There are always highly artistic and aesthetic dynamics at work on a Zenith watch and two recent releases bolster that fine fact: the Defy Zero-G and the Defy Double Tourbillon in transparent sapphire which allows them to reveal their splendid inner workings. This is a new design for two of the house’s most cutting-edge haute horlogerie creations. And as usual the house has reached for the sky, housing these two stellar complications in superbly stellar designs. Overcoming the effects of gravity on chronometric precision has long been the watchmakers’ ultimate goal. Zenith accomplished precisely this with its Gravity Control mechanism.

The house has completely redesigned the entire movement with a new architecture to enable a more open and detailed display, encapsulated in a transparent sapphire case that allows the singular mechanism to be admired from all angles, a first for the Manufacture. The off-center dial of the Defy Zero-G Sapphire combines several traditional crafts in a contemporary execution, handcrafted in a mosaic of meteorite, aventurine glass and grand feu enamel on a gold base. It depicts our neighboring red planet Mars on the small seconds, partially eclipsed by the hour and minute dial. A special touch that can only be seen when the watch is overhead is the back of the gyroscopic module, fashioned with a cratered texture mimicking the moon. The entire main plate and bridges of the movement are finished in a blue tone with contrasting grey rhodium chamfers, speckled with white stars of varying sizes. This astronomically inspired finish extends to the movement’s cylindrical container, which can also be viewed through the sides of the case.

For the latest execution of one of the fastest tourbillon chronographs around (Zenith’s Defy 21 Double Tourbillon) – equipped with two independent tourbillons completing rotations in 60 seconds for the time-keeping tourbillon and 5 seconds for the chronograph’s tourbillon – Zenith took its evocative starry sky aesthetic to new cosmic heights in the Defy 21 Double Tourbillon Sapphire, with a nod to the universe and space exploration. Visible for all to admire through the crystalline case, the Defy 21 Double Tourbillon’s exceptional chronograph movement is rendered in a stellar and futuristic aesthetic. The main plate of the movement is finished in a striking blue PVD tone, and in a first for Zenith, some of the dial-side bridges are engraved with stars. These two precious timepieces were bought out in a limited edition of 10 pieces for each watch.
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