DEFY - it is name of not just Zenith's new watch collection, but a call-to-arms with respect to the company's vision towards the future of watchmaking.
It was last year when Zenith planted the flag with the launch of Defy El Primero 21 – the chronograph capable of accuracy to the hundredths of a second – and then the first-generation Defy Lab, the world's most accurate watch thanks to its new monocrystalline silicon oscillator.
Now, DEFY has become a full-fledged collection boasting several degrees of mechanical complexity, starting with the new Defy Classic, a three-hand plus date watch, unveiled at the recent Baselworld 2018.
On an openworked dial, large luminescent baton-type hours and minutes hands and a slim seconds hand with an emblematic star counterweight sweep over five stylised branches also evoking the Zenith symbol, the star.
The deep blue minutes ring is punctuated by facetted applied hour-markers, and coloured in the exact same shade as its predecessor, the 1969 El Primero.
The in-house (made by Manufacture Zenith) automatic Elite 670 base calibre has been repurposed in the DEFY model. Fitted with a silicon pallet-lever and escape-wheel, it is for the first time revealed by means of an ultra-modern openworked approach. Blackened, structured and topped by a cut-out date disc read off on a white dot at 6 o'clock, it oscillates at 4 Hz and enjoys over 50 hours of autonomy (power reserve).
The DEFY Classic is available with an integrated metal link bracelet, a rubber strap coated with alligator leather, or a unistructure rubber version.
A closed-dial version in sunburst blue, with 3 o'clock date window, offers an alternative to those seeking chic and contemporary classic look.
With its case forged from ultra-light titanium, blackened skeleton movement, star-shaped openworked dial and a shade of blue reflecting the collection's original colour, the Zenith DEFY Classic not only defies expectations, but far exceeds them.
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