Hong Kong, May 22 -- If you haven't heard the legendary tale of the Zenith El Primero and the abandoned attic, you must. After all, it's what allowed Zenith to be reborn as a modern luxury watch brand.

It dates back half a century to the late sixties, where chronograph watches started garnering mainstream appeal in the circles of watch collectors, thanks toa big boom in racing cultureat the time. Simultaneously, the Quartz sparked a crisis in the small world of Swiss watchmaking, which led to Zenith's master-watchmaker Charles Vermot going rogue and stashing away 150 technical parts, essential to the production of the El Primero automatic chronograph. The act was in complete defiance of the corporate hierarchy, but Vermot followed his he...