During this 50th anniversary year for Zenith’s El Primero automatic chronograph movement, the company appears to have adopted the tactic of producing limited edition watches for almost every individual customer in the world.
Special watches have been made for several collectors’ clubs and retail partners and, with the anniversary year coming to an end, the tactic is not yet exhausted and this week it is the turn of Japanese manga and anime fans to get their own model.
The watch in question is another version of the A384, also launched in 1969 using the El Primero movement, and will be known as the A384 Lupin The Third Edition, a tribute to the Japanese manga and anime TV series Lupin the Third.
It is inspired by a scene in Lupin the Third, in which Mr. Daisuke Jigen, a debonair partner of the main protagonist Lupin, is seen wearing a Zenith watch on two occasions during season one of the TV series.
Zenith’s A384 Revival is virtually identical to the original from 1969 – right down to the 37mm steel case and pump-style pushers and crown.
The steel case back of the A384 Lupin The Third Edition has a sapphire crystal with a printed silhouette of Mr Jigen in his typical hat tipping, effortlessly cool stance, that fans of the series would instantly recognise.
It will only be sold in Japan, but the world-wide fan base for anime and manga could make it a future collector’s model.
