We take a closer look at one of the best looking remakes of the A384 to date -- a Japanese market exclusive made in scarce quantities, inspired by a seminal cultural source
Some ingenious marketeer at Zenith has a lot to answer for. In an industry routinely plagued by inorganic, hamfisted “but why tho?”-inducing partnerships, the Neuchȃtel brand has managed (not once but on numerous occasions) to create collaborations that speak to its history of technical, instrument-focused watchmaking. That makes this particular limited edition an interesting outlier: the first in an evolving series of A384 Revivals inspired by the work of Japanese manga artist Kazuhiko Katō (a.k.a. ‘Monkey Punch’).
Known to enthusiasts simply as the ‘Lupin III edition’ (not to be confused with the subsequent and related Lupin The Third -- 2nd Edition) this watch was released in late 2019. To all technical intents and purposes, it was based on the standard-issue A384 Revival Zenith had released several months prior. There was however, one crucial difference: the ‘Lupin III’ being based on an illustration -- more precisely, one Zenith had only ever produced in fiction. Add to that the tiny production numbers and design language’s specificity, and you got a proposition that’s a good deal rarer than most triple-register sports chronographs. (Though that’s hardly a knock against the latter.) Beyond all that, the Lupin III is just a straight-up killer watch: a handsome combo of gold and black, capable of standing on its own merit without invoking the name of Arsène Lupin.
Inspiration and development
It’s no coincidence that the Lupin III was released in 2019: the same year Zenith celebrated half a century of its El Primero chronograph. Although a number of Revivals with this iconic movement were already slated for release, rumour has it someone at the company proposed the creation of a Japanese exclusive -- and that it be in the striking, cushion-shaped guise of the A384. That alone, in all likelihood, would have been enough to secure collectors’ interest but here’s the kicker: it was based on a design seen in the Lupin the Third (1971) anime, a first for a watchmaker traditionally tethered to real-life inspirations.
In-universe, this A384 is actually worn by Lupin’s expert marksman and aide-de-camp, Daisuke Jigen: a hard-drinking, ‘shoot first’ type modelled after actor James Coburn. It’s only ever seen sparingly throughout the original series pilot -- 5 more instalments have aired since the 70s -- but Zenith’s watchmakers were able to work with that footage, in addition to original Monkey Punch sketches, to bring Jigen’s timepiece to life. As you can see, nothing has been lost in translation. The dial combines a sleek black base with chronograph registers in matte grey (almost verging on anthracite) while the polished gold handsets provide plenty in the way of contrast and warmth. In line with Jigen’s design, a cream-coloured LumiNova has been chosen for the indices and hands: powerful in low-light situations but otherwise discreetly blended.
Because the spec sheet for the Lupin III is taken from the standard Revival, fans of the classic A384 engine/architecture are unlikely to be disappointed. As in the 60s, the 37mm case sits somewhere between a cushion and tonneau shape, housing the latest iteration of Zenith’s El Primero 400 movement. As you’d expect, its beat rate is an impressive 36,000vph -- imbuing the Lupin III with a precision quotient equal to what the watchmakers at Omega and Rolex can muster.
All signs point to ‘sleeper hit’
It’s perhaps too early to surmise whether the Lupin III will achieve the same cult status as its fictional namesake (a cursory Google search yielded zero examples available for purchase online), although there’s anecdotal evidence to suggest there’s a distinct possibility. At a glance, the watch was allocated to Japanese retailers in a miniscule run of 50 pieces; and if conventional wisdom is to be believed, those qualities confer an immediate degree of interest which goes beyond the norm.
Additionally, the dearth of information publicly available about the Lupin III’s performance in the secondary market is intriguing -- more so when you consider how it sold out almost immediately, to a clientele dominated by domestic collectors. Again, allowing for certain overly broad generalisations about Japan’s watch community (informed by historical precedent), one might reasonably suspect it will be some time before we see these pieces come to market in anything other than single digit numbers. One could argue that the example sold by Phillips in November 2020 is instructive, but I’d contend there is an absence of performance data against which we can draw any concrete conclusions. Not to mention: that edition had a number of unique characteristics making it exceptionally desirable (e.g. the period-correct ‘ladder’ bracelet previously made by Gay Frères).
Despite its elusiveness, the Lupin III is a handsome, well-crafted watch that pays tribute to Japanese pop culture in a manner that feels considered and wholly earned. The more contentious issue is how readily collectors will be able to track down one of these. You’d need skills equal to that of a certain Inspector Zenigata, we wager.
