Zenith Defy Skyline Skeleton Night Surfer

Swiss luxury watch manufacturer Zenith has just released the new Zenith DEFY Skyline Skeleton Night Surfer El Primero, and adds the starry night sky to your wrist. Inspired by the sky and ocean, the limited edition timepiece is blue, bold and geometric with a speedy smooth movement to boot.

2023 has been a big year for Zenith, with the brand launching its new Pilot watch collection at Watches and Wonders and other limited edition timepieces. Zenith has also released exciting collaborations this year, including the Carl Cox DJ-inspired watch.

Its latest watch, the Zenith DEFY Skyline Skeleton Night Surfer El Primero is in collaboration with Time+Tide and builds off the success of the limited edition DEFY Classic Skeleton Night Surfer which was released in 2021. With this watch, Time+Tide wanted to retain the elements of the original Night Surfer while incorporating improvements from the DEFY Skyline Skeleton.

As stated by founder of Time+Tide, Andrew McUtchen, “these key upgrades make it a totally different timepiece to both the first Night Surfer and the Skyline Skeleton collection. 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 proof that you have a truly high performance machine on your wrist, wherever you take it; in the water, or out.”

Speaking of the watch’s movement, the Zenith DEFY Skyline Skeleton Night Surfer El Primero runs on the latest generation of the high-frequency automatic El Primero 3620 manufacture movement. It beats at the rate of 5Hz which allows for the 1/10th of a second indicator to be directly driven by the escapement. With a power reserve of 60 hours, the timepiece features a bi-directional winding mechanism with a blue star-shaped rotor.
The DEFY Skyline Skeleton Night Surfer El Primero has an angular 41mm case, dodecagonal bezel and is water resistant of 100 metres. The watch has a mix of blue and grey colours, and is crafted in micro blasted titanium. It has an interchangeable strap system, where wearers can choose between the grey bracelet or a textured blue rubber strap.

As an evolution of the DEFY Classic Skelton, the Zenith DEFY Skyline Skeleton Night Surfer El Primero has a gradient night sky dial concept. The open dial has a large central four-pointed star design which works into the skeletonisation of the movement. In a rich blue colour, the dial design is dark at the top and gets lighter at the bottom which is designed to look like the fading light after a sunset.

Incorporating more elements from the original, the Zenith DEFY Skyline Skeleton Night Surfer El Primero highlights the star on the dial with luminescent lines and has a running 1/10th of a second indicator positioned at 6 o’clock. The Zenith logo also appears at the top of the watch, just underneath a petite silver star accent.