Consider that retro-styles are increasingly popular. Consider that smaller watches are increasingly popular.
This, of course, leads us to ask whether the A3642 is even remotely comparable to any modern luxury steel sports watch, and I contend that it’s not only comparable, but maybe way ahead of many staples. I say quietly asserted, because this is a limited edition of just 250 pieces, which I take to mean that Zenith is testing the waters and, should the A3642 do well, I would think we will see more watches like it. Now that you can’t get any of the big luxury steel sports watches from Rolex, Audemars Piguet, Patek Philippe or even Vacheron Constantin, there’s a good reason for Zenith to have quietly asserted themselves in the retro-lux-steel watch market, and not by riffing loudly on the El Primero. The big stories of history are so often oversimplified, and Zenith Defy Revival A3642 helps add nuance and clarity to the historical record. This watch was disco before the Bee Gees were disco, and it was redefining sporty luxury watches three years ahead of the Royal Oak. It’s a 1-to-1 recreation of the 1969 Zenith model: waterproof to 300m all steel integrated bracelet octagonal case. We now draw a line in 1972 after which the luxury steel sports appears to have emerged.īut just look at this Defy Revival.
Audemars Piguet, Dylan: these two were not supposed to break the rules of tradition. Consider that by 1965 loads of folk musicians had gone electric, but when Bob Dylan whipped out his Fender Stratocaster the world assumed history just suddenly happened. This likely has to do with the fact that Audemars Piguet was, up until 1972, a fussy old member of the conservative Holy Trinity, along with Patek Philippe and Vacheron Constantin.
The Royal Oak wrongly gets all the credit for launching the genre known as the luxury steel sports watch. The Zenith Defy Collection of 1969 didn’t save the mechanical watch, but when we consider that the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak came out in 1972, one has to wonder if the Defy Collection didn’t have an impact on the future of the luxury steel sports watch.
That was the point of the original A3642 released in 1969, purportedly as a rally cry against the ascendant, yet aesthetically uninspired, electronic quartz watches wreaking havoc on the Swiss mechanical watch industry at the time. I asked to review this watch because it looked different and funky.
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