Just before the biennial Dubai Watch Week begins, Zenith CEO Julien Tornare and Time+Tide Founder, Andrew McUtchen have come together to proudly unveil the second chapter of their highly sought-after collaboration.
After the DEFY Classic Skeleton Night Surfer limited edition of 100 pieces released in 2021, which captured the magnificence of the darkening night sky and the ocean in a microblasted titanium case paired with a liquid blue gradient dial, the Manufacture and Australian tastemakers present the DEFY Skyline Skeleton Night Surfer El Primero, a limited edition of 200 pieces.
An evolution of the DEFY Classic Skeleton, the DEFY Skyline Skeleton takes both the design and performance to new heights. Bolder, bluer, more geometric lines and the latest generation of the high-frequency automatic El Primero calibre, the DEFY Skyline Skeleton Night Surfer El Primero is both a sequel and evolution of the original. For Time+Tide, the objective was to retain all the elements that made the original Night Surfer so outstanding while incorporating all the improvements that the DEFY Skyline Skeleton offers.
A first for the DEFY Skyline Skeleton model, the entire angular 41mm case with its dodecagonal bezel and integrated bracelet are crafted in microblasted titanium, lending it a homogenous, subdued grey tone with minimal light reflection. The addition of a screw-down crown ensuring a water-resistance of 10 ATM (100 metres) makes this version more water sports-ready, as does the interchangeable strap system. A second textured blue rubber strap is included, which requires no tools to be swapped.
“These key upgrades to the Night Surfer Skeleton El Primero make it a totally different timepiece to both the first Night Surfer and the Skyline Skeleton collection in general,” Andrew McUtchen, founder of Time+Tide says. “But perhaps the most exciting new feature is the El Primero movement that drives it. The buttery smooth 1/10th of a second counter on the dial is the proof that you have a truly high performance machine on your wrist, wherever you take it; in the water, or out.”
The gradient night sky dial concept returns in the DEFY Skyline Skeleton Night Surfer El Primero, but takes on a new form and more dramatic execution. The open dial features a large central four-pointed star element, which is perfectly incorporated into the skeletonisation of the movement’s blue bridges and main plate. The dial’s metallic blue colour darkens from the bottom to the top, evoking the fading light on the horizon right after sunset. As a nod to the original Night Surfer, which featured the ZENITH applied star logo in Super-LumiNova, the entire four-pointed star on the dial is highlighted with luminescent lines that come to life in the dark, making the star that much more visible and brighter. Positioned at 6 o’clock, the dial features a unique feature among skeleton watches: a running 1/10th of a second indicator.
This highly animate feature in the DEFY Skyline Skyline Night Surfer El Primero is delivered by the El Primero 3620 automatic high-frequency manufacture movement, beating at the rate of 5Hz (36’000VpH). This rate allows for the 1/10th of a second indicator to be directly driven by the escapement. Its efficient automatic bi-directional winding mechanism with a blue star- shaped rotor delivers a power reserve of approximately 60 hours.
The DEFY Skyline Skyline Night Surfer El Primero is a limited edition of 200 pieces, available exclusively on Time+Tide’s online store and ZENITH’s online boutiques around the world.
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