There is a deep graphic quality to Pantone’s work, picked up in a grid pattern on the minute register. The rest of the already intricate dial is treated to a whimsical yet technically challenging mix of surface treatments, from PVD noir to psychedelic patterns. The bold sword hands have a centre in the same flash of colour, and are given a distorted look akin to the lighting shapes often used by Pantone. And the best part is the semi-bespoke detail, where the micro-rainbow flashes give varying results on each application so that no two are alike. The result is made possible by using silicon particles as a surface treatment, to produce a spectrum of perfectly transitioning colours. The coating reflects a gradient of metallic rainbow tones – the DEFY 21 Felipe Pantone is the first watch to ever use this innovative kind of three-dimensional PVD.
A striking feature is the metallic sheen to the multi-coloured bridges and the rainbow chapter ring on the minute counter. From a distance it appears like only a few coloured accents on the dark stage, but turns out to be so much more and therein lies the appeal. The intricate details of the openworked DEFY 21 dial and case structure have become the perfect canvas, from which you are hit with a barrage of small details and colours. There is something particularly charming about the way Zenith has taken the darkest version of the DEFY 21, a tough guy in the hard fought sports watch category, and given Felipe Pantone free reign with his “visible spectrum concept”. And judging by the transformation his touch brings, we are already hoping for more. This is the first time Zenith has collaborated with one of the brightest stars of contemporary art, the Argentinian-Spanish artist Felipe Pantone. The colours here aren’t a bombardment, but are laser bright, sharp and, at the same time, delicately wrought.
It’s great to see a brand refusing to go down the safe path, but instead attempting something that feels genuinely different. In the process, Zenith have again set new standards of material treatment in a textbook example of how to catch the attention of even the most blasé watch enthusiast. The Zenith DEFY 21 Felipe Pantone finds their high-tech tool watch inhabiting a dark ceramic suit enlivened by a a laser light-show of colours. The DEFY 21 continues the brand’s momentum with this unexpectedly colourful collaboration with a contemporary artist. But CEO Julien Tornare and his team are clearly on a roll. Zenith threw a knockout punch only a few weeks ago with the new Chronomaster Sport. I/trending 16870 INTRODUCING: The Zenith DEFY 21 Felipe Pantone is a psychedelic conversation starter Thor Svaboe
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