In order for the hg backend to pick up local changes you also need to have the `get-revision` option enabled. (There is a short note about this in the manpage.)
Oops, missed that completely. I thought I've had it working without `get-revision` enabled. I achieved the expected behavior by setting: zstyle ':vcs_info:hg:*' get-revision true zstyle ':vcs_info:hg:*' hgrevformat "" Thank you.