Not my sort of thing, and impressive anyway
By Julien Moreau, Geneva ยท
I am not the audience for this, and I want that on the record before I say anything kind.
The Defy Extreme is the opposite of everything I usually write about: a 45 mm titanium case, 15.4 mm thick, an openworked dial that shows the workings rather than the time, a titanium bracelet with 26 mm lugs and 200 m of water resistance. Inside is the El Primero 9004, which has two separate escapements, one for the time and one for the chronograph, and the chronograph can measure hundredths of a second, with the central hand making a full rotation every second. That is extraordinary engineering and I admire it, as one admires a racing yacht without wishing to sail one.
It has 50 hours of reserve, and you can see it through the open back. At twenty to twenty-one thousand eight hundred dollars, it is a serious watch for someone who wants a big, modern sports chronograph with a real technical story. I would find it hard to read and too heavy for the shirt I am wearing, and I would rather have a Chronomaster Original and the change. But I suspect the people who buy this have never once wondered what I think, and quite right.