Zenith’s Defy Zero G has all the time been a flex. Not hype, actual engineering. Since 2008, the model has been chasing one downside, gravity, and doing it with a gimbal that retains the escapement degree as you progress. Assume ship chronometers, shrunk to the wrist. The place a tourbillon averages errors, this setup goals to cancel them in actual time. It’s a unusual and cussed thought, and it really works as a result of Zenith spent years on miniature bevel gears and a tiny differential that retains torque regular irrespective of how the module tilts.
For the model’s one hundred and sixtieth yr, Zenith places that machine in sapphire. Two new Defy Zero G fashions land, one in deep blue sapphire, one in totally clear sapphire. Each use a 46 millimeter case minimize from blocks of the stuff, which is close to diamond on the hardness scale. You possibly can see straight via the watch, entrance to again, and the zero-gravity module hangs at six o’clock like a small mechanical lighthouse that refuses to lean.
The dial is off middle. Hours, minutes, and small seconds sit on a plate of lapis lazuli with faceted luminous markers. The stone is midnight with flecks that catch the sunshine, and no two items look alike. An influence reserve tracker sits at three o’clock and reads out to about fifty hours. The remainder is open. Bridges kind a skinny star motif. The counterweight on the gravity module carries a small engraving that hints on the night time sky.
Inside is the hand wound El Primero 8812S. It beats at 5 Hz. The escapement wheel is silicon. The anchor is nickel silicon. The stability makes use of a double arrow regulator that nods to Charles Fleck, one of many outdated Zenith timekeepers. The headline, although, by no means modifications. The regulating organ lives inside a weighted, gimbal mounted cage that stays horizontal as your wrist turns. As a result of the place is mounted, regulation can occur in a single aircraft. That’s the declare to precision, and it’s a daring one.
The module itself is tiny now. Zenith says the present gyroscopic unit is about thirty % of the unique quantity. It packs 139 elements into roughly 1.3 cubic centimeters, and rides on 9 ceramic ball bearings that don’t want oil. It’s watchmaking as cussed craft, not gadgetry.
Each variations come on a blue built-in alligator strap with a folding clasp. Every shade is restricted to 10 items worldwide. They are going to be bought via Zenith boutiques, on-line and in retailer, and thru choose retailers.
A word on match. Forty six millimeters in sapphire shouldn’t be small. The case will put on massive, and the drama is the purpose. You purchase this to observe that module float degree whereas the remainder of your world tilts. Some will name it extra. Others will name it proof {that a} century and a half in, Zenith nonetheless likes to argue with physics, one gear at a time.
