Zenith was founded in 1865 by Georges Favre-Jacot, who at the tender age of 22 for a master of such caliber, was one of the first watchmakers who not only understood the importance of the principle of interchangeable parts, but also built his entire production around it. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why, by the time of Jacot's retirement in 1929, Zenith was already an integral part of watchmaking history with numerous awards for precision won at international exhibitions in Geneva, Paris, Barcelona, and Neuchâtel. In 1969, the company gained fame with the introduction of the world's first automatic chronograph movement – the renowned El Primero. Operating at 36,000 vibrations per hour, the El Primero is capable of measuring short time intervals with an accuracy of up to one-tenth of a second – an unsurpassed world record. In 1995, Zenith launched the production of a new generation of ultra-thin chronographs – the Elite, which movement was declared the best movement by the professional press shortly after its launch. Since its very creation, Zenith has been awarded more than 1565 of the most prestigious awards in chronometry, making the brand the most recognized in the world of the watchmaking industry.

Until 2001, Zenith produced mainly classic watches in the so-called “Swiss style”: elegant, minimalist, in most cases no larger than 38 mm, with in-house movements of superb finish. In 2001, Thierry Nataf took the position of CEO and in the following 8 years (until the beginning of 2009), the brand took a completely new direction…

Huge, lavish timepieces with loud names and, to put it mildly, bold designs. The assessments of this period are controversial, but we can easily agree that it gave birth to many now-cult series of the brand: Chronomaster, Defy, Defy Xtreme, Port Royal and many others. It was during this period that such experimental approaches in watch design as the “Open heart” were introduced – which became a cult classic and was copied, successfully or not so much, by many other brands.

We present to your attention a representative of the Defy series, which is entrusted with the very difficult mission of erasing the fiasco of the failed Defy Xtreme experiment – the Zenith Defy Classic Titanium 41 95.9000.670/51.R584.

The series was introduced in 2018 and immediately became much loved and sought after by fans of the brand.

We cannot but start with the dial, as it has a classic design in blue – Zenith calls it the “Blue baton dial”. Its other remarkable quality is that, unlike most similar watches, this one is legible – due to the large, generously “illuminated” hour markers, which are anchored to the contrasting color of the outer ring of the case. The hands are also large, in the form of double swords, and the date is located at “6 o’clock” – overall, the dial of the Defy Classic manages to be interesting without being cluttered.

The case is the next thing that attracts attention – besides being a remake of the original Defy from the 70s of the last century, it is more than contemporary – comfortable, light, made of a modern material, with incredible detail and multiple planes. And the fact that it is only 10.74 mm thin not only contributes to the comfort, but also shows that a no less remarkable movement is hidden inside the watch!

And, of course, the back of the watch – as with most modern models of the brand, this one is… Wow! Besides allowing us to enjoy the integrated movement (which in itself is a work of art), the entire architecture is very well thought out, proportional, and somehow very complete.

The timepiece is truly wonderful and I sincerely hope that it will become a worthy part of a connoisseur and expert's collection, because such a fine example at such a reasonable price for such series will be hard to find another time.