ZENITH and Carl Cox celebrate the unveiling of his eponymous DEFY Extreme limited edition of 100 pieces inspired by the world of DJing. Following the watch’s unveiling, Carl played an exclusive set, his final London show of 2023, at the iconic Raffles in Chelsea where a capacity crowd were treated to one of electronic music’s all-time greatest doing what he does best.
British DJ, producer and ZENITH friend of the brand Carl Cox is a living legend in the world of electronic music. Unanimously regarded as a pioneer in his field, Carl Cox is credited with bringing his craft to new heights with his unique sound continuously moving global audiences. With ZENITH, he shows that he not only shares a spirit of innovation and daringness, but also values authenticity and being true to oneself above all else.
The DEFY Extreme Carl Cox is the eagerly awaited second act to the DEFY 21 Carl Cox edition released in 2020. This time, ZENITH and the internationally renowned DJ are turning it up the volume a few notches and further exploring the world of electronic music with their second collaborative timepiece, a limited edition of 100 pieces.
On the newest chapter of this longstanding friendship, ZENITH CEO Julien Tornare shared, “Always cheerful, positive and buzzing with energy, Carl Cox really inspires us and proves that if you’re passionate and driven by what you do, nothing is impossible. For our second watch created together, we really wanted to dive deeper into his rhythmic world and go back to his early days of DJing with analogue instruments. The result is ZENITH’s most advanced chronograph reimagined by Carl Cox in a retro-futuristic and even minimalist way, and it’s truly special.”
For the DEFY Extreme Carl Cox limited edition, ZENITH returned to the source to draw inspiration from one of the most indispensable tools in the legendary DJ’s arsenal: the turntable. Using ZENITH’s fastest and most rugged chronograph ever made to set the tempo, the idea was to incorporate design cues from Carl Cox’ favourite set of turntables. For the first time ever, the DEFY Extreme’s case is crafted in matte-finished stainless steel and yellow gold, taking on a much brighter and sparkling look than polished or brushed steel while taking on a minimalistic and nostalgically retro-futuristic look. The matte yellow gold accents on the dodecagonal bezel and pusher guards are inspired by the turntable stylus’ golden tonearm.
Carl Cox says: “I feel so honoured that Zenith have immortalised the three turntables that helped make my name within this watch. Beautifully done and with incredible attention to detail, the watch is a fitting tribute to something that has made dancefloors come to life all over the world from a brand that is known for its mastery of movement. They wanted to do something special and they couldn’t have done better! Oh Yes, Oh Yes!”
The open dial is where the high-frequency mixing takes place. On top of the smoked sapphire crystal base, three black chronograph counters take on the form of miniature vinyl records, with concentric grooves that capture and reflect light as if they were spinning. The minute track is decorated with a pattern of perfectly aligned dots that recall the stroboscope effect found on the sides of Carl Cox’ favourite turntables. The power reserve indicator on the smoked sapphire element at 12 o’clock is fashioned like an ON/OFF switch.
Partially visible through the open dial as well as the sapphire case back is the El Primero 9004 calibre. It stands alone as the world’s fastest and only serially produced chronograph movement with a high-frequency 50Hz chronograph that offers true 1/100th of a second time measurements. The star-shaped oscillating weight as well as the main plate have been specially decorated in black for the DEFY Extreme Carl Cox limited edition.
Alongside the integrated matte-finished steel bracelet, the DEFY Extreme Carl Cox limited edition also comes with a black rubber strap and a black Velcro strap, which can be easily swapped without any tools by using the case’s built-in quick strap-change mechanism.
And because music and movement have brought ZENITH and Carl Cox together, the legendary English electronic music pioneer has curated a special playlist entitled ‘Carl Cox X ZENITH’ which also includes the first soundtrack Carl Cox ever created for ZENITH called “This is our Time”, available on Spotify and on ZENITH’s website.
“Getting to know the team at Zenith so well over the years and personally at some of my shows means that I’ve had to really pull out the stops to curate a playlist that I feel they’d be happy with. I started with some of the songs that we bonded over initially which include some of those gems I dusted off for my online Cabin Fever sessions. I then sprinkled in the tracks I’m enjoying playing out today – tracks that are bringing people together across dancefloors. Within these tracks I’ve included some of the lesser-known versions of my own compositions that I created for Electronic Generations and to make sure I pushed this one over the edge I’ve added some of my special remixes” shared Carl Cox.
The DEFY Extreme Carl Cox is a limited edition of 100 pieces that will be available to order starting from September 25, exclusively from ZENITH online and at boutiques around the world. Buyers of the limited edition will have the opportunity of meeting Carl Cox personally at selected events.
