Earlier reports, Phillips, in collaboration with Hong Kong’s Blackbird Automotive, will once again co-host the rare watch auction “Retrospective: 2000 – 2020”, and will be moved from Hong Kong to Geneva, Switzerland. Among the over 90 precious items, Zenith Watches presented a watch that only accepts private valuations, designed based on the classic Japanese anime “Lupin The Third”, the only one of its kind in the world, the Zenith Chronomaster Revival Lupin The Third.
In the end, the watch was sold for 189,000 Swiss francs, equivalent to approximately HK$1,607,084, marking a memorable page for the brand’s iconic masterpiece El Primero, “RayBan III”, and the late manga original artist Monkey Punch, who passed away last year.
The release of this Chronomaster Revival Lupin The Third can actually be divided into two parts for introduction. Zenith faithfully created it last year, with the team and watchmakers repeatedly referring to and studying the original manga of “Lupin The Third,” designed by Mr. Katou for the protagonist “sharpshooter” Daisuke Jigen. The Zenith A384 watch, which appeared in the first two episodes of the story, was finally successfully reissued at the end of last year as a Lupin The Third version of the El Primero Chronomaster, with only 50 pieces produced. Coincidentally, Mr. Katou passed away last April due to pneumonia at the age of 81, making this reissue project even more valuable. Subsequently, Zenith, seeing the unprecedented success of last year’s reissue, has now released the Chronomaster Revival Lupin The Third – 2nd Edition watch this year, featuring a striking “panda” dial, with only 200 pieces available worldwide. This is the first part of the story.
The next episode will introduce Lupin The Third, which was seen in this auction. If you have paid attention to the original Lupin The Third, you may have heard that the manga made some slight design changes to Zenigata’s watch to avoid copyright trademark issues.
In 1971, when “Lupin the Third” made its official debut, it was also two years after the introduction of the Zenith El Primero movement. Mr. Kazuhiko Kato designed the A384 watch out of thin air for Daisuke Jigen, featuring a black dial with a gray sub-dial and gold printed patterns. This watch, not officially from Zenith, is unique in that the “Z” and “H” letters in the “ZENITH” logo on the watch appear darker, almost like they have turned into “ENIT”.
In view of this, ZENITH deliberately went to the extreme after launching the 50 replica versions last year, completely reshaping the original design of “Ray Ban Third Generation”, even including the “ENIT” logo design and the word “Automntic” written in it. Moreover, there is only one in the world, which is the watch that appeared at the auction this time.
“The Third Lupin” is a popular anime that has integrated the Zenith El Primero watch into its storyline, showcasing the significant global status of El Primero since its debut over 50 years ago. Now, the watch has officially sold for an astonishing price, marking a perfect ending for this watch that drew inspiration from Japanese manga and anime, as well as the anime “The Third Lupin”.
