Collective Horology, the Southern California based retailer of independent watches, has unveiled their most recent collaboration, their second with Zenith. The ​​Zenith Defy Skyline C.X follows the El Primero C.01, Collective’s very first limited edition which was released into a very different watch landscape in 2019. Collective has changed along with the watch industry – they’ve become a full fledged retailer of independent watch brands, and have nixed the “members only” concept that the company was born with. It’s fair to say that Collective’s scope has widened considerably since 2019: their goal seems to be spreading the gospel of independent watchmaking at a huge range of price points to anyone who will listen, while continuing to hone in on storytelling in their own limited edition releases to make each of them feel special in their own way. 

The Skyline C.X takes the latest version of Zenith’s Defy Skyline and strips it back aesthetically to resemble an imagined version of what the watch might have been had it debuted in the 1970s when the Defy collection was beginning to take shape. The theme Collective and Zenith are playing with for this edition is that of midcentury industrial design. To that end, virtually every surface of the case (and bracelet) has been given a micro blasted finish for a sleek, industrial look, and the familiar star motif seen on most Skyline dials has been given a dramatic gradient effect, with the engraved stars appearing darker at the dial’s center than at its perimeter. This effect can only be achieved through highly precise manufacturing with engravings that are deeper in the middle of the dial and get gradually more shallow toward the outside of it. The Skyline C.X also ditches the date found on the standard Skyline, and moves the running seconds scale from 9:00 to 6:00 for a more balanced look.

This is a significant release for Collective. It’s their tenth limited edition, and represents a full-circle moment with Zenith, their first collaborative partner. Collective founders Asher Rapkin and Gabe Reilly have never been shy about sharing the stories behind their watches and their company (listening to any episode of their podcast should make that clear), so this felt like a good opportunity to ask them about the concept for the new limited edition, why the Defy is important to them, and how Collective has evolved. 

Your very first Collective limited edition was a collaboration with Zenith – what does it mean to you to return to this brand for your tenth LE?

Asher: “Zenith was the first manufacturer to believe in Collective in 2019, showing that there was an appetite and a willingness to take creative risks with people outside the watch industry. That first watch – the C.01 – showed us that this business had potential, and for that we are forever grateful. Collective Horology is an independently owned and self-funded small business. We’re not a giant big box retailer and we don’t have investors or shareholders. That means that everything we do has been successful because of people – clients and brands – that have believed in what we do and championed it. So coming back to Zenith is exciting not only because of Romain Marietta and his awesome team of designers leaning into the project, but also because there might not have been a Collective Horology without Zenith.”

Why the Defy? Can you speak to why this collection is important to you and what makes it special both in Zenith’s catalog and in the larger arena of sports watches?

Gabe: “Over the last three years, the Defy line has shown how versatile it is as a platform for sports watches, chronographs and high complications, and that diversity is also an example of what makes Zenith such a unique manufacturer. Generally speaking, we don’t identify a product line we want to work with when partnering with a manufacturer, but in this instance, the Defy Skyline was top of our list when we started this project in 2022. In fact, there’s a very important Easter egg hidden in plain sight – the 10 marking the tenth of a second indication is not just there for timetelling, it’s also a nod to our tenth collaboration.”

What was the collaborative process with Zenith like this time around? Was there an overarching concept for the design that you wanted to stick with? Any push and pull with the Zenith team? How did the project evolve into the finished product?

Asher: “Zenith is one of our favorite partners to work with precisely because they are down to do the work. Not every brand is open to collaboration because true collaboration takes a long time, requires significant investment and risk, and honestly, it’s just easier to make a variant (make it blue!) than to interrogate an idea and follow it through to a final creative idea. In this instance, we brought several ideas to the team at Zenith who came up with some awesome initial designs, but the direction we all chose didn’t come from us, but from Zenith. In particular, whereas our first collaboration was informed by Silicon Valley product design, for this project, Zenith wanted to explore the design school which preceded it and was contemporary to the Defy itself – 1970s industrial design. That’s the nature of collaboration: Good ideas come from everywhere, and being open to them, even if the final destination doesn’t look like anything you imagined at the start is part of what makes this whole thing so rewarding.”

Collective has been around for about 6 years now and I think it’s fair to say the company has evolved. Early on, it seemed like the company led with the concept of creating a robust but closed collector community based around continuing LE releases. Now, in addition to the production of LEs, it’s a full fledged retailer of independent watch brands that feels very tightly and expertly curated. Was this always part of the plan, or a result of a need to course correct based on the changing nature of the watch market?

Gabe: “Nope, definitely not part of the plan. In fact, I’m pretty sure I told Asher when we started back in 2018 that I never wanted to become a watch retailer. That was largely due to lack of imagination. At that point, Collective was something of a side project for both of us, and I never could have imagined it would grow to the point where we could turn our love for watches into a career. And that’s exactly what retail has done. It’s helped us move from a business based purely on collaborations, which are by their nature sporadic, into something more sustainable both for us and the independent brands we champion. It’s helped us meet more collectors, work deeper with brands we believe in, and ultimately grow into what we aspire to be: The most interesting collection of independent watches available for sale in the United States.”

The new Zenith Defy Skyline C.X is available now through Collective and the Zenith online boutique. It’s a limited edition of 200 pieces, and the retail price is $12,300. More information can be found on the Collective website here.