[Video] Review: the Zenith Defy Extreme Diver

When I write reviews, I find myself bucketing watches into two distinct categories. The first of these is home to watches that feel like they’re meant for a different version of me, if not a different collector altogether. These are the watches that, whether I love them or not, I’d be hard-pressed to really see as part of my day-to-day life — at least as my life exists now.

The other bucket is where watches like the Zenith Defy Extreme Diver live. This is the bucket for the watches that seem to hit right in my wheelhouse — the watches that seem like they were purpose-built to appeal to me (and possibly to my wallet). The minute I saw the press release for the Defy Extreme Diver, I knew it sat in this second bucket, and I knew I needed to spend some time with it, if not for a review, then certainly to consider whether this watch was one I needed in my life.

Fortunately, I didn’t have to wait all too long, and after a couple of weeks with the Defy Extreme Diver on my wrist I can easily confirm what at first I only suspected — it is very, very good.

There’s an inherent irony that comes along with the very concept of a luxury tool watch. The tension between building a rugged tool watch ready to tackle the world’s most demanding environments and building a high-end luxury product is palpable. To make a watch that straddles those two worlds without looking too much like a Submariner is even harder. 

With the Defy Extreme Diver, Zenith has managed to make something that feels like the logical conclusion to several paths we’ve seen start to converge over the last few years, while simultaneously plugging what has been a clear hole in their catalog — a complete and utter lack of dive watches. Despite that, the introduction of the Defy Extreme Diver feels like such a natural extension of what Zenith has been up to that you would be forgiven for thinking it already existed.

Why a Zenith Dive Watch?

As I just mentioned, one of the big holes in the Zenith catalog over the last several years has been dive watches. In an interesting way, dive watches have sort of become the center of the watch industry over the last few decades, and they are a grounding point for so many enthusiasts. I think this is for a few reasons, but the biggest piece of the puzzle — at least to my eye — is that a dive watch offers collectors an appealing mix of features without a lot of the technical complexity (and corresponding price tag) that come with most complications.