DEFY Extreme Diver: Zenith’s return to diving

What do you immediately associate with Zenith? Precision, high frequency, innovation – for a start. But a diver’s watch is hardly what first comes to mind when thinking about the brand from Le Locle. Yet, at the last Watches and Wonders Geneva, it was precisely a timepiece designed for the depths, the Defy Extreme Diver, thatstole the show among the novelties presented by Zenith. Accompanied by the Defy Revival A3648. Not that there aren’t interesting approaches to divers in Zenith’s history (and the presentation of the Defy Revival A3648 proves it), but the brand does not have a specific diving vocation. This is why the Geneva novelties have a special value if they are re-interpreted in the light of the brand’s history, across past and present.

ZENITH AND DIVING WATCHES

The time frames in which Zenith approached the diver universe in a more convinced manner are those between the 1960s and 1970s, and from the late 1990s to the early 2000s. Above all, the first of these two periods saw the creation of very beautiful pieces with great personality. Think of the diver’s watches of the Sub Sea series, produced in the late 1960s and early 1970s, which stood out in the brand’s portfolio. These included the A3648 (which we reviewed this year alongside the Defy Extreme Diver), the A3630, the A3637, and the so-called ‘Big Lemon’, the very yellow A3639. 

Closer in time we find references such as the Chrono Aero, which had a diving bezel even though it was in fact a version of the Rainbow Flyback Chronograph of the 1990s. Or the El Primero De Luca, which was water-resistant to 30 bar and combined the unidirectional bezel typical of divers with the tachymeter scale characteristic of chronographs. There was also a time-only version of the De Luca with an ETA calibre, later replaced by the Rainbow Elite. Water-resistant to 20 bar, it went out of production in the early 2000s.

DEFY EXTREME DIVER: THE INSPIRATION

The new products at Watches and Wonders Geneva take on particular importance, especially the Defy Extreme Diver, because they represent Zenith’s return to a very important segment in terms of the market after about twenty years of substantial absence. All this just before summer, the perfect timing for those in search of a non-trivial diver’s watch that stands out for its style and technical content.

With the Defy Extreme Diver, Zenith’s designers have combined influences from the past with the Defy Extreme collection’s contemporary framework, within which customers have been accustomed to finding sports chronographs. Instead, the brand’s creative vision has produced, in this case, a collection of modern diver’s watches characterised by an excellent aesthetic balance, in which some references to past collections are recognisable.

Specifically, the Defy Extreme Diver is inspired by the A3648 with its ceramic bezel – very thin compared to the standard –, its octagonal shape and its orange minute track. The aesthetic and stylistic features are to be found in the Defy Extreme chronographs’ details and, in particular, in the Defy Skyline selection: a dial with a star motif, elongated crown-protecting shoulders, and the angular shapes of the case and bracelet. And the great thing is that the classic and modern features blend to perfection.

BEAUTIFUL, ROBUST, LIGHT

Like any self-respecting diver, this watch is not small. However, accustomed to the 45 mm cases of the Defy Extreme collection, the 42.5 mm diameter by 15.5 mm thickness of this timepiece mark a notable difference from the rest of the line. The Defy Extreme Diver‘s massive and resolutely professional appearance, giving the idea of clear heaviness on the wrist, is nevertheless proved wrong by the case material, titanium. The surface is almost completely satin-finished, giving the watch an outfit suited to the depths for which it is conceived.

Another stratagem which makes the watch way lighter than it might appear is the design of the bracelet and straps. Its evident tapering, which makes it thinner at the clasp and wider at the lugs, creates continuity with the case design. Thus, it generates an embrace around the wrist which is not only visual but also, and above all, makes it quite wearable. The Defy Extreme Diver comfortably hugs wrists of almost any size, lightly and without being bulky.

The oversized crown is protected by the sturdy epaulettes and has a symmetrical counterpart, at 9 o’clock, in the helium release valve, discreetly incorporated into the design of the case side. Let’s not forget that, like the 1969 A3648, the Defy Extreme Diver is water-resistant to 600 metres (60 bar), or 1,969 feet. The watch is in fact a true professional diver, meeting the requirements set by the ISO 6425 standards, which include ISO 764 for antimagnetism and ISO 1413 for shock resistance.

In essence, therefore, the integrated case and bracelet design is one of this diver’s strong features, precisely because it is a fundamental element in the construction and architecture of the entire timepiece. We have mentioned the titanium bracelet, but the Defy Extreme Diver also comes with a rubber strap with a deployment clasp and a NATO-style fabric strap with a pin buckle. The rubber has a processing that makes it similar to fabric (Cordura effect), while the real fabric strap is made from a fibre obtained from recycled fishing nets, and is very long as it is designed to be worn over a wetsuit. In fact, worn in the normal way the fabric strap is bulky on the wrist and makes the watch heavier overall.

A DIAL IN ZENITH STYLE 

Zenith has demonstrated great mastery in crafting the dial of the Defy Extreme Diver. Finished with soleil polish, it is produced in blue or black – colours that also match those of the straps – and features the Defy collection’s aesthetic signature: the engraved stars motif. For the rest, the brand has focused entirely on underwater design, using oversized, applied and facetted indices, together with large baton hands, for a combination that guarantees absolute legibility. Thanks also to the generous use of Super-LumiNova, which emits three types of luminescence: blue, green and orange to distinguish the hours, minutes and seconds functions at a glance. At 6 o’clock, the water resistance in metres (600) and feet (1969) is proudly displayed.

The date window is discreetly positioned at 3 o’clock, clearly delimitated by a thin frame. It has the advantage of not interrupting the orange chapter ring’s loop, whose colour matches the outline of the hands and is a clear reference to Zenith divers of the past. The dial is framed by the unidirectional blue or black bezel, which iseasily manoeuvred thanks to a functional design feature. The thin knurling is in fact interrupted at the main indices (5, 10, 15…), thus creating flares that allow to grasp it and rotate it securely.

THE ZENITH DEFY EXTREME DIVER’S CALIBRE

For the movement, Zenith played it safe. The watch is in fact powered by the El Primero 3620 SC calibre. It should be remembered that the SC initials indicate the central seconds, to distinguish them from the classic 1/10th of a second counter of the 3620, positioned at 9 o’clock: a modification introduced for the first time on the new Pilot watches presented last year. Naturally, this is a high-frequency automatic movement (36,000 vibrations per hour) which features the Defy’s star-shaped rotor and has a 60-hour power reserve.

The rotor is clearly visible through the sapphire glass back, which is rather unusual for a professional diver: closed and screw-down casebacks are normally preferred to avoid nasty surprises with water-resistance. In this case, Zenith proves to be reliable and forward thinking, well beyond tradition. After all, ensuring that the watch is watertight up to 1969 feet is not only a technical but also a moral obligation, given the significance of this number in the brand’s history…

Finally, the price. The watch, in both the black and blue versions, costs 11,800 euros. An interesting figure, considering its technical content, and also the fact that it comes with two straps and a bracelet, all easily interchangeable without using tools or requiring the intervention of a watchmaker.

DEFY REVIVAL A3648

As mentioned above several times and, for the sake of completeness, it is only right to mention that at Geneva, Zenith presented, alongside the Defy Extreme Diver, the Defy Revival A3648 inspired by the 1969 reference of the same name. A reference designed for the vintage nostalgic, and to which the brand attaches particular importance given that it is its first diver’s watch to receive the so-called Revival treatment, i.e. a faithful but modern re-edition of a piece from the past.

Beyond the technical content (Elite 670 automatic calibre, water resistance of 60 bar), the value of this watch lies in its aesthetics. The angular 37 mm steel case recalls that of the original Defy line, while the fourteen-sided steel bezel, typical of the models of the time, is still present but positioned above the round rotating bezel. The latter is made of steel with a sapphire crystal insert, unlike the historical models that used Plexiglas. It also retains the same black on bright orange indices, one of the features of the original A3648. The combination of black and orange also extends to the dial, whose matt black surface contrasts with the orange hands and chapter ring.

If therefore, at least for the last 20 years, Zenith seems to have focused almost exclusively on pilot’s models and chronographs, the decision to make a strong comeback in the diver’s segment was an intelligent and, in our opinion, inspired one. Above all, because it was taken by creating a watch like the Defy Extreme Diver which is beautiful, fun, high level. And which demonstrates that Zenith knows how to make a remarkable timepiece while having fun at the same time.

By Davide Passoni