Zenith x Time + Tide Defy Skyline Skeleton White Surfer Watch Review

Time + Tide have rounded off their trilogy of collaborative watches with Zenith and, even if the first pair of darker models didn’t capture your imagination, they’ve have saved the best for last: the Defy Skyline Skeleton White Surfer.

As I mentioned, Zenith and Time + Tide have collaborated twice before. The whole partnership kicked off in 2021 (somehow in the midst of Covid) with the Defy Classic Skeleton Night Surfer, a blend of microblasted titanium and a gradient blue skeletonised dial. They followed that up with the Defy Skyline version in 2023 with much the same look, similarly in matte titanium with a flash of blue, this time star shaped.

Personally, I was never the world’s biggest fan. They were conceptually cool but a bit too dark and brooding for me. The Defy Skyline Skeleton White Surfer on the other hand has taken a similar concept and knocked it out of the park.

Forget midnight waves, the crisp white ceramic 41mm case is a breath of fresh, bright summer air. I love white ceramic and the Defy’s ultra-faceted case suits the material to a tactile tee. The star shaped skeletonisation hammers home the summer vibes, transitioning from dark blue to a lighter sky colour. The result is something that really lives up to the surfer theme, transitioning through tidal colours and capped by white foam – albeit foam that’s ultra-scratch resistant.

Not that the new watch is any less suited to a spot of night surfing than the previous models. The skeleton bridges have all been outlined in lume, as have the indexes, meaning the display is bright, creating a self-contained star that’s, if anything, easier to read at night.

On the wrist it really pops. White ceramic always has a certain presence – it’s impossible to miss – and the Defy Skyline makes the most of it, with more impact than its 41mm size might suggest. Between that and its 11.6mm thickness, it’s a good middle ground between sporty and wearable. The various facets feel lovely, as does the integrated bracelet. It comes with a rubber strap too for that sportier vibe, but with a bracelet this good I’m not sure why you’d swap it.

The skeletonisation amps up the technical nature of the Defy as a collection (and even shows off the silicon escapement to the eagle-eyes), thankfully without showing my wrist through the movement, one of my unending bugbears of most skeleton watches. With these shaped bridges, it doesn’t just show off the movement underneath but makes it an architectural feature, with not a wrist hair in sight.

The movement is the El Primero 3620 SK, a non-chrono variant of Zenith’s legendary racing chronograph movement. The shadow of the chronograph itself can be seen in the 1/10^th second subdial at 6 o’clock. Something like that needs to beat at a high frequency of 5Hz to function, the same as Grand Seiko’s hi-beat calibres. The movement is also finished in a light blue to match the frontside, with Zenith’s star-shaped rotor.

It looks like the third time’s the charm for Zenith and Time + Tide. It marks one of those rare trilogies alongside The Good the Bad and the Ugly and Toy Story 3 where the third effort is the best. That said, with 100 available at a price of £17,700, it’s not your usual low-key collab. This is a serious watch and priced to match. Sure, it’s £6,600 more than the recent IWC Top Gun Miramar in full light blue ceramic and a chronograph, but the skeletonisation and movement here make up at least some of the difference.

Still, the first two Night Surfers were great, but it’s the Defy Skyline Skeleton White Surfer that the series will be known for.

More details at Zenith.