INTRODUCING: The Zenith Defy Midnight Borealis & Sunset (Live Pics)

Fergus Nash

Although fashion trends in the watch world tend to move a lot slower than trends in other industries, the current loop of obsessing over a new dial colour or case material each year seems to be running through its options incredibly quickly. In 2020, we saw the domination of the bronze case, 2021 witnessed a flood of green dials, and judging by some of the fresh 2022 releases, we might be in for a wave of Tiffany-blue this year. Thankfully, Zenith are a brand who never seem to chase trends, instead paving the way by offering a range of unique and characterful watches every year without fail. The latest batch from the Zenith Defy Midnight range includes the Borealis and the Sunset, heralding the surely imminent gradient dial boom.

The Defy Midnight series has been touted as Zenith’s collection exclusively designed for women, but that approach is a little outdated. The range, while it certainly embraces femininity, takes on the aesthetic challenge of merging a sports watch design with a smaller wrist-friendly size and colourful lightheartedness. It’s one of very few watches that falls into the trope of using a diamond-set bezel for a “women’s” watch and yet manages to carry it off, feeling much more like an intentional choice than a catch-all solution to feminise a design. It’s that holistic approach to the design which makes it so appealing to all gender identities, because it focuses on being an attractive watch above attempting to pander to stereotypes.

The dials themselves break away from all established trends in a gorgeous way that manages to be complex without totally alienating watch fans, and it’s not just different for difference’s sake. The Zenith Defy Midnight Sunset is a hot tropical cocktail of a dial, with the gradient spanning from a vibrant crimson to a brilliant sunflower-yellow. It crosses hues of rosy pink and sherbet orange, and is for me particularly reminiscent of bitters gently fusing down into a refreshing beverage.

The Zenith Defy Midnight Borealis is quite an authentic representation of the polar lights phenomenon, when energised particles from the sun’s solar winds are deflected by Earth’s atmosphere in a blazing light show. The science behind the reaction is just as fascinating as the ancient myths that explain its origins, and wearing this on your wrist will enthral you with nearly as much magic as seeing the event itself. The transition between a moonlit purple and the hazy emerald green is eerily pleasing, and the applied diamond hour-markers do well to appear as glittering stars in the night sky.

Speaking of stars, the Defy Midnight series tends to focus on Zenith’s iconic five-pointed star more than most, with these two models using it as the epicentre for a stunning guilloché pattern that gives the impression of the applied logo radiating light. Guilloché patterns can seem a little old-fashioned and are rarely seen outside of dress watches these days, but it’s always nice to see them used in an engaging way.

The 36mm case is perfect for small wrists, with the short lugs ensuring a comfortable fit while allowing the dial to have a good amount of space. The diamond-set bezel may be a dealbreaker for some potential owners, but I think it really suits the atmosphere that these watches establish. The Zenith Defy Midnight also comes with three extra straps in leather, textile and rubber that you can swap out if you’re not feeling the stainless steel-bracelet, and they thankfully all use a quick-release system for effortless changing. Inside, beneath an exhibition caseback, you will find the Zenith in-house caliber Elite 670 SK (also utilized in larger Defy models) with a solid 50 hours of power reserve and a silicon escape wheel and pallet lever which greatly resist against magnetism. Between the circular Côtes de Genève, perlage, and openworked star winding rotor, there is also a lot to enjoy visually as well.

Zenith Defy Midnight Borealis & Sunset pricing and availability: