Zenith DEFY
Zenith DEFY: Zenith has, since its inception in 1865, gained recognition for the precision of its chronometers; it has won 2,333 chronometry prizes in just over a century-and-a-half of existence. Famed for its legendary 1969 El Primero calibre enabling short-time measurements accurate to the nearest 1/10th of a second, the Manufacture has since developed over 600 movement variations.
Today, Zenith offers new and fascinating vistas in time measurement, including 1/100th of a second timing with the Defy El Primero 21; and the world’s most accurate watch, the 21st century Defy Lab. The brand’s offerings now pay homage to the future – DEFY El Primero 21 Carbon chronograph and the DEFY Inventor – and its own past through its new iterations of El Primero A386 Revival
Zenith DEFY El Primero 21 Carbon
The futuristic DEFY El Primero 21 Carbon comes in a lightweight and robust carbon fibre case. The geometric facets of the case perfectly complement the voluminous architecture of the open-worked movement. The high-tech composite material is lightweight yet extremely durable. It plays with light, caused by the alternating layers of carbon fibres that are randomly arranged, making each case essentially unique.
This version of the DEFY El Primero 21 has not just the faceted case and round bezel that are forged from carbon, but also the crown and chronograph pushers. The watch is completed with a choice of two straps: a black textured rubber strap, and a special rubber strap with a carbon effect for the ultimate urbanite look.
The DEFY El Primero 21, with its cutting-edge 1/100 second chronograph calibre operating at a phenomenal and unrivalled rate of 360,000 vibrations per hour (50 Hz), is given a deep black treatment, allowing the gleaming edges of the innovatory skeleton movement to shine through the dark.
The open dial is also black, with contrasting white markings. The hour, minute and constant seconds hands, like the applied hour markers, are faceted with a dark ruthenium coating and filled with black SuperLuminova. The central 1/100 second hand and seconds and minutes totalisers have blackened hands with bright red tips.
Zenith DEFY Inventor
Moving beyond the laboratory stage, the DEFY Lab is now the DEFY Inventor, produced in a run of several hundred units and equipped with its own patented regulating organ. Beating at the extremely high frequency of 18 Hz (compared to the usual 4 Hz) with a comfortable two-day autonomy, Defy Inventor owes its exceptional properties to the single-piece Zenith Oscillator. Developed and patented by the Maison, this major innovation replaces the sprung balance used in mechanical watchmaking for three-and-a-half centuries, and offers a number of benefits.
These exceptional qualities are triple certified: for magnetic insensitivity (ISO-764), thermal insensitivity (ISO-3159) and chronometric precision (TIMELAB – Foundation of the Geneva Laboratory of Horology and Micro-engineering).
Its heart of a new genre pulsates on the dial side, beneath a sophisticated open-worked construction and is carved out from ultra-light materials: brushed titanium for the 44 mm diameter case, Aeronith for the textured bezel. The equally airy open-worked dial forms a stylised propeller, of which the five ‘blades/branches’ evoke the Zenith star.
Broad hours and minutes hands sweep over the mechanism, while a slender star-tipped central sweep-seconds hand – equipped with a stop-seconds system enabling ultra-accurate adjustment – marks off the seconds. The iconic DEFY Inventor is secured to the wrist by a black rubber strap with a midnight blue alligator coating.
Zenith El Primero A386 Revival
To mark the 50th anniversary of legendary 1969 El Primero high-frequency chronograph, three unisex models in white, rose or yellow gold are issued in 50-piece limited editions with a 50-year guarantee.
Its revolutionary mechanics capable of tenth-of-a-second measurement, together with its three emblematic counters, have made it a legend. A cadence of 36,000 vibrations per hour; an integrated column-wheel construction; a ball-bearing-mounted central rotor; and over 50 hours of power reserve have been the signature features of El Primero.
This anniversary edition faithfully reproduces the 1969 El Primero: a 38 mm diameter case, a domed crystal, three-coloured counters, a tachymeter scale, as well as the shape of the hands and hour-markers. The mushroom-type pushers and lugs are also identical to the original.
This model’s ‘engine’ is the current version of the El Primero automatic calibre powering the hours, minutes, small seconds, chronograph, tachymeter and date functions, with the latter appearing between 4 and 5 o’clock on the white lacquered dial. Nods to the past continue with a brown or black leather strap depending on the model fitted with a buckle made of the same gold as the case.
Zenith DEFY Classic Black, White & Blue Ceramic
Forged from exceptionally durable and scratch-resistant ceramic, the new DEFY Classic Black, White and Blue Ceramic timepieces mark the first time the ultra-hard and integrally coloured material makes its way to the DEFY Classic collection.
Its faceted 41mm case features a combination of polished and satin-brushed surfaces, emphasising its geometric and resolutely contemporary case. The angular, silhouette of the case is softened by the perfectly circular bezel that haloes above it. The centrepiece of the DEFY Classic Black Ceramic is its avant-garde open dial.
The multi-layered element seamlessly blends the modern display with the movement. In broad daylight, the faceted hands and applied markers appear as one with the blackened complex of the open dial and visible portions of the movement, with their polished ruthenium-treated surfaces gleaming through the darkness for surprisingly easy legibility. In darkness, they emit a subtle green glow from the Super-LumiNova SLN C1 coating. Visible through the open dial as well as the sapphire case back of the DEFY Classic, the automatic Elite 670 manufacture movement has been open-worked.
Its entire anatomy has been reimagined – not just aesthetically, with its restructured and open bridges with cutting-edge finishing – but also in its performance, as the Elite calibre in the DEFY Classic features a silicon pallet-lever and escape-wheel.
The DEFY Classic Ceramic models are fitted with unistructure rubber straps in the same tones as the cases.
