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When the Zenith Defy Revival diver was released last year, I somehow missed it. I didn’t see it when it passed through the office, nor at any press events, and honestly, I just didn’t take notice of articles. I guess I was busy. While unfortunate in one sense, perhaps it was for the best, as my first in-person experience with it was with its follow-up model, the Zenith Defy Revival Shadow, and I was immediately taken.
Small, dark, weird, vintage-y, and yet also with a 90s vibe, it sank its titanium teeth into me fast. I’m not surprised, to be honest, as the “shadow” watches by Zenith have been their coolest models in the last several years, at least to yours truly. An aesthetic outlier within their collection, these occasional brooding models utilize not just the best-metal-for-a-sports-watchTM, titanium, but also a unique micro-blasting, which gives them a charcoal tone that is more nuanced than black coatings. Light and dark in one package, I’m surprised I don’t already have a Shadow in my watch box.
But, even among the Shadow models, the Defy Revival stands out. It’s a remarkably compact, tough tool watch with unique vintage styling that comes to life with shocks of neon yellow. The only shadow model to use a color, Zenith wasn’t shy, and it paid off. A love it or leave it hue, it was a risk. This is the kind of unexpected design choice that will make me take notice of a brand. To use an expression I truly hate, “I see you,” Zenith (yuck).
