-2 in a red, white, and blue color for a limited edition of 50 pieces to highlight their support of a new philanthropic partnership with the Wounded Warrior Project.

The CP-2 USA edition features many of the same specs as the base Zenith CP-2 we saw hands-on here, with a few notable differences. The watch features a 43mm case that is 12.85mm thick, made out of stainless steel, with a domed sapphire crystal, as well as a sapphire display back. Powering the Zenith Pilot Cronometro Tipo CP-2 USA Edition is the El Primero 405B automatic, a flyback chronograph movement featuring 31 jewels, a 50-hour power reserve, and the famous El Primero frequency of 36,000bph (5Hz). The primary differences on the USA edition of the CP-2 are in its colorway and style.

To coincide with the mission of the Wounded Warrior Project, Zenith went for a patriotic American theme when selecting the colors. The dial is a matte blue, which matches to the blue aluminum bezel insert; the chronograph hand is a strong contrasting red, which matches to the red pip on the bezel insert; and the strap is a blue leather “two-stitch” style strap, with white and red accent stitches. To top off the patriotic aesthetic, Zenith says they have decorated the rotor (visible through the display back) with a “Côtes de Genève motif bearing the US flag” but did not provide caseback images.

Charitable partnerships are something I really do like to see in the watch world, so I was glad to see Zenith partner with the Wounded Warrior Project to bring light to what is a really great charity. For this watch, I feel like it would have been very easy to go overboard with patriotic tributes, and very quickly devolve into an over-designed combination of stars, stripes, and whatever else. But Zenith took a restrained, almost minimal approach. While it prominently shows red, white, and blue, it doesn’t scream “America!” and could easily come across as just a blue watch with common highlight colors. I’m a sucker for blue watches, and it looks like Zenith chose a nice shade, judging by their press images.

While the CP-2 USA is limited to only 50 pieces, I hope it’s just the beginning of Zenith’s support of the Wounded Warrior Project. It’s great to see the watch industry give back to the world, especially when it’s with a pretty cool watch release like this one. If you would like to be one of the 50 owners of the Zenith Pilot Cronometro Tipo CP-2 USA Edition, or you want to help support a good cause, you can pick one up for a price of $8,350. Learn more at zenith-watches.com