Zenith Sees Stars With Its New Defy Skyline
New Zenith also subtly features one of the rarest complications.
Zenith has kicked off LVMH’s 2022 Watch Week with the Defy Skyline, a “modern reimagining” of its first Defy watch from 1969.
The faceted 41mm stainless steel case and 12-sided bezel – reduced from the 14 sides of its inspiration – create a unique silhouette that flows into the watch’s integrated bracelet.
A grid of four-pointed stars are etched into the Skyline’s dial – offered in black, blue and silver – which play with the light hitting its metallic finish.
Zenith
The watch’s USP though is an extremely unusual take on an already rare complication, the semi-foudroyante, which indicates time using a second hand which travels in distinct increments rather than sweeping smoothly.
Here Zenith has implemented a 10-second foudroyante – as it did on the El Primero Striking 10th in 2011 – which completes six rotations every minute or, more pertinently one rotation every 10 seconds. This allows the watch to indicate the time down to 1/10th of a second as allowed for by its 5Hz El Primero 3620 automatic movement.
While the complication makes a great deal more sense on a chronograph like the Striking 10th and is more apparent on a full or one-second foudroyante like the Habring Foudroyante Felix, here it lends a subtle visual point of difference to a time and date watch.
While supplied on a stainless steel bracelet with contrasting polished and satin-brushed finishes, each Defy Skyline is also supplied with a “starry sky pattern” rubber strap in either blue, black or olive green, depending on the dial color.
The Defy Skyline is available now via Zenith, priced $8,400 USD.
In other watch news, Kering off-loads Girard-Perregaux and Ulysse Nardin.
