The Octagonal Defy

Hi OF

I’ve been fascinated by the original Defy line of watches for some time now and thought I’d put together a thread based on my observations from researching them online. I don’t believe any of this information is necessarily new but having it in one place should make it more accessible for those interested.

For this thread, I’ll be focusing on the Octagonal case style that was made between 1969 and 1975. There were three other case styles also produced during this period – the Barrel case, the Spaceman, and the TV style. Personally, I find the octagonal cases to be the most reminiscent of 70’s design.

Crown at 3’o clock position:

The early ones come with the cal 2552 PC movement that beats at 21,600 bph. There are five different dials – khaki and white with chunky markers, and white, brown and black/charcoal with elongated markers.

Khaki (A 3642)

White (A xxxx)

White (A 3643)


Brown (A 3644)


Black/charcoal (A 3645)


The later models have the upgraded cal 2562 PC movement that beats at 28,800 bph. There are five different dials – khaki, white, black/charcoal, turquoise, and burgundy. Some have the elongated hour markers while others have the square, chunky hour markers. Notice the 28,800 printed on the dial.

Khaki (A 3642)


White (A 3643)


Black/Charcoal (A 3645)


Turquoise (A 3690 - reference number unconfirmed)


Burgundy (A 3691)


Then there is the 18k gold version available for both men and women. The men's version comes with either a gold or dark green dial while the women's version comes with a white dial.

Men's, Gold (G20672)


Men's, Dark Green (G20672, same as the gold dial)


Women's, White (ref needed)


Lastly, there are two SS women versions that come with a brown and blue dial.

Brown (AX 3678)


Blue (ref unknown)


Crown at 4:30 position:

The Defy sub-sea line has the octagonal case but with the crown at 4:30. It also has different style hands and bakelite bezels. There are four different dials: white and black with the roulette bezel, and orange and black that are mirror images of each other.

White (A 3646)


Black (A 3646, same as the white dial)


Orange (A 3648)


Black (A 3648, same as the orange dial)


The Sub-Sea line also includes two other references which were released later. These don't have a bakelite bezel and have unique hands. The dials are blue, beige and black. Note the reference numbers used for these are based on the newer reference system that was introduced by Zenith in 1972. Finally, the movement used in these is the automatic cal 2572 PC.

Blue (01.1500.380)


Beige (01.1501.380)


Black (01.1501.380)


There also exists another Defy with the crown at 4:30 that isn't classified as a Sub-Sea. This single reference has a blue dial with a silver minute track. This reference comes with either the cal 2552 PC or the cal 2562 PC.

Blue (A 3651) w/ cal 2552 PC

Blue (A 3651) w/ cal 2562 PC


A couple notes to end:
- The information in this thread has been pulled together from various pages around the web. If an example is missing or if information is incorrect, I'd appreciate your help to make this thread more accurate and comprehensive. Also, I realize there is a book called Zenith: Swiss Watch Manufacture Since 1865 by Manfred Rossler that contains valuable information on the topic. I have not referenced it here as I do not own a copy.
- Pictures are the property of their rightful owners and are borrowed for educational purposes.

Oh, this has been on my wish list for quite some time already. Haven't been lucky yet.

And yeah, thank Kushal, for compiling all these pics!

These are nice... Thanks for sharing the info and resource!

I haven't seen any factory literature or catalogs that show the A 3690. So not sure, but it is an educated guess.

We know Zenith released both the burgundy and turquoise dial in the barrel (tonneau) case:

A7682


A7683


We also know that Zenith released the Defy as an El Primero automatic chronograph with both the burgundy and turquoise dial.

A781


A782


Now, for the octagonal cases Rossler shows an example of the burgundy dial.

A3691


This tells us that the A 3691 exists. I believe it is then a fair likelihood that Zenith also released this case type with the other dial - the turquoise dial A 3690. Thoughts?

What is, however, an obvious dial replacement is this example. Dial from A 7681 (barrel case) in an octagonal case.

A customer of mine has a turquoise dial hex Defy exactly as pictured and as I love the watch have asked him about it in the past, he said he bought it from new back in the 70's.

Useful thread, thank you for sharing.

The Audemars Piguet of the Zenith.Beautiful watch!

So do I - BLACK & ORANGE rule!!!!!

chased one some weeks ago - an I love it - it's my weekender always on 😀

Great thread ! Thanks für sharing the nice pics 👍

Great thread and the included information is very hard to find elsewhere - great thanks @slique12

My learnings when buying:
Take Care about original crystal, original crown and polished Case. Especially crystal and crown are hard to find.

Indeed, I hunted for the prefect one for a good couple of years but have up in the end and moved on. Still would love one but sharp cased examples have really sky rocketed recently. Soft edges really kill the charm of this watch, much more so that usual.

I always wondered how is the correct pronunciation for Defy, is it "deaf-e" or "deaf-i"?

@LouS I see where you are coming from here. If there is no factory documentation found thus far for this reference, then:
1) How do we know this reference exists?
2) And if it does, how do we know if A 3690 is the reference number?

Regarding 1), in addition to my response above about Zenith releasing two other references with both burgundy and turquoise dials, the fact that there have been a fair number of turquoise dial octagonal examples seen over the years (vs say the brown with the red accents) also adds some weight to the originality argument. But, even taking both arguments together doesn't create a water tight case for originality. For that, we would need some factory documentation.

Regarding 2), I borrowed this reference number from readings on another watch forum. However, what is interesting to me is that the turquoise dial reference numbers for the other two models are 1 digit higher than the burgundy dials. Based on that numbering system, it makes me wonder if the octagonal cased turquoise dials would be 1 digit higher than the A 3691, so A 3692 instead of A 3690.