Known for his works in gradients, blending geometric shapes with neon colours, Argentine-Spanish contemporary artist Felipe Pantone has cited the Parisian Grim Team and UltraBoyz crews as his early influences. His style of work is mostly based on kinetic art, graffiti, and pop music. For the first time, Zenith partnered with the ace artist to unveil its Defy chronograph. The watch was typically Zenith; bold, chunky, masculine design and came on a 44mm black ceramic case. For 2022, Zenith has launched the second generation of the watch (Ref. 03.9100.9004/49.I210) in a 45mm polished stainless steel case with blue yas and is limited to just 100 pieces.
Zenith unveiled the Defy 21 series in 2017 using a newly developed calibre 9004, which was eventually called El Primero 21, and which could measure 1/100th of a second. Known for its robustness, the new watch gets a 30-minute counter at 3 o'clock, where each colour represents a minute, a 60-second counter at 6 o'clock with a moiré effect, a running seconds counter at 9 o'clock, and a power reserve indicator at 12 o'clock .
With the same 3D PVD technique, the rhodium plated hour and minute hands with Super-LumiNova and the star-shaped rotor reflect rainbow colours with satin finishing. The bar-shaped hour markers also get rhodium plating with Super-LumiNova.
Powering the watch is the El Primero 9004 automatic movement that displays 1/100th of a second. This means that in one second, the central second hand can move around the dial. The watch has a power reserve of a minimum of 60 hours and a 5Hz frequency with two escapements; one for time keeping at 5Hz frequency, and the other for chronograph running at 50Hz. The main plate on the movement gets ruthenium colouring.
The watch comes with a fully polished steel bracelet as well as a black Velcro strap that can be interchanged via the push of a button on the case back. Felipe Pantone has not just created the watch in collaboration with Zenith but has also created a custom box that is shaped like an art book dedicated to his "PLANNED IRIDESCENCE" series.
The box is made with the same effect as the watch's dial but using a different method. The watch has a water resistance of 200 m.
Images: Courtesy Zenith
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