Swiss luxury watchmaker Zenith enlists artist Felipe Pantone to design its latest DEFY 21 timepiece, marking the first time in its history the brand has worked alongside a contemporary artist.
Revered for his colorful and dynamic artworks, the Argentinian-Spanish artist steps into unknown territory as he translates his design language onto watches for the first time also. With Zenith spearheading horological innovations with its 1/100th of a second El Primero 21 precision movement and Pantone’s unique artistic reverence, the two collaborate on Zenith’s most advanced chronograph in its catalog.
Speaking on his first-ever watch collaboration, Felipe Pantone said “The concept was to transform this spectacular piece of watchmaking into a wearable work of kinetic art, where time and light converge into a single object. I couldn’t be more thrilled with the result.”
To accommodate Pantone’s bold vision into a timepiece, Zenith pushed the boundaries of watchmaking innovation as the first to use 3D PVD with silicon particles as surface treatment during development. This creates a spectrum of perfectly transitioning colors on its multi-colored bridges that reflect the gradient of metallic rainbow tones, reimagining the contemporary artists’ signature bold aesthetic. Despite making it as standardized as possible, due to the complexity of the process, each piece takes on a slight difference in color making every watch unique.
The limited-edition timepiece possesses distorted hour and minute hands resembling lightning bolts which also apply the rainbow gradient. Pantone’s signature moiré optical effect is channeled as a miniaturized version on the watch’s top bridges and its dial, achieved by using intricate laser-engraving and lacquering techniques.
To round off the visually striking design, the watch is supplied with two sets of straps — the primary adopts a black textured warped grid motif but for those inclined to a bolder look, the iridescent alternative is able to switch from dark gray to a lenticular glow depending on the angle of the light. The watch arrives in an exclusive box designed by Pantone emblazoned with his signature design cues and mimics that of a hardcover book, attached with a signed certificate.
The DEFY 21 Felipe Pantone is limited to 100 units and will be available to purchase from Zenith Boutiques globally on March 15. You can check out more information on the upcoming release and other models through the Zenith website.
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