With the Defy Classic Carbon, Zenith shoots for design boldness, lightweight comfort, and unprecedented price accessibility. We gave the watch a test run and got some insight into its origins from Zenith?s CEO.

Zenith Defy Classic Carbon

Zenith celebrated its most historically significant anniversary in years in 2019, marking 50 years of El Primero, the automatic, high frequency chronograph movement with which the 155-year-old Swiss watch manufacture has become all but synonymous. Its cavalcade of timepieces inspired by the milestone ranged from a faithful re-creation of the first El Primero watch from 1969 to a decidedly avant-garde piece combining a chronograph with two tourbillon escapements. In 2020, despite the obstacles posed to every industry by the pandemic, Zenith showed little sign of taking its foot off the gas pedal ? both in introducing new timepieces and expanding on another of its recent initiatives, namely outfitting more of these watches in high-tech, modern case materials.
The most noteworthy example of this mission is the watch that I review here, the Zenith Defy Classic Carbon, released this fall, which represents not only the first time Zenith has created a ?full-carbon? timepiece ? i.e., with a case, crown and bracelet all made from forged carbon ? but also the first time the watch industry has offered such a piece at a price that is relatively accessible.

Zenith previously used a carbon case on a high-complication piece, 2019’s Defy ...