The ladder bracelet is an indispensable part of the Defy’s appeal. This release marks the first time Zenith’s ladder bracelet has been crafted in titanium and given the same dark matte finish as the case. It’s not a stretch of the imagination to believe that this could have been the product of some off-the-books, Zenith skunk-works operation at a time when the brand was at the peak of their creativity. Honestly, though, that’s part of the fun. As we know from the Chronomaster, Zenith experimented with coatings to darken cases during the prototyping stage, but unlike that earlier watch, the Defy Shadow doesn’t have a historical precedent. While the Chronomaster Revival Shadow was based on a specific watch from the Zenith archives, the Defy Shadow is more or less a flight of fancy. As a sibling to the earlier shadow, this watch makes a lot of sense. For this release, Zenith has stripped the case of its signature finishing and given it the same bead blasted titanium treatment as the Chronomaster Revival Shadow.

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