The first fruits of a more synergized approach to watch-making at LVMH comes to light this week, with the unveiling of replica Zenith’s Defy Lab, a collaboration between the best-decorated Le Locle manufacture, the R&D department of replica Hublot and Guy Semon, CEO of the luxury group’s R&D Institute, Watch Division, based at the fake TAG Heuer.
And the results are even more remarkable than Zenith’s landmark achievement to some extent, the legendary El Primero from 1969, the first serially produced chronograph capable of measuring to 1/10th of a second, made possible by the higher than normal oscillating frequency. Because today Zenith has announced a new movement beating at an incredible 15hz or ten times more accurately than the original El Primero.
Featured inside a revamped movement called the ZO 342 is a completely new regulating system dubbed the Zenith Oscillator, which replaces the coupled balance and hairspring system devised by the astronomer and physicist Christian Huygens back in 1675 with a single element measuring just 0.5mm in thickness.
The Oscillator itself is made from monocrystalline silicon and its two components replace the 30 or so parts that comprise the traditional sprung balance system. The use of monocrystalline silicon obviates the need for lubrication, resulting in less friction, which – in tandem with the increased frequency – achieves far greater accuracy for 95 per cent of its 60-hour power reserve.
This gives the Defy Lab a triple-whammy of credentials: chronometer certification awarded on behalf of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM), as well as thermal and anti-magnetic properties that meet criteria laid down by the International Organisation for Standards (ISO). As the replica Zenith describes it, “This mechanism opens up a new dimension, representing no less than a reinvention of the Huygens principle with another mechanical cheap replica watch.”
Initially offered in ten unique pieces, the Zenith Defy Lab features a 44mm case made from a patent-pending aluminium composite developed by the R&D team at Hublot, called Aeronith, which is billed as 1.7 times lighter than aluminium and 10% lighter than carbon fibre. The ZO 342 caliber measures just 8.13mm thick with the Zenith Oscillator itself visible through the open-worked dial.
Ultimately, it aims to industrialize the Zenith Oscillator in much the same way as the El Primero, but until then there’s the Defy El Primero 21, a chronograph capable of measuring to 100th of a second via a central seconds hand, the first series-made chronograph able to do so, and the debut piece in this newly-minted line of Defy watches.