MISSED CONNECTIONS: What would have happened if Swiss watchmaker Zenith and compatriot USM Modular Furniture had met when they patented their most famous technical innovations in the 1960s?
That’s the question that led to the collaboration that resulted in the Defy Chronograph USM watch unveiled Thursday.
For the watchmaker, that decade saw the development of the El Primero caliber, the first automatic high-frequency chronograph movement, one that came with a full-rotor design giving it 1/10th-of-a-second precision.
Defy Chronograph USM
Courtesy of Zenith
So complex was this undertaking that the project took seven years, launching in 1969 and missing its original plan to launch for the company’s centennial celebration in 1965 — coincidentally the year USM patented the ingenious ball joint that underpins its USM Haller modular furniture system.
The design readily recognizable by its steel tubes and colored metal panels is today part of the permanent design collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
For Zenith’s chief executive officer Benoît de Clerck, the collaboration “unites the excellence of Swiss design and horology, embodying a mutual appreciation for enduring, modern aesthetics.”
USM’s CEO Alexander Schärer, who is president of the board and the fourth generation at the helm of the family-owned business, said both companies were “founded as owner-driven workshops integrated in a microcosm of Swiss craftsmanship — a shared origin that has naturally guided us toward partnership.”
“Though our products, industries, and even our clientele may appear distinct at first glance, they are ultimately bound by a shared devotion to timeless quality, refined aesthetics, and purposeful functionality,” he continued.
Defy Chronograph USM
Courtesy of Zenith
Another oddity of the Space Age for the watchmaker is that although its Defy design launched in 1969 and had many iterations, it was never produced as a chronograph.
Serving as the “imagined heritage” of those missed connections is the limited edition Defy Chronograph USM timekeeper, which fuses the Defy’s bold geometries and a ladder-style bracelet designed exclusively for Zenith at the time, architecture-inspired details and dial colors inspired by the iconic modular system.
A miniature USM Haller ball joint finishes the chronograph second hand and when activated the chronograph reveals the Zenith star hidden under it.
Available in four dial colors, each limited to 60 pieces, the Defy Chronograph USM is priced at 10,900 Swiss francs, or $11,800. The timepieces come in their own custom-designed USM Haller chest.
