Massena Lab Just Released an Homage to a Cult-Classic Chronograph
It’s a fairly cut and dried thing that if you know anything at all about Universal Geneve, you likely have a watch problem. Founded in 1894, Universal’s golden era for collectors came in the 1950s and ‘60s, when a string of modern, functional chronographs seemed to typify the essence of the age. Chief amongst them were the “Compax” watches—like the Compax Nina Rindt “Panda” chronograph. Named by fans after the glamorous Formula 1 driver’s wife who wore it, it remains one of the most sought after vintage UG’s.
It is not alone. From the Polerouter, to the Tri Compax “Eric Clapton” to the “Evil Nina,” a rare-as-hen’s-teeth black-dial version of the Nina Rindt, the brand had its most purple patch just before the quartz crisis hit. While the Polerouter remains affordable, the rest from that period run into tens of thousands of dollars. Universal still exists—owned since 1989 by Hong Kong based holding company Stelux and seemingly focused on the Asian market yet bafflingly, in a world market that has never loved authentic vintage watches more, Universal does not produce any modern versions of its own classics.
There is another way. William Massena, a New York based banker-turned-watch-collector-turned-watchmaker, had been aware of Universal Geneve since he was a child in Geneva, but never collected them until much later in life. “I never got into them,” he says “And when I did, they we are already much too expensive. I thought, in a way, these are watches that everybody should be able to afford.”
To that end Massena has been working on an homage to Universal that debuts today at Hodinkee and his own Massena Lab. For Massena, it was a no-brainer which UG watch to recreate. For him, the UG Uni Compax “Big Eye” is the horological cat’s pajamas. “It's one of the classic chronographs of the '60s,” he says. “Maybe it’s the least known of them, but it’s one of the great classics. It wasn’t successful because the Rolex Daytona and the Heuer Carrera took over. But I think the Big Eye has a real charm that the others maybe don’t have.”
You only have to look at the Big Eye to see where it got its nickname: the wonky-looking larger sub dial at three o’clock. It was only produced in limited numbers (estimates put it at just 100) between 1963 and 1965, a quick bird-flip at rigid Swiss conventions of symmetry in watch design. Originals therefore run easily in excess of $25,000, if you can find one.
This is where Massena LAB comes in. Available starting today is a limited run of 400 in two color ways (200 of each) of the Massena LAB Uni-Racer, a painstaking homage (with contemporary tweaks) to the Universal Big Eye. To call it an homage, in fact, is to underestimate the obsessive detail with which Massena’s small team recreated many of the key elements that gave the original Big Eye its authentic charm. Authenticity for Massena meant studying rare originals, interviewing former Universal employees to get the aesthetics just right, sourcing acrylic for the crystal (with a 20 percent breakage rate in assembly) and vertically brushing the steel case. It takes passion—and patience—to get that granular.
Massena’s few nods to modernity were limited to upping the case size to 39mm (from the original’s 37) and adding a hand-wound Selitta SW510 chronograph movement, instead of the unobtanium Valjoux 23 that powered the original. “You know what I’m doing is really an experiment,” says Massena, “to see how well I can make a watch. It’s not really scalable at all. If I had the resources of a big watch company, I could make it for half the price. And I would.”
“I’m going to do more in this vein,” he says. “There will perhaps more Universal inspiration because I love it, but maybe not so literal in concept.” In fact, he’s already putting the finishing touches to two new limited editions launching over the next six months, on which we must keep mum. For now.
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