Last year, with the Defy Skyline, Zenith introduced for the first time a three-hand El Primero movement in a sport-chic watch with an integrated bracelet. Not a chronograph, therefore, but a watch in which the small seconds hand makes a complete rotation in 10 seconds, and not 60, making the high frequency the star of the dial. This year, the company adds a variation on the theme by launching a version that strips the El Primero calibre and becomes the first skeleton watch on the market with a 1/10th of a second reading.
The Defy Skyline Skeleton shares its predecessor's 41 mm steel case with a 12-sided facetted bezel, echoing the design of the first Defy from 1969 and enhancing its architecture between polished and brushed finishes.
The geometric style continues on the open dial, blue or black, which expresses the art of skeletonisation in a modern, contemporary key, with its symmetrical bridges pierced by the 4-pointed star motif, a reference to the Zenith "double Z" logo of the 1960s. Compared with the Skyline with a closed dial, it dispenses with the date display and moves the 1/10th of a second counter from 9 to 6.
The skeletonisation gives way to the flange, on which are rhodium-plated facetted indexes coated with SuperLuminova. Underneath reveals the skeletonised movement, in the same colour as the dial: the El Primero 3620 SK high-frequency automatic calibre, built with a similar architecture to the El Primero 3600 chronograph, with a reading accuracy of 1/10th of a second, beating at 36,000 vibrations per hour and boasting a 60-hour power reserve. It is equipped with a seconds stop mechanism for precise time setting.
The watch is fitted with a steel bracelet with a satin-finished surface with bevelled and polished edges, consistent with the facetted lines of the case. The quick-release system allows it to be exchanged for a blue or black rubber strap, depending on the colour of the dial.
Price11,800 euro.
