Skunked in Style: The Zenith Defy Skyline Skeleton Meets the Ritz-Carlton Bacara, Santa Barbara

There was, allegedly, swell coming that week. We knew that Point Conception and the Channel Islands would block any waves that were, like us, Santa Barbara bound. But, we reasoned, there had to be something hitting somewhere in the more than 100 miles of coastline between southern Los Angeles and Santa Barbara.

We optimistically strapped the longboards on the roof and headed north along PCH and then the 101 to the Ritz-Carlton Bacara, my partner, pup and I looking to check all the California summer long weekend boxes.

Last year, the property celebrated its 25th anniversary, and with it a multimillion-dollar renovation. Working with award-winning firm Meyer Davis, the bluff-side hotel managed to stay true to its American Riviera spirit, from the Spanish tilework and carved stone to our bedroom area rug drawn from Chumash motifs, headboards in a custom fabric that borrows from Californios horse blankets; all of it in a palette of terracotta, green, sand and stone.

The Zenith Defy Skyline Skeleton in white ceramic, reference 49.9301.3620/79.I001, paired exceptionally well with our ocean-view suite and the colors of the Pacific. The $17,500 timepiece debuted in July 2024 as the first Defy Skyline white ceramic, a 41mm in alternating satin and polish under a twelve-sided bezel, with a ceramic bracelet that follows the contours and mixed finish of the case. The openworked dial, which shifts with the light and turns up different shades of blue, is cut into the four-pointed star that dates to 1969, and beneath it sits the El Primero 3620 SK in the same blue.

As I explored Bacara, as everyone calls it, the spread of Spanish-Colonial buildings laid across 78 acres in the manner of a village, the 314 guest rooms and 44 specialty suites integrated into the resort's gardens and courtyards, the watch seemed to mirror my wanderings. Every room and suite opens onto a balcony or patio, and more than half, I was told, carry an indoor or outdoor fireplace. Depth of layers, I discovered, was the common theme between hotel and watch.

Every time I wear a well-executed skeleton, I find myself seeking the time, looking at my wrist and getting distracted, in a good way, by some new discovery that's caught my eye. The silicon escape-wheel and lever, whose components shift with the angle of light, the applied, faceted, rhodium-plated hour markers with white minute markings that seem to float above the openworked star rather than sit in it, the tenth-of-a-second register at 6 o'clock. Zenith's collection page describes the hand as making "steady jumps in fixed increments." Watch it long enough (I did) and it is not sweeping but ticking ten times a second, driven straight off the escapement at 9 o'clock.

The weather did its part to keep us on the sand at Haskell's Beach, but the only surfing I was doing was in my mind. Fortunately, the beach is dog-friendly, so we managed to wander up it, seeking driftwood and jumping in to cool off. The ceramic bracelet is remarkably sand-repelling.

We drove north that afternoon: a local friend gave me beta on a spot that was taking the swell. But the surf hunt failed. Said spot, which will remain unnamed, had roughly 50 people in the lineup and a surf camp, their neon rash guards and foam boards crowding the inside. It was low tide and the biggest wave I saw hit just about knee high on a middle schooler.

Back to the property we went.

The only exercise, it turned out, was a morning water aerobics class that surprisingly raised my pulse. I had not imagined sustained zone 3 training was possible with water weights; turns out, it's just about the size of the barbell. The roundup of Santa Barbara locals who hold a Spa Club Membership at Bacara was surprised and delighted at our addition.

We found our way to Lulio early that evening, a single indoor-outdoor organism of dining room, lounge and all-day terrace, cooking Mediterranean and offering a wine list the resort says is more than 85 percent sourced within a hundred miles, and drawing its name, so the house tells it, from the Latin for July.

Golden hour is particularly great when an oceanfront room, cocktail, timepiece and favorite person collide. Despite our best efforts, we found zero surf (even on the drive home). I couldn't help but laugh: Zenith and Time+Tide made a 100-piece White Surfer version of this watch in July 2025. Thankfully I wasn't wearing it.