Zenith · DEFY Chronograph USM – TimeForArt Unique Piece
The model in detail
Meet the watch
The mirror dial of this DEFY reflects the space around it. Three chronograph registers and accents in USM yellow, orange, green and blue make the collaboration with the modular-furniture maker immediately visible. A miniature Haller ball joint appears at the tip of the blue central chronograph hand. This is a single watch made for TimeForArt, rather than another production run of a retail edition.
The 37 mm steel case and ladder bracelet carry forward the Zenith and USM collaboration launched in September 2025. The defining change this time is the fully mirror-polished dial. It looks striking in photographs; reflections could affect legibility in use, but it would be premature to judge that without handling the watch.
El Primero 400 is not a new movement here. The automatic column-wheel chronograph runs at 5 Hz and has a stated 55-hour power reserve. It places a central chronograph seconds hand above a 30-minute counter at 3 and a 12-hour counter at 6; small seconds sit at 9 and the date at about 4:30. This layout leaves room for the reflective surface between the coloured registers.
Details and limitations
The watch forms one lot with a bespoke USM Haller furniture piece designed for storing a collection. The Phillips auction in New York is scheduled for December 5, 2026 at 3:00 p.m. US Eastern time, with proceeds benefiting Swiss Institute. A normal DEFY USM retail price is therefore a poor comparison; no official retail price is stated for this one-off.
What interests me is the meeting of design and mechanics: one change, the dial, gives a familiar high-beat chronograph a different character. A prospective buyer should keep the auction format in mind and inspect the mirrored dial's readability in person if possible.