Zenith Gives the Defy Chronograph USM a Mirror Dial for a One-Off Charity Auction

Last September, Zenith and USM Modular Furniture put the iconic Swiss furniture maker's colors on a 37mm Defy chronograph. It was a bit of a stretch of a collaboration, but I like Zenith, I like the Defy chronograph and I love USM furniture, so I liked that watch. Now, they're bringing that collaboration back, but as a one-off watch made for TimeForArt, the charity auction Swiss Institute runs with Phillips, now in its third year. Gone are most of the colors, replaced by a fully mirrored finish. Everywhere. It also ships with a mirrored USM Haller sideboard that holds 24 watches, which beats pretty much any presentation box.

Nothing changes on the case. It's stainless steel, 37mm wide, with the octagonal outline and 14-facet bezel of the 1969 original. The case gets a mirror finish with vertically brushed notches at the top and bottom of the case, with piston style pushers on the right side, surrounding the crown. Water resistance is 100 meters.

Mirror dials are a gamble. They photograph beautifully, after a lot of effort, and then show you your shirt cuff when you want the time. To make things a bit more visible by introducing three overlapping azuré counters, each printed in a different USM shade, so Golden Yellow, Pure Orange, Green and Gentian Blue. Rhodium-plated indices and faceted hands are filled with Super-LumiNova SLN C1, and the blue central chronograph hand has a counter weight shaped like a tiny Haller ball joint. Small seconds sit at nine, chronograph minutes at three, hours at six, plus a date at 4:30.

The movement is the El Primero 400, Zenith's self-winding column-wheel chronograph, running at 5Hz with 55 hours of reserve. The rotor gets Côtes de Genève and both brand logos on it. The watch comes on the steel ladder bracelet from the regular model.

The Defy Chronograph USM – TimeForArt Unique Piece (ref. 03.A780.400-T/01.M3642) will go on sale at Phillips in New York at 3pm Eastern on December 5, 2026. Every dollar, buyer's premium included, goes to Swiss Institute. See more on the TimeForArt website.