More Than Meets the Eye: Behind the Playful Colors of the Zenith x USM Collaboration

By now, it would be hard to surprise the watch industry with a collaboration. Brands have long spanned beyond the usual suspects, such as partnering with fellow watchmakers, brand ambassadors, or likely crossover industries like cars. Today, you can find watch mashups with the wildest possible collaborators from Nespresso to Kermit the Frog and Undefeated.

Having teamed up with artists like Felipe Pantone, DJs such as Carl Cox, and brands like Fusalp to co-create watches, Zenith has been no stranger to this approach.

At Geneva Watch Days 2025, Zenith continued down this path, notching its first foray into teaming up with a furniture brand, USM, for its latest line of watches. However, the new Defy Chronograph USM models aren’t just here for the wow-factor – the connection between the watchmaker and furniture designer runs deeper.

There are a few things that make Zenith particularly special. One of them is that the brand’s headquarters still reside in the original location in which they were founded in Le Locle in 1865. When you arrive here, you can feel you’re on sacred ground that contains 160 years of heritage.
 

Just over an hour east, across the beautiful lake anchoring Neuchâtel, you can find the city of Münsingen right outside of Bern. Here, you’ll find USM’s headquarters in the same place where the company was first established in 1885. These shared histories and this shared reverence for the legacy laid before them set the stage for the partnership between Zenith and USM.
 

“We’ve always been big fans of USM’s products,” confessed Romain Marietta, Chief Product Officer at Zenith. “We use them in our offices, and we got curious to dig a bit into the history of the brand. We were surprised to find there were so many similarities with Zenith,” he explained.

“We were founded around the same time, and we knew that 2025 would mark significant anniversary years for both of us – 160 years for Zenith and 140 years for USM. So, we decided to approach them about a collaboration, and they were very open,” Marietta continued.
 

The inspiration for the co-creation also came naturally through further parallels between the brands. Zenith forever changed the watch industry with the introduction of the first automatic chronograph, the El Primero, in 1969, and USM redefined furniture design with the introduction of its Haller modular system in 1965.

Therefore, it only made sense that vintage inspiration from the 1960s was the perfect fit to inform the design the pair would develop together to commemorate their anniversary years.

When you look at, the melding of the two brands’ designs is clear at first glance. The four colors – green, gentian blue, golden yellow, and pure orange – directly reflect the playful hues used in USM’s furniture, and the signature USM Haller ball joint takes center stage on the tip of the chronograph hand. However, it’s worth digging deeper into the nuances of the design.
 

“USM currently has a total of 14 colors available in their catalog, but we chose these four for a particular purpose,” Marietta told Watchonista. “Green is the original color of USM, so this was a natural choice. As you can see from all our anniversary releases this year, blue is a special color to Zenith, so this was also an easy selection.”

He continued: “In picking the other colors for the dials, we wanted to make sure the collection really embodied the palette of the 1960s. So, orange and yellow completed the lineup.”
 

In addition to the meaning behind the color choices, Marietta also pointed out the specific finishing on the silver sub-dials of the chronograph, which mirrors the finishing on the metal components of the furniture. Meanwhile, on the back of the oscillating weight (visible via the exhibition caseback), you have a more literal embodiment of the collaboration with both brand logos featured prominently.
 

Alongside the four watches themselves, the duo, of course, couldn’t resist designing an accompanying collection box. “We have our expertise showcased in the Defy Chronograph and the El Primero movement, and having a piece of furniture to showcase USM’s expertise was also essential, so we suggested a watch box,” Marietta told us.

The USM Haller chest is styled like a locker, complete with a key to secure everything inside. The unique watch box, rendered in the four bright colorways, opens to reveal three storage layers able to accommodate up to a dozen timepieces.