USM and Zenith’s Limited-Edition Chronograph and Watch Box Collaboration Pops with Color

An expression of Swiss engineering excellence and expressive, architectural design, a new limited-edition collaboration between Zenith and USM encompasses four new Defy chronograph models and one custom-designed Haller timepiece chest. Each model commits to one signature color from the modular furniture brand: USM Green, USM Pure Orange, USM Golden Yellow, and USM Gentian Blue. Each dial color will be limited to 60 pieces—and each watch purchase comes complete with the watch box.

Beneath these bold colors beats Zenith’s El Primero chronograph movement (the mechanism that powers the watch without a battery), which was introduced in 1969. Similarly, the USM Haller modular system debuted in 1965. While developing the collaboration, the brands asked “What might a product have looked like if we worked together back then?”

This spirit informed the octagonal 1969 Zenith Defy wristwatch as the starting point. USM visual signifiers were then incorporated. These attributes included its retro aesthetic, “Swiss-made robustness and quality, and its pop of vibrant colors,” Sebastien Gobert, Zenith’s creative director, shares with Surface. “By adding USM’s pop colors and metallic accents, we aimed to create the impression that these watches had been designed back in the ‘60s-‘70s.”

For the Haller timepiece chest, he adds, “we wanted to play with the constraints of USM’s modular standardization by creating a case with multiple uses. Primarily, it serves as a watch box, to store up to 12 timepieces. It can also be used as a small side table. But it doesn’t stop there, this configuration can be customized and transformed by adding other USM elements to create an entirely different piece of furniture.” In many ways, this limited-edition collaboration is just the start.