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watchmaking is honestly not so much about reliability or accuracy or long power reserve but rather about art and increasingly in recent years, innovations. It is about the spirit of being willing to evolve and to do things differently, even if what is created is no better or worse from a performance point of view. If we want performance, there are plenty of options on the market and I'm sure mechanical time pieces will not even make it into the door.
BREAKING: Zenith's Defy Lab opens a new watchmaking era, with world-first novel monoblock regulating system, 108,000 VpH (15 Hz), new light Aeronith material - intro & video!
I am currently at the Zenith Manufacture in Le Locle to witness the historical moment of the world's first presentation of Zenith's new Defy Lab watch , featuring a revolutionary, groundbreakingly new watch regulating system, which abandons the multipart ...
Thank you for a fantastic report, Magnus!
Very interesting and innovative solution. Looking forward to see how these will preform in everyday life. Best Blomman
Very fascinating!
Any idea on when these will be available in their portfolio? Apart from the first, piece unique ones?
Wow incredible innovation
Looking forward to hearing more about the watch. Truly remarkable breakthru...
Many thanks Magnus for this discovery. Your video is particularly eloquent. I would be curious to "hear" this new mouvement (if we can hear something). Is it "noisy"? (There's no sound in your video)
Can you feel something on your arm independently of the lightness of the watch? The new material used for the case is really impressive too. I want to see more now 😁 Thanks again Best wishes Alkiro
JCB continues to deliver
Value and innovations to manufactures he leads and to the industry. Not only has he introduced innovations, he has applied them to products that are affordable and this can be enjoyed by many end consumers. I find such to be his most remarkable and admira...
Had to read it more than once lol
but this is a game changer, although I have a weak spot for more traditional watches. That aside I feel confident that there is room for both being old fashioned and hyper modern Very well done!
Long term this technology is not in the competition for high end watches...
but it will be a game changer for mid and low end. The potential cost savings are tremendious and that on the most labor intensive and thus expensive portion of the movement, the oscillator. Once these prove themselves on the wrist the quantities will be ...
Mind-boggling isn't quite vivid enough a term . . .
. . . to describe this development, Magnus. Mind-blowing is more like it. I'm trying to come up with an apt analogy, and the only one I can come up with at the moment is the comparison of solid state devices with vacuum tubes. Totally different, yet essen...
They have nailed it here.
I didn't find the El Primero 21 that attractive on release but here they have managed to blend technology with a sleak case, time only, interesting materials, breakthrough movement, it has a lot going for it. Very positive. Is this another 'El Primero' as...
Great detailled and thorough report Magnus.
As much as innovative is this movement from Zenith , it makes the range of Zenith watches too Hublotish, however perhaps with a classical dial with luminous hands and indexes , it will be more classical and easier to buy for a Zenith classic watch fact t...
I said much the same on another forum – my concern is the Defy range will be Hublot Jr by a different name.
I hope not, but this double announcement seems to be paving the way for such an outcome – an edgier Zenith, trying to be somewhat akin to what the LABs are for JLC. Nonetheless, kudos on the 60h PR, which is a refreshing change from ~40 hours many movemen...
To me it is not so much
How the technology is applied to making watches that are similar or not similar to Hublot or whoever, it is the fact that JCB has continued to innovate and not be necessarily confined to real world application constraints. This is what has been lacking in...
Well some movements had already 100 hours power reserve or 72 hours of power reserve way before this one
Look at the Piguet 1150 which powers the Blancpain range, back in 1989 it offered already 100 hours power reserve. Also several other inhouse movements like the ones from Panerai or IWC offer 8 days of power reserve and still use traditional technology. E...
Again
watchmaking is honestly not so much about reliability or accuracy or long power reserve but rather about art and increasingly in recent years, innovations. It is about the spirit of being willing to evolve and to do things differently, even if what is cre...
Fact that three of the best worldwide best selling brands which are Rolex, Omega and Breitling don't use this technology and still sell more watches than Zenith
Rolex introduced its new chronergy escapement in 2016, Omega introduced the coaxial escapement in 1999 and Breitling introduced the B01 with self centering hammers back in 2009. The question is how very profitable is the supposed innovation and what are r...
And Casio just sold its 100M'th G Shock
I don't think sales and popularity necessarily equate to the level of technological competence. As you said, some buy for status, others for practicality, yet still some for the artistic value and uniqueness and personal identity. What I admire is not nec...
finally something we can agree on :)
Even Patek's complained that the Carrera Tourbillon based on the 02 movement shouldn't be priced that cheaply and yes the v4 and Mikrograph are unique and breath of fresh air for Tag which was and is mainly an assembleur not a true manufacture. Sure it is...
A real watch with a real innovation
I was waiting for such a discovery since many years, when i realized that nobody wanted to invest in R&D to manufacture a new innovative geometry, with an excellent precision and reliability. To me, the most important aspect is that this caliber is availa...
To break the rules,
First you have to master them ;-) Some keeps breaking the rules while others continue mastering them it seems.
Indeed
Much easier and cheaper write a sentence than draw a new caliber; this rule apply to the whole sector. I guess that soon this technology will be shared with Tag and Hublot; likely the best is yet to come, in terms of innovative escapements/ oscillators.
Not only for the LVMH group
Other brands will be able to buy it too. A bit like ETA used to be Or like the el primero. So many brands used this legendary movement, zenith might have created another legendary movement that will have impact on the entire watch business
Before getting carried away, bear in mind that the movement is 8.13 mm thick – and that’s just for a basic 3-hander!
We’re not going to see this in any Bvlgari Octo (and certainly not the Finissimos) any time soon. It will be restricted to thick/chunky style watches, which explains the reasoning behind the dual announcement of the Aeronith material.
It will have to demonstrate an over the long term robustness, reliability and ruggedness before being valued a great calibre but there is a long way before this
The finish on this movement, it is pretty pedestrian and nothing high end of what Zenith proposes, so the so called legendary movement that will have to be seen in two or even three is the low end and middle of the range of stuff so no possible compariso...
That's true for any novelties, and great brands have struggled simple to reshape bridges...
Zenith is mid-range in my book, and I feel a real disconnect between their high end stuff and the remainder of the offerings. The former look like an afterthought to me. Magnus
zenith still has some very high end timepieces like the Academy Christophe Colomb and el primero minute repeater both each worthy of more than 240k$
And still much more beautifully crafted than this movement. I still consider Zenith as a luxury brand whereas Tag is indeed mid range. Not every brand has won many chronometric prizes like Zenith and not many brands have such a rich history of making grea...
What a revolution!
Huge congratulations to the women and the men from the Manufacture. I wish this revolutionary innovation could bring a lot of lucky to Zenith. And I find these "Lab" series to be quite appealing too. I hope we will soon have a "Standard", reasonably price...
It is a very 'nervous' system to look at.
At first glance I'd say; please not on the dial side.
Finally! It's out in the open
Magnus, Thanks for the "LIVE" report. It's has been unbearable not to say anything all this time. I asked the current Mrs MTF if money could be spared for such an innovation that comes round only every 340 years but she refused on the grounds that we were...
As a (legal) historian, I misread your simple formula ...
... and it still was correct. Tradition + Innovation=WWI Also World War I was the result of these two ingredients ....... Marcus
Is the case material as open-celled as it appears?
It seems one could file one's nails on it while watching the (not) escapement. A wonderful development; a new class of movement where we now have mechanical, Quartz, Spring Drive and Zenith Oscillator. Cazalea
Sure you can watch the escapement while filing your nails.
The small "finned" wheel seen on the dial is the escape wheel with the anchor being a part of the silicon structure right next to it. The underlying patent explains alot EP3032350A1.
Wonderful Report Magnus, thank you and Congrats to Zenith....
I love the brand and am so happy they are bringing such cutting edge innovation to the forefront. Love the new Aeronith material. I hope they also revive their diving watch line, they have such a deep history in that area. S
Anothers superb scoop my friend!
Marvelous post above all and I'm very happy that one of my favorite brands made such breakthrough! Enjoy Cheers D
Quite an achievement!
Any word how they create the "metal foam" and also, any live photos of A3? That particular combo looks quite appealing. Congrats to the entire Zenith team!
Maggie, much thanks for this report. I am looking forward to a technical follow on report..
I have concerns about the long term robustness of such a high frequency movement. Is this to be a serially produced watch? I am many sigma out of watch collectors, bit short of kinetic watch sculptures, accuracy is an important part of any timepiece.
They were very open here: the long experience with silicon at Zenith, the careful construction and in silico & on wrist testing...
The rest... only time will tell. They're pretty confident about this new construction. Magnus
Thank you for the report!! This is amazing to see!
However I wonder if that high rate of vibration one can feel like on the wrist? Would be uncomfortable, no?
This is very interesting
Your report is great as always Magnus, thanks for bringing this in here. I remember when I started to get really interested by watches that I was wondering why we didn't have more innovations. Of course I understood quickly (because I'm smart of course) t...
Thank you, Magnus and Sascha, for this excellent report!
This innovation clearly derserves a lot of respect, well done Zenith! Now, I am curious to see it in the metal and feel it on the wrist at some point in the future. For now my initial thoights are mixed: It seems to offer plenty of significant improvement...
Thrilling!
I assume this has not been developed by Zenith, but within a hitech think-tank? Where will the series production be located? Marcus
Thank you Magnus for a wonderful piece of information.
In my opinion Zenith is on the right track. However the question of innovations is quite controversial. 1) Purists may claim that the usage of silicon undermines core horological principles. The parts being made by machine present no "warmth" in compariso...
Defy Lab Prototype
Dear all, in early 2017 i ´ ve got the chance to take a video shot of an early prototype of the Defy Lab (project name: "X-Time" at this time). It´s a slow motion video and the prototype is in a TAG Heuer case because Guy Sémons Lab is at TAG Heuer so he ...
best part has yet to come ......
a very reliable source said Zenith will offer a watch with this revolutionary movement pretty soon to the public .... for a price ... UNDER 6000 euro ...
with until they combine it with a chronograph movement
and put is in a new De Luca that's what I want
Finally something that we can consider as a "novelty"
Nowadays many brands come up with revolutionary systems, materials and methods but the true novelties that makes watchmaking evolving are very few and as far as I know I think that the Defy Lab is one of those. I have criticised Biver many times for its m...
Epic Report. Opus of technology...
Wow. That's an amazing piece of technology. Looking forward to seeing this cutting edge Zenith (no pun intended) in the flesh. Great report!