When it was launched back at Watches & Wonders 2024, the Zenith Defy Extreme Diver not only hammered home Zenith’s long-overlooked diving heritage, but proved itself to be one of the most genuinely interesting dive watches of the year. Sure, the ‘Plongeur’ revival grabbed headlines, but its modernised version was the real success. So, it’s no surprise that less than a year later, Zenith is extending the Defy Extreme Diver with a handsome, silver-white dial.
The Defy Extreme Diver is extreme by name, extreme by nature. On the surface is has all those dramatic angles and multi-faceted design touches that have made the collection what it is, backed-up by serious diving specs. It’s big, at 42.5mm of lightweight titanium, and solid, able to keep time 600 metres underwater. Paired with a unidirectional rotating bezel in hardwearing ceramic and you have an eye-catching watch that ticks all those professional necessities.
Granted the design is, as the name suggests, a touch extreme in its many, many facets. But honestly, the more brands out there doing their own things, the better. If you prefer your divers a little more retrained, there are plenty of other options elsewhere. Too many, some might say. None of that is new of course, I’m just describing Zenith’s Defy Extreme Diver from earlier in the year. So what here is new? Nothing more than the dial. Given just how dramatic a personality shift the new dial gives it though, it’s a change worth talking about.
The dial in question is a bright, silvery white engraved with the same four-pointed star emblem that defines the perennially cool Defy Skyline. It’s sunburst engraving emanates from the Zenith logo and, in a touch that every watchmaker should follow suit on, the date at 3 o’clock is perfectly colour matched to the dial. It’s eye-catching in the best possible way.
That said, a diver needs to be seen underwater as well as above. To that end, there’s plenty of Super-LumiNova across the dial, in three different colours no less. While it’s all the same in the light, in the dark you get blue, green and yellow split across the hours, minutes and seconds to easily distinguish one from the other.
Like the rest of the collection, the Zenith Defy Extreme Diver is powered by the El Primero calibre 3620-SC, a hyper-accurate high-frequency number that, despite the energy output, still has a 60-hour power reserve. That’s performance it should stick too even in harsh environments thanks to its paramagnetic components – read silicon.
Rounding things off, the Defy Extreme Diver comes on three different straps: the matching titanium bracelet, a chunky KFM rubber number with a Cordura-effect texture and, for the true professionals, an extra-long number meant to strap over a wetsuit. That last is also made from recycled fishing nets, which is thematically satisfying.
After most of a year with no more news from the collection, it’s good to see Zenith really hammering home their flagship diver. While I’d still like to see more colours of that Plongeur – imagine it in yellow or light blue, vintage Longines Comet sort of colours – the Defy Extreme Diver is a diver like few others. In a world of Submariner and Fifty Fathoms homages, that alone is enough to make it stand out. It’s a good thing that it has far, far more going for it besides.
Price and Specs:
More details at Zenith.
