Zenith was founded in 1865 by Georges Favre-Jacot, who at the tender age of 22 for a master of such caliber, was one of the first watchmakers who not only understood the importance of the principle of interchangeable parts but also built his entire production around it. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why, by the time of Jacot's retirement in 1929, Zenith was already an integral part of watchmaking history with numerous awards for precision won at international exhibitions in Geneva, Paris, Barcelona, and Neuchâtel. In 1969, the company gained renown with the introduction of the world's first automatic chronograph movement – the famous El Primero. Operating at 36,000 vibrations per hour, the El Primero is capable of measuring short time intervals with an accuracy of one-tenth of a second - an unsurpassed world record. In 1995, Zenith launched the production of a new generation of ultra-thin chronographs - the Elite, which movement was soon after its launch declared the best movement by the professional press. Since its inception, Zenith has been awarded more than 1565 of the most prestigious awards in chronometry, making the brand the most recognized in the world of the watchmaking industry.
Until 2001, Zenith produced mainly classic watches in the so-called “Swiss style”: elegant, minimalist, in most cases no larger than 38 mm, with in-house movements of superb finish. In 2001, Thierry Nataf took the position of CEO and over the next 8 years (until the beginning of 2009), the brand took a completely new direction... Huge, lavish timepieces with loud names and, to put it mildly, bold designs. The assessments of this period are controversial, but I am sure we all agree that it gave birth to many now-iconic series of the brand: Chronomaster, Defy, Defy Xtreme, Port Royal, and many others. It was during this period that such experimental approaches in watch design as the “Open heart” were introduced – which became iconic and was copied, successfully or not so much, by many other brands.
Now, for the first time, we have the pleasure of presenting to your attention a very special representative of the Defy series, which is tasked with the very difficult mission of erasing the fiasco of the failed Defy Xtreme experiment.
The series was introduced in 2018 and immediately became much-loved and sought-after by the brand's admirers. The model presented today was launched in 2021 and continues the success of the Ultraviolet, launched a year earlier. In the same spirit as the Ultraviolet, the new Ultrablue focuses on this color, which appears on the movement, dial, and strap. The rest of the watch is intentionally left as neutral as possible, so as not to detract from the appeal of the bright metallic blue. The muted case retains its contours and shapes, as well as its relatively impressive proportions, with a diameter of 44 mm and a height of 14.50 mm. In this case, however, it is made of microblasted titanium, and as a result, we have a darker gray tone and a matte, as if slightly frosted, surface. Complementing the blue theme, the integrated rubber strap has a blue rubber insert with a Cordura effect on the front and stitching in the same tone.
I cannot but start with the dial, as it is the most impressive thing about this watch - skeletonized, executed with great attention to detail, it is a reference to the epic limited edition Defy Lab from 2017. Its other remarkable quality is that, unlike most similar watches, this one is legible – due to the large, generously “lumed” hour markers, which are anchored to the contrasting color of the outer ring of the case. The hands are also large, in the shape of double swords, the chronograph subdials are in the usual positions for the El Primero - overall, the dial of this watch manages to be interesting without being cluttered.
The case is the next thing that attracts attention – besides being a remake of the original Defy from the 1970s, it is more than contemporary – comfortable, light, made of a modern material, with incredible detail and multiple planes. And the fact that it is only 14.5 mm thin not only contributes to the comfort but also shows that an equally remarkable movement is hidden inside the watch!
And of course, the back of the watch – as with most modern models of the brand, this one is... Wow! Besides allowing us to enjoy the integrated movement (which is a work of art in itself), the entire architecture is very well thought out, proportional, and somehow very complete.
The movement deserves separate attention, because under the internal factory abbreviation El Primero Calibre 9004 lies a true masterpiece of technical thought and the art of watchmaking! It is not for nothing that the series is called Defy 21 – because this is truly a 21st-century movement.
The El Primero 21 is created with two separate escapements - each with a balance spring made from a new patented material of the brand - Carbon-Matrix Carbon Nanotube. One takes care of the time and operates at the usual El Primero frequency of 36,000 vph, while the second is made entirely for the chronograph and operates at the mind-boggling frequency of 360,000 vph!!! This means that when the chronograph is started, the seconds hand makes a full rotation of the dial in one second! The seconds are then counted on the 60-second subdial at “6 o’clock”, and the minutes are counted on the 30-minute register at “3 o’clock”. Due to the large amount of energy required to power the chronograph at 360,000 vph, the chronograph function can only run for up to 50 minutes, and in order to monitor this indicator, a power reserve indicator is built into the watch.
The watch is truly wonderful, and we sincerely hope that it will become a worthy part of a connoisseur's and expert's collection, because such a fine example at such a reasonable price for such series will be hard to come by again.
