Zenith DEFY Skyline Tourbillon Felipe Pantone

The Defy Skyline Tourbillon Felipe Pantone is the fourth limited edition watch resulting from a collaboration between Zenith and renowned graffiti artist Felipe Pantone. This is the first one without a skeletonized dial (aside from its visible tourbillon), but as you might expect, there are intriguing iridescent rainbow accents on both the hands and dial. We’ll show you all the details of this new DEFY Skyline Tourbillon, which goes on sale September 12, 2024. Then we’ll go over a quick history of previous collaborations between Zenith and Mr. Pantone.

Zenith Defy Skyline Tourbillon Felipe Pantone Specs

Model Name	Defy Skyline Tourbillon Felipe Pantone
Reference	03.9301.3630/49.I001
Movement	El Primero 3630 (Automatic, 10 beats per second)
Power Reserve	60 hours
Functions	Hours, minutes, tourbillon (one rotation per minute)
Case Material	Stainless steel
Case Diameter	41 mm
Water Resistance	100m
Dial	Tinted sapphire with “mirror metallization,” laser-etched iridescent highlights and rainbow PVD-coated hour markers
Bracelet/Strap	Stainless steel bracelet and black rubber strap, both with quick-release functionality
Limited Edition	100 pieces
Price	$62,300 USD

Key Features

The DEFY Skyline is an impressive Audemars Piguet Royal Oak-like family of angular sports watches with integrated bracelets. And this watch in particular is really all about the dial. All the Felipe Pantone collaborations have iridescent accents on their dial and hands. But this is the first time that the entire dial is iridescent. The dial is made from a tinted sapphire disk, and micro-engraved to have a concentric guilloche-esque pattern. The back of the dial is given a metallic coating for a reflective CD-like finish, which when viewed from the front results in the interesting rainbow gradient that Felipe Pantone was going for.

This isn’t the first Felipe Pantone Zenith watch to feature abruptly-jutting “glitch” hands, but it is the first time we’ve seen the glitch motif applied to hour markers as well. This is also the first non-chronograph collaboration from the two parties. The watch comes with both a stainless steel bracelet and a rubber strap, and as with all DEFY Skyline models, it has a quick-release system to make strap changes painless.

Gallery

Zenith x Pantone Timeline

The relationship between Felipe Pantone and Zenith all started in 2020 when he painted the façade of Zenith’s headquarters. Since then, they’ve collaborated on these watches:

March 2021	Zenith Defy 21 Felipe Pantone	49.9008.9004/49.R782	44mm black ceramic chronograph, 100 pieces
November 2021	Zenith Defy Double Tourbillon Felipe Pantone	04.9001.9020/49.R782	46mm sapphire case, double tourbillon chronograph, unique piece created for Only Watch charity auction
October 2022	Zenith Defy Extreme Felipe Pantone	03.9100.9004/49.I210	45mm steel case with blue yttrium aluminosilicate accents around bezel and pushers, chronograph, 100 pieces
September 2024	Zenith Defy Skyline Tourbillon Felipe Pantone	03.9301.3630/49.I001	41mm steel case, time-only tourbillon model. Fully iridescent tinted sapphire dial with concentric micro-etched pattern, 100 pieces

With rainbow watches as popular as ever, I have no doubt that this collaboration will sell out. Each Felipe Pantone watch so far has represented a different subset of the Zenith Defy lineup, and though they all share a similar design language, details like the hands and hour markers change with every iteration. There isn’t much competition in the iridescent luxury watch space yet.

More on Zenith:
Zenith Watch Price Guide
LVMH Watch Week 2024: Hublot, TAG Heuer, Zenith, and Bulgari Releases
LVMH Watches and Wonders 2024: Hublot, Tag Heuer, and Zenith Releases