The Defy Inventor’s
textured bezel is made
of Aeronith, the lightest
aluminum composite
made of open-pore
aluminum foam and a
ploymer stiffener.
Zenith CEO Julien Tornare
ZENITH CEO JULIEN TORNARE
TALKS ABOUT DEFY, CARBON AND PILOTS
International Watch spoke with Zenith CEO Julien Tornare during Baselworld 2019. He
told us about why the Zenith Defy Inventor is so important for the brand, what he’s
doing to make watchmaking appealing to young consumers, and when you can visit
Zenith headquarters in Le Locle. Read the full interview below.
The new bronze-cased Zenith Pilot Type 20
Chronograph Adventure, pictured with a khaki
matrix calfskin leather strap with protective
rubber lining and a titanium pin buckle.
WHY IS THE NEW DEFY INVENTOR SO IMPORTANT FOR ZENITH?
For the past two years I have been working on understanding Zenith as a company. we make ten pieces, fine, but if we want to make a series it is more difficult. Even today
Who are the great men who made Zenith? What happened in our history? This helps many of them are rejected.
us to understand which elements and symbols we should communicate for Zenith.
After we integrated the oscillator into the watch, it went quite well. Since that first
This also helps us decide which direction we needed to take to move forward. Under- series we have made one change. The Defy Lab was 15 Hz, but in this new Defy Inventor,
standing this also helped as we were remaking our advertising, boutiques, displays and the oscillator vibrates at 18 Hz (129,600 vibrations per hour). We realized that the small
even events. increase in frequency keeps it more stable over the entire power reserve. Plus, it’s even
Zenith has been so creative from the very beginning. When we first started to work
cooler to say 18 Hz.
on the first automatic chronograph fifty years ago many people in Switzerland said that We kept using the same material however. The people who bought the first Defy Lab
it could not be done. This is exactly what I was told when we began to work on the Defy bought it with a bit of trust about us. We made that first ten-piece series with a partic-
Lab. It is in our genes to create new things. ular case of Aeronith, but we did not want to repeat that afterward. But we did put a
Now, everybody says they innovate, but who is really, really innovative? I believe this
is our mission, and we continue to do this.
For the new Defy Inventor, we redeveloped the oscillating component (from the first
hint of that material on this new watch’s bezel. Aeronith is an alloy of aluminum, carbon
and a polymer. We cannot scratch it and it is very strong.
We can work on different cases, as well as possibly changing the shape of the oscil-
Defy Lab) and it still has no friction, no oil and is anti-magnetic. lator. This is really just at the beginning.
WHAT WERE THE TECHNICAL CHALLENGES ZENITH FACED TO MAKE THE
DEFY INVENTOR? HOW DO PEOPLE REACT WHEN THEY SEE THE DEFY INVENTOR?
The first one was obviously linked to this oscillator. The cut is very specific and we’re showing a prototype to clients, and the reaction was extraordinary. Everybody wanted
talking about micro-microns. Tiny differences change the precision. The difficulty was if to know what it was and how it worked. Developing this is totally in-line with our history.
56 | INTERNATIONAL WATCH | SUMMER 2019
Never underestimate the visual impact it has. When I was launching Defy, I recall