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Split Dial Highlights Final Zenith Lupin III A384 Series

Zenith releases the third and final watch in a special series that debuted in the metal in 2019, but had its origins fifty years ago.

The new Zenith Chronomaster Revival Lupin The Third – Final Edition dramatically combines two dials of Zenith watches designed to echo the famed Zenith A384 from 1969.

The new Zenith Chronomaster Revival Lupin The Third – Final Edition

That original watch, depicted with a (then non-existent) black, grey and gilt dial, was seen on the wrist of a character in the Japanese anime series starring Arsene Lupin III. The same character, Daisuke Jigen, wears another Zenith A384 later in the series, again with a dial Zenith had not yet designed.

Zenith finally created a genuine Chronomaster Revival Lupin The Third watch in 2019, followed by a second edition in 2020, with each model depicting the ‘panda’ style dials seen in the animated series.

This year the watchmaker finalizes the series with this appropriately named debut—and the design is both unexpected and exhilarating.

The new watch, a limited edition of 250, combines the two previous Zenith dials in this Lupin III series. On the left, the watch features a semi-glossy black dial, grey counters and golden markers and hands from the first edition. On the right side Zenith places a white dial with contrasting black counters in the “panda” layout inspired by the second Lupin the Third edition. 

The new Zenith Chronomaster Revival Lupin The Third – Final Edition features a 37mm titanium case in the proportions of the original A384. Inside Zenith fits its superb El Primero 400 automatic integrated column-wheel chronograph (see specifications below). The rotor, according to Zenith displays an engraving of Daisuke Jigen through its sapphire caseback. We’ll show you the back of the watch as soon as we obtain images from Zenith.

This piece is limited to 250 pieces. Price: $10,000

 

Specifications: Zenith Chronomaster Revival Lupin The Third – Final Edition

(Reference: 95.L384.400/50.M384, Limited edition of 250)

Movement: El Primero 400 Automatic column-wheel chronograph with a frequency of 36,000 Vph (5 Hz) and a power reserve of 50 hours.

Functions: Hours and minutes in the center, small seconds at nine o’clock. Chronograph: central chronograph hand, 12-hour counter at six o’clock, 30-minute counter at three o’clock. Tachymetric scale. Date indication.
Case: 37-mm titanium, tonneau-shaped and water resistant to fifty meters.

Dial: Black & white special split color design. Hands and hour-markers are rhodium-plated or gold-plated, faceted and coated with beige SuperLuminova.
Bracelet: Titanium “ladder” bracelet and double folding clasp.

Price: $10,000

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Zenith Transforms Two Defy Watches With Sapphire & Space

Zenith transforms two of its most complex watches into cosmic messengers with a new galactic theme, eye-catching blue PVD components and clear sapphire cases.   The Le Locle watchmaker has re-finished and re-configured components within the existing Defy Zero G and the Defy 21 Double Tourbillon, to create a stunning contemporary limited edition version of each watch.

Defy Zero G Sapphire

For this update, Zenith brings space travel to the wrist with a miniature mosaic depicting Mars on the dial. Made by hand using meteorite, aventurine glass and miniature painting, the red planet is seen on the small seconds, partially eclipsed by the hour and minute dial.

The new Zenith Defy Zero G Sapphire.

Zenith finishes the mainplate and the bridges in a blue tone with contrasting metallic-grey chamfers, dotted with white stars. The wearer can also see this space-inspired finish on the movement’s cylindrical container, visible through the sides of the case. Zenith has also rebuilt the movement with a more contemporary architectural profile that occupies thirty percent less space than the original movement.

Back view of the Zenith Defy Zero G Sapphire.

You might recall that the Defy Zero G features Zenith’s El Primero 8812 S manual movement with a gimbal that maintains the balance and spring in a flat position, overcoming gravity’s effects on the watch’s chronometric precision (See complete specifications list below).

Defy 21 Double Tourbillon Sapphire

Zenith engraves stars on the dial of the new Defy 21 Double Tourbillon Sapphire and exposes a newly blued mainplate (a first for Zenith) through its skeleton dial. This watch still turns heads with two independent tourbillons. One rotates in sixty seconds at 36,000 vph (for time-keeping) while the second rotates once in five seconds at 360,000 vph to regulate the chronograph timer.

The new Zenith Double Tourbillon Sapphire.

The twenty owners of these two new watches can enhance their galactic experience by taking advantage of a special offer from Zenith. The watchmaker has teamed with Novespace, a subsidiary of the French National Space Center, to offer each owner a parabolic zero-gravity flight, slated for next February at the Novespace facility in Bordeaux.

Back view of the Zenith Double Tourbillon Sapphire.

Prices: $159,700 (Defy Zero G Sapphire) and $180,300 (Defy 21 Tourbillon Sapphire ) Each model will be issued as a limited edition of ten.

Specifications: Zenith Defy Zero G Sapphire

(Reference: 04.9000.8812/00.R920, limited edition of ten pieces)

Movement: Entirely skeletonized El Primero 8812 S. “Gravity Control” gyroscopic module that ensures horizontal positioning of the regulating organ. Now occupies only 30% of its initial volume. Frequency is 36,000 VpH (5 Hz) with a 50-hour power reserve. Platinum counterweight of the gyroscopic system.

Functions : Hours and minutes in the center. Double Tourbillon: 1 escapement for the Watch (36,000 vph / 5 Hz – cage makes a turn in 60 second) 1 escapement for the Chronograph (360,000 vph / 50 Hz – cage makes a turn in 5 seconds). 1/100th of a second Chronograph: Central chronograph hand that makes one turn each second, 30-minute counter at 3 o’clock, 60-second counter at 6 o’clock, chronograph power-reserve indication at 12 o’clock. New bicolor signature on plates and bridges + milled Starry Sky.

Case: 46mm clear sapphire with 30 meters of water resistance.

Dial: Openworked with meteorite & aventurine hour & minute dial, hour markers are rhodium-plated, faceted and coated with SuperLuminova, hands are rhodium-plated and faceted gold, coated with SuperLuminova.

Bracelet: Black rubber with blue patterned rubber, grey stitching. Titanium double folding clasp.

Price: $159,700

 

Specifications: Zenith Defy 21 Double Tourbillon Sapphire

(Reference: 04.9000.9020/00.R920, limited edition of ten pieces)

Movement: El Primero 9020 automatic, 1/100th-of-a-second double tourbillon chronograph, 1 tourbillon escapement for the watch (36,000 vph – 5 Hz) ; 1 tourbillon escapement for the chronograph (360,000 vph – 50 Hz). One rotation per second for the chrono hand. Certified Chronometer. Power reserve of 50 hours.

Case: 46mm clear sapphire with sapphire crystal. Water resistance to 30 meters.

Dial: Openworked with rhodium-plated hour markers and hands, faceted and coated with SuperLuminova SLN C1.

Bracelet: Black rubber with blue patterned rubber & grey stitching. Titanium double folding clasp.

Price: $180,300.

 

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Bulgari Takes Top Prize at Grand Prix 2021

Bulgari’s Octo Finissimo Perpetual Calendar took the top prize, or “Aiguille d’Or,” at the 2021 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG) yesterday in Geneva.

Piaget, MB&F and Louis Vuitton took home two awards each, while a Special Jury prize was awarded to Dubai Watch Week.

The Bulgari Octo Finissimo Perpetual Calendar was the top prize winner at the GPHG 2021.
The Louis Vuitton Tambour Carpe Diem won the GPHG Audacy Prize 2021.

 

Here is a full list of the 2021 winners:

Aiguille d’Or Grand Prize: Bulgari, Octo Finissimo Perpetual Calendar

Ladies’ Watch Prize: Piaget, Limelight Gala Precious Rainbow

Ladies’ Complication Watch Prize: Van Cleef & Arpels, Lady Féerie Watch

Men’s Watch Prize: Grand Seiko, Hi-Beat 36000 80 Hours Caliber 9SA5

Men’s Complication Watch Prize: MB&F, LMX Titanium

Iconic Watch Prize: Audemars Piguet, Royal Oak “Jumbo” Extra-Thin

Tourbillon Watch Prize: De Bethune, DB Kind of Two Tourbillon

Calendar and Astronomy Watch Prize: Christiaan Van Der Klaauw, CVDK Planetarium Eise Eisinga

Mechanical Exception Watch Prize: Piaget, Altiplano Ultimate Automatic

Chronograph Watch Prize: Zenith, Chronomaster Sport

Diver’s Watch Prize: Louis Vuitton, Tambour Street Diver Skyline Blue

Jewelry Watch Prize: Chopard, Flower Power

Artistic Crafts Watch Prize: MB&F, LM SE Eddy Jaquet ‘Around the World in Eighty Days’

“Petite Aiguille” Prize: Tudor, Black Bay Ceramic

Challenge Watch Prize: CIGA Design, Blue Planet

Innovation Prize: Bernhard Lederer, Central Impulse Chronometer

Audacity Prize: Louis Vuitton, Tambour Carpe Diem

Horological Revelation Prize: Furlan Marri, MR. Grey Ref. 1041-A

Special Jury Prize: Dubai Watch Week

You check out all the GPHG 2021 winning watches here.

The 2021 nominated watches, including the eighteen award-winners, are on display in Geneva until November 14. The winning watches will then be on display at Dubai Watch Week, from November 24 to 28, and then in Paris from December 2 to 5.
 

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Zenith Adds Glitter to Chronomaster Original

Zenith launches two jeweled versions of its blockbuster Chronomaster Original, the brand’s retro-inspired chronograph designed to commemorate the groundbreaking Zenith A386 steel El Primero from 1969.

The latest iteration offers the watch with either a multicolored mother-of-pearl dial or taupe tri-color dial, each set with fifty-six diamonds on the lugs. Both steel-cased watches remain 38mm in diameter, enhancing their unisex appeal.

The new Zenith Chronomaster Original, now available set with diamonds and a mother-of-pearl dial.

The model with the tri-color dial exhibits its grey and blue hues rendered in mother-of-pearl. Zenith uses four different colors of mother-of-pearl, including a white mother-of-pearl for the dial, two shades of blue for the chronograph counters and grey mother-of-pearl for the ongoing seconds.

The second version of this latest Chronomaster Original offers three tones of brown in the same signature layout against a satin-white dial. Both dials are set with diamonds for the hour markers.

Zenith pairs both models with soft calfskin leather straps in either light blue or taupe with tone-on-tone stitching to matching the respective dials.

Inside Zenith retains the the El Primero 3600, the latest version of Zenith’s famed high-beat chronograph caliber with column wheel. While the new movement beats at the same high frequency of 5Hz (36,000 vph) as its predecessors, the new generation displays 1/10th of a second chronograph on the dial with the central chronograph hand rotating once every ten seconds. The caliber also now offers a full sixty hours of power reserve.

Prices: $12,800 (brown dial with taupe calfskin leather strap) and $13,000 (blue dial with light blue calfskin leather strap).

 

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Only Watch 2021 Favorites: Zenith

We continue to highlight a few of our favorite watches from among the more than fifty watchmakers that have created timepieces for the Only Watch charity auction, which commences Saturday, November 6, in Geneva. Christie’s will auction these incredible watches to raise funds that benefit research in the battle against Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.

While you may have seen a few of the watches set for auction earlier this year when Only Watch announced them, we thought you’d enjoy seeing many of these inspired designed again just ahead of the event.

Click here for details about the Only Watch world tour, which begins September 22.

Today, we highlight the offering from Zenith, which has teamed with artist Felipe Pantone for a spectacular special edition of its Defy 21 Double Tourbillon, which here is cased entirely of transparent sapphire crystal ­– a first for any watch in the Zenith Defy collection.

This watch, based on one of Zenith’s most complicated chronographs, is regulated by two independent tourbillons. They operate at five hertz (for the timekeeping function) and fifty hertz (for the 1/100th of a second chronograph). Pantone has transferred his own style to Zenith’s movement’s decoration and the open dial.

As Zenith explains, it has coated the bridges to reflect a gradient of metallic rainbow tones, marking the first time we’ve seen three-dimensional PVD with silicon particles as a surface treatment on a tourbillon chronograph movement. This produces an-eye-catching spectrum of colors. Zenith then fixes its movement within a case given the same rainbow effect. The caseback sports a similar rainbow PVD coating on the bridges, where “Unique Piece” is engraved on one of them under the blackened star-shaped winding rotor.

Pantone then distorts the central hour and minute hands to resemble lightning bolts. Echoing the movement, Zenith applies a rainbow gradient of colors in PVD to the hands, while each of the applied hour markers is filled with a different color. Zenith and Pantone create a crazy moiré optical effect on the dial, produced by thin alternating white and black using fine laser-engraving and precise lacquering techniques.

Finally, Zenith will package the watch in a special box resembling an art book and add an original signed artwork by Felipe Pantone.

Only Watch auction estimate: CHF 180,000 – 220,000.

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