There are three different dials that are found on Zenith A386s.
Original dials come in one of two slightly different formats: “A under H” and “A offset to H” (see images below).
Details:
– The “A under H” dial features the first A in “AUTOMATIC” aligned below the first H in “CHRONOGRAPH”. These dials are found in Mk 1 (538D-539D), Mk 2 (706D-708D) and Mk 3 (861D-862D, 922D-923D) production batches. Outside of the Mk 1, we see this dial paired with the thick register hands.
– The “A offset to H” dial features the first A in “AUTOMATIC” offset, skewed to be aligned toward the space H and R in “CHRONOGRAPH”, and also features a bit more space in between the letters in ZENITH, see images below. These dials are found in the Mk 2 (706D high serials to 708D) and Mk 3 (861D-862D, 922D-923D, 230E-233E). One curiosity is that the Mk 3s with “offset” dials often have non-thick register hands (either thin or pointed).
It almost seems as if there were two production lines for dials/hands that started in late Mk 2 and extended through Mk3: one that was a standard line (“under” dial always paired with thick hands), and another with the “offset” dial that used different hands.
Both of these dials feature thicker line connections between the registers at 3, 6 and 9 and the seconds track, and the bottom will read “T SWISS MADE T”, or “- SWISS MADE – T”. Original Zenith A386 dials should not read only “SWISS MADE”.
These dials are both original to the Zenith A386, and seemingly come from different dies within the same dial supplier.
The third dial commonly seen on Zenith A386s is a replacement service dial. The easiest way to spot this dial is that the different script, with the “El Primero” featuring an extended loop after the “o”.
There are no known Zenith A386s with jeweler co-branded dials, such as those from other manufacturers stamped Tiffany & Co., Cartier, Gubelin, Cuervo y Sobrinos, Linz, Gübelin, and so forth.
Related, a similar dial can be found on the Zenith A3817, with the most notable difference being the blue text and lines in the running seconds register (paired with a blue hand), and the pyramid-shape of the 1/5 second mark in the minute track (the tip of the pyramid aligning with the even-numbered seconds).