Worn & Wound
Collective Horology and Zenith Collaborate on a Limited Edition Defy Skyline
Collective Horology, the Southern California based retailer of independent watches, has unveiled their most recent collaboration, their second with Zenith. The Zenith Defy Skyline C.X follows the El Primero C.01, Collective’s very first limited edition which was released into a very different watch landscape in 2019. Collective has changed along with the watch industry – they’ve become a full fledged retailer of independent watch brands, and have nixed the “members only” concept that the company was born with. It’s fair to say that Collective’s scope has widened considerably since 2019: their goal seems to be spreading the gospel of independent watchmaking at a huge range of price points to anyone who will listen, while continuing to hone in on storytelling in their own limited edition releases to make each of them feel special in their own way. The Skyline C.X takes the latest version of Zenith’s Defy Skyline and strips it back aesthetically to resemble an imagined version of what the watch might have been had it debuted in the 1970s when the Defy collection was beginning to take shape. The theme Collective and Zenith are playing with for this edition is that of midcentury industrial design. To that end, virtually every surface of the case (and bracelet) has been given a micro blasted finish for a sleek, industrial look, and the familiar star motif seen on most Skyline dials has been given a dramatic gradient effect, with the engraved stars appeari...
