One of my favorite brands — and one that carries one of the most iconic movements in modern watchmaking history: the El Primero chronograph.
This year, Zenith once again took the stage at LVMH Watch Week, an event that has quietly become one of the most important moments in the annual watchmaking calendar. Before diving into Zenith’s latest releases, however, it is worth understanding what this week represents.
LVMH Watch Week is not just another industry gathering. It is the opening statement of the year. What is unveiled here often sets the tone for what follows — not only for LVMH’s maisons, but for the broader conversations that will later unfold at major fairs such as Watches & Wonders.
Organized by the LVMH Group — one of the most powerful luxury conglomerates in the world — the event brings together several of its watchmaking houses to present new models, technical developments, and strategic direction. Brands such as TAG Heuer, Bulgari, and Tiffany & Co. all use this moment to define how they want to be perceived in the year ahead.
Among them stands Zenith.
is Zenith merely living off its history, or still actively engaging in a dialogue with it?
That is the lens through which these releases deserve to be read.
Zenith Today: Between Legacy and Expectation
To understand Zenith’s current position, one must first accept a simple truth: very few brands are as intimately tied to a single achievement as Zenith is to El Primero.
That legacy is both a privilege and a burden.
El Primero is not merely a historic movement; it is one of the most important chronographs ever produced. High frequency, integrated architecture, genuine technical ambition. Even decades after its creation, it remains a benchmark. But carrying such a legacy inevitably raises a difficult question: how does a brand move forward when its past is already monumental?
Today, Zenith walks a delicate line. Within the LVMH ecosystem, it occupies a very specific space: more technically serious than TAG Heuer, less experimental than Hublot, and historically more instrument-driven than Bulgari. Its identity is not built on spectacle, but on mechanics; not on complications designed to impress at first glance, but on the chronograph as a functional tool.
And that position has consequences.
Zenith cannot afford to betray its own language. Every new release is inevitably measured against El Primero —not only as a calibre, but as a philosophy. Precision, legibility, and functional honesty are not optional; they are expectations.
At the same time, relying solely on history is a dangerous comfort. Brands that live too much in the past risk becoming museums rather than manufacturers. Zenith’s true challenge is not reinvention, but proving that its legacy is still alive—capable of evolving without being diluted.
This is precisely why LVMH Watch Week matters so much for Zenith. Not because it demands spectacle or shock value, but because it reveals how confident the brand truly is in its own identity. Whether Zenith chooses to refine, reinterpret, or cautiously advance speaks louder than any press release ever could.
The real question, then, is not whether Zenith remains faithful to its past—that much is clear.
The question is whether it can continue to speak a contemporary and relevant language while doing so.
That answer begins to emerge in the watches themselves.
Looking at the latest Defy releases, it becomes clear that Zenith is trying to speak to a different kind of man: more contemporary, more technical, more attuned to modern materials and architectural design. There is a clear attempt to merge elegance and technology through a current, almost industrial visual language.
At the same time, I look at my own Chronomaster El Primero 38 mm and find exactly what has always drawn me to the brand: quality, balance, elegance, and mechanical honesty. It is the mythical chronograph—the one that does not need to justify its existence.
In these new Defy models, I see an aggressive, bold, and largely coherent move. New materials, new geometries, an aesthetic that looks forward without asking for permission. Zenith is not merely refining what it already knows; it is pushing its own boundaries.
I like that intention. I welcome it.
Yet there is also a quiet warning. In certain details, in subtle aesthetic gestures, I begin to see echoes of Hublot. And that inevitably creates tension—not because Hublot lacks identity, but because Zenith does not need that language in order to evolve.
Still, the overall balance is positive. What emerges is a decisive step toward the future, with a clear effort to preserve the El Primero legacy as a structural backbone, even as the external form evolves.
The challenge now will be maintaining that balance: innovating without dilution, moving forward without losing the pulse that has always made Zenith distinct.
DEFY: What It Does Well, What It Risks, and What I Expect
Zenith has placed the DEFY collection at the center of its narrative for the 2026 LVMH Watch Week, and it has done so with a lineup that feels simultaneously ambitious and diverse. This year’s DEFY offerings bring architectural forms, modern materials, and technical depth — from sleek ceramic finishes to exposed mechanisms — underscoring a vision that looks toward the future without abandoning craft.
What It Does Well
1. A Cohesive Architectural Language
The DEFY series now speaks with a design language that reads like miniature mechanics: bezel, case, dial, and movement are integrated into a singular architectural conversation. This isn’t a collage of parts; it’s a unified object with intention. The geometry feels dynamic yet purposeful, giving the collection a distinct presence that is both contemporary and coherent.
2. Material Innovation with Meaning
Zenith experiments with materials — ceramic black cases, brushed titanium, multi-tone finishes — in ways that feel purposeful rather than superficial. These materials don’t exist simply to be fashionable; they change the way light, weight, and surface interact with the wrist, giving each piece a unique physical identity. Whether urban or elegant, these choices expand DEFY’s vocabulary without sacrificing function.
3. Technical Clarity and Expression
The collection includes pieces that openly celebrate mechanics. For example, some DEFY models feature the El Primero 3620 SK, a skeletonized evolution of Zenith’s iconic movement, where the mechanics are not behind the dial but part of the visual narrative. This isn’t mechanics as ornament — it is mechanics as structure and expression. Placing the movement front and center gives the wearer a more visceral connection to how the watch works.
4. A Broader Range of Proposals
The DEFY family now spans sizes and personalities — from 36 mm daily wear options to the technically ambitious and eye-catching skeleton tourbillon pieces. This breadth allows the line to speak to a range of collectors: those who want a refined tool on the wrist, and those who want structural boldness without losing mechanical credibility.
What It Risks
1. Potential Dilution of Identity Through Style
As DEFY embraces bold forms and avant-garde materials, it occasionally drifts perceptually closer to design territories occupied by other brands within LVMH. Subtle cues — angular segmentations, exposed bridges, bold surface language — sometimes echo visual cues that feel closer to Hublot’s expression than Zenith’s own traditional voice. This is not a critique of Hublot’s identity, but a caution: Zenith doesn’t need to borrow language to evolve.
The risk here isn’t aesthetic experimentation itself — it’s that the distinction between authentic evolution and visual borrowing becomes blurrier, weakening the collection’s singular voice.
2. Range Versus Narrative Cohesion
The admirable diversity within DEFY — from sportier skeleton pieces to refined wristwatch sizes — can create the perception of a collection without a unifying argument. When a range feels like “many stories” instead of “one evolving narrative,” the editorial message loses focus. Each piece is interesting, but together they need a clearer connective thread.
3. Architecture as Effect, Not Argument
When design goes too far into architectural abstraction without a clear functional rationale, the watch can start to feel like a statement rather than a tool. Zenith’s strength has always been mechanical honesty — if design gestures outpace functional clarity, the language slips from purposeful to decorative.
What I Expect (And Why It Matters)
Zenith is not simply in the business of launching watches; it is in the business of expressing a worldview through timepieces. And the DEFY collection is where that worldview becomes most visible today.
1. Functional Expression, Not Mere Style
I expect future DEFY iterations to maintain — and deepen — the architectural language, but always with a functional underpinning. Geometry that improves legibility, materials that enhance durability, mechanisms that elevate experience — not just aesthetic experiments.
2. Evolving the El Primero Narrative
El Primero remains Zenith’s most powerful legacy. I want to see DEFY integrate and extend that legacy in ways that feel like forward motion, not retrospective nostalgia. Movements like the 3620 SK are promising because they make mechanics part of the visual language, not just the heartbeat.
3. Clarifying the Collection’s Voice
Zenith should continue to expand, but with a stronger sense of purpose. A clearer editorial line that explains why each piece belongs in DEFY — beyond visual boldness — will help the collection speak to collectors who value meaning over motif.
In this LVMH Watch Week, Zenith showed that its ambition is alive. The real measure of success, however, will not be how many variants are released — but whether Zenith can continue to evolve without losing the thread that makes it, unmistakably, itself.
— Mauricio Venegas
Founder & Editor, RAW TIME