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Introducing Zenith's Newest Time-Only El Primero Proves Less Dial Is A Whole Lot More

While companies often focus on their most iconic watches and let old models flounder, Zenith has built the Defy line back into a strong pillar of the brand.

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What We Know

Just over a year ago, Zenith took major steps to expand its Defy lineup, first with the Defy Revival A3642 which played into Zenith's strengths of celebrating their heritage, and shortly after with the surprise release of the Defy Skyline, a three-hand El Primero sports watch.

This year it evolves one step further with the new Defy Skyline Skeleton, taking cues from the brand's Defy Skeleton and highlighting the remarkable and iconic El Primero movement within. 

The watch comes in both a black and blue open dial, a four-pointed star pattern with triangular and boomerang-shaped patterns cut out of the dial, leaving some superstructure leading to an outside minute track with rhodium-plated, faceted hour markers coated with SuperLuminova. Underneath is the skeletonized movement, finished in the same color as the dial, as is the satin-finished star-shaped oscillating weight.

The movement of the Defy Skyline Skeleton

But this is more than just an open-worked version of last year's Skyline. The base movement is the same, the three-hand automatic El Primero 3620, but one of the first things you'll notice is the placement of the 1/10th of a second sub-dial (driven directly off the watch's 5Hz escapement) has moved to six o'clock and the date has disappeared altogether. The crown, however, remains at the normal three o'clock position. The movement has a 60-hour power reserve.

The Defy Skyline Skeletons and last year's Skyline (right)

The new Defy Skyline Skeletons and last year's Skyline (right).

The steel case has the same angular shape, 41mm sizing, and 12-sided faceted bezel. It also still comes with a screw-down crown that helps give the watch 100 meters of water resistance. Finally, the watch comes with a quick-change strap system that allows you to toggle with ease between the steel bracelet and rubber strap.

The Defy Skyline Skeleton Straps
What We Think

Zenith, you had my curiosity. Now you have my attention.

One of the first Zenith watches I ever saw in the wild was the Defy Extreme, a beast of a titanium chronograph with the El Primero 21 double-escapement. There was something so futuristic, intense, and almost Terminator-esquse that it convinced me that a 45mm x 15.4mm watch could maybe be wearable in the right context. But the fact that it was a chronograph meant it ran into the same issues a lot of open-worked complicated watches do: you usually get either legibility or the ability to appreciate the movement, not both.

The Defy Skyline Skeleton

Since this is a three-handed watch, the integration of skeletonization and design becomes a bit easier, but it's still wildly impressive that – in images at least – the new Defy Skyline Skeleton both looks amazing and fantastically legible. The rhodium-plated hands and indices pop off either dial. On the blue-dialed Skyline Skeleton, the choice to keep the outside track and seconds subdial blue makes for a really cool modern contrast that makes it my runaway favorite of the two dial color options. Then there's the choice to move the subdial to six o'clock, which really makes me happy. Call me a fogey or a purist, but I just like the natural symmetry that comes with a traditional dial layout like this.

The 1/10th Second Subdial on the Defy Skyline Skeleton

The watch hits a great price point as well. Sure, looking at the movement you'll notice the lack of what has become la demande du jour for more and better interior angles, but at around $11,000, I think the quality of skeletonization and finish on the case and dial plenty makes up for it. The dial itself has a bit of anglage and the Rhodium-plated indices themselves have nice faceting that tricks the eye into thinking the movement below must naturally match. It doesn't and maybe the coloring on the movement's plates and bridges hide any other finishing issues as well, but as a whole, the watch seems cohesive and attractive from top to bottom.

The El Primero 3620 SK movement front
The El Primero 3620 SK movement rotor

As Logan pointed out last year in his review of the original Skyline (a great recap of not just the watch, but its heritage), watchmaking's history books, like any other, have always largely been written by the victors. The El Primeros and the Submariners of the world have proven themselves so successful that they left little room for the Defys and the Milgauss (Milgi?) of each brand to truly come into their own. I'd guess that to get the Defy to this point was a hard-won struggle within the brand – one against market forces that had said "no, we're good" time and time again. And what we got today feels like it was well worth the fight.


The Basics

Brand: Zenith
Model: Defy Skyline Skeleton
Reference Number: 03.9300.3620/79.I001

Diameter: 41mm
Thickness: 12mm
Case Material: Stainless steel
Dial Color: Black or blue skeletonized
Indexes: Applied
Lume: Super-LumiNova
Water Resistance: 100 meters
Strap/Bracelet: Steel or rubber

The Defy Skyline Skeleton and Skyline (right)

The Defy Skyline Skeleton and last year's Skyline (right).


The Movement

Caliber: El Primero 3620 SK
Functions: Hours and minutes in the center. 1/10th of a second counter at 6 o'clock
Power Reserve: 60 hours
Winding: Automatic
Frequency: 5Hz
Jewels: 30
Additional Details: Skeletonized


Pricing & Availability

Price: $11,000
Availability: Immediately
Limited Edition: No.

For more, click here.

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