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Zenith Teams With Fusalp for Ceramic Defy Classic

Zenith and French ski-wear maker Fusalp have teamed to create a pair of 41mm ceramic-cased Defy skeleton watches. Each model pairs Zenith’s signature star and Fusalp’s French tricolor hues on an inventive skeleton dial.

The Zenith Defy Classic Fusalp Black Ceramic.

One model, the Zenith Defy Classic Fusalp White Ceramic ($11,000) will be offered as a limited edition of 100 pieces, while the Zenith Defy Classic Fusalp Black Ceramic ($10,000) will be made as a limited edition of 300.

For its part, Fusalp will launch a matching skiwear collection, complete with a black and white theme, the French tricolor and the snowflake motif.

Zenith devised the new open-work dial for the collaborative series. In addition to the Zenith star and tricolor frame around the dial, the new watch’s cleverly drafted dial deftly exposes Zenith’s high-frequency Elite automatic movement, which powers each watch.

The Le Locle watchmaker also created a custom rubber strap for the special editions. The unusual rubber material in the strap features a fabric-like structure with a raised motif of concentric rectangles. The idea, according to Zenith, is to complement the skeleton dial with a similar graphic element.

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Hublot Reprises Shepard Fairey Classic Fusion Chronograph

With its impressive roster of artists assisting its in-house designers and artisans, Hublot in 2022, within its Hublot Love Art initiative, continues to release some of the watch world’s most interesting contemporary designs.

We’ve seen ongoing collaborations with Takashi Murakami, Richard Orlinski and Maxime Plescia-Buchi, as well as a new partnership with multi-disciplinary artist Samuel Ross.

The most recent endeavor finds Hublot again teamed with Shepard Fairey, the illustrator and contemporary artist Hublot first worked with in 2018 for the Big Bang Meca-10 Shepard Fairy Limited Edition.

The new Hublot Classic Fusion Aerofusion Chronograph All Black Shepard Fairey.

The new model, the Classic Fusion Aerofusion Chronograph All Black, is essentially an all-black version of the 2021 Classic Fusion Chronograph Shepard Fairey. 

A Mandala symbol and motif highlights the center of the dial. Its complex, repeating pattern is also reprised on the micro-blasted 45mm ceramic case and on the bezel.

The Mandala, which represents harmony and precious time, still exudes a sense of depth on the newly blackened dial despite its new single-hue caste. As Fairey explains, the symbol is a theme for much of his work. 

“Over the course of my watchmaking partnership with Hublot, I discovered that the Mandala – a recurring theme of my work and an ongoing source of inspiration – lives in perfect harmony and balance within a timepiece and it naturally became the center piece for my collaboration.” says Fairey. 

Backing the intricate dial Hublot fits its excellent Caliber HUB1155, a skeletonized automatic chronograph movement, with its rotor visible through a clear sapphire caseback.

Hublot attaches a classic black rubber strap to the watch, which the watchmaker offers as a limited edition of fifty-two pieces available for sale exclusively in North America. Price: $25,900. 

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Bell & Ross in Black & Green

The green-tinted sapphire crystal display on the upper level of the new Bell & Ross BR03-92 HUD offers the illusion of a digital Head Up Display, or HUD. Bell & Ross echoes HUD, a technical navigation display that was born in the 1950s and is today found in civil and automotive displays, on the new limited edition 42mm matte-black ceramic watch.

This newest release in the Bell & Ross Flight Instrument family follows previous models that include the BR 01 Radar (from 2010) the BR 01 Turn Coordinator, the BR 01 Heading Indicator and last year’s BR03-92 Bi-Compass.  

For those not versed in navigation-speak, the HUD display’s primary function in a cockpit is to keep the pilot focused on the target ahead without having to move his or her eyes off the line of sight. Bell & Ross mimics the HUD display by assembling three layers: the hands, the dial surface and the reverse side of the crystal.

 

On the reverse side of the crystal, Bell & Ross prints four brackets that immediately recall the four corners of the HUD line of sight display. On the middle level, note that the black and green hands (minutes and seconds) are essentially hidden, with their visibility determined by their luminosity. And finally, the independent central hour disc is blackened with the hours indicated by a green triangle marker.

Bell & Ross adds that the overall graphic style and the green coloring of the BR03-92 HUD also closely echo the typical HUD display. The sapphire crystal is green thanks to a special tint applied to the under side of the crystal.

 

Bell & Ross is supplying the new BR03-92 HUD with a black rubber strap and a black synthetic fabric strap. Price: $3,990. Available in June.

 

Specifications: Bell & Ross BR0392-HUD-CE/SRB

A 999-piece limited edition

Movement: Automatic mechanical Caliber BR-CAL. 302

Functions: Hours, minutes, seconds and date.

Case: 42mm matte black ceramic, water resistant to 100 meters.

Dial: Black with central hour disc, numerals, indices and hands painted with Super-LumiNova

Crystal: Green sapphire with anti-reflective coating. 
 Four right angles painted with green SuperLumiNova.

Straps: Black rubber and ultra-resilient black synthetic fabric. With pin buckle of black PVD-coated steel.

 

 

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