Intorducing The Vulcain Nautical Legacy by Massena LAB

For its latest collaboration watch, NYC-based design studio Massena LAB is teaming up with venerable, alarm-specialist watchmaker Vulcain, bringing its private sort out an emblematic model, the Cricket Nautical. This watch, which relied on the mannequin’s signature chiming complication, was certainly one of many first of its selection, merging diving credentials with the alarm attribute that proved to be extraordinarily smart underwater. These days and faithfully recreated by the mannequin, Massena LAB relies on this technical base and presents it some retro, nearly tropical touches in order so as to add some traditional attraction, ensuing on this new Vulcain Nautical Legacy Massena LAB.

As we’ve outlined in a present article in regards to the fundamental mannequin of this watch, reverse to in type notion, sound travels correctly underwater. As such, with the looks {of professional} and beginner diving inside the late Fifties, the alarm movement would change right into a reasonably smart safety attribute for divers who wished not solely to hint their diving cases and signal when it was time to re-surface. Whereas the thought of an alarm dive watch was first created by Jaeger-LeCoultre, with the Memovox Deep Sea in 1959, Vulcain, certainly one of many foremost specialists of this chiming carry out (since 1947 and the Cricket watch) obtained right here shut second in 1961 with the Cricket Nautical, equipped with a “triple case once more” that acted as a resonance chamber, to amplify the sound underwater.

This watch was not merely an practice of favor nonetheless the outcomes of study carried out by three passionate divers; Hannes Keller, a Swiss deep-sea diving pioneer, Max-Yves Brandily, an explorer and filmmaker, and Arthur Droz, a nationwide licensed diving trainer. Together with the alarm carry out, the trio added a system for determining decompression cases constructed correct into the dial. So to say, the distinctive Vulcain Cricket Nautical was pretty a little bit of engineering. Closing yr, Vulcain, which matches by way of its resurgence, launched once more the thought in a loyal re-edition. A definite section, cool and ultra-focused model, it is now used as a base by Massena LAB to convey one factor far more retro-styled.

Massena’s work is often seen on the dial of what’s proper right here named the Vulcain Nautical Legacy. Which signifies that the technical base stays unchanged – as is often the case with watches accomplished in collaboration with this design studio. It thus begins with a reasonably sizeable case of 42mm, manufactured from stainless steel, and using an atypical three-crown/pusher format – a crown for the movement, a pusher for the alarm and a crown for the rotating dial. Considering the combination of 300m diving capacities and the presence of a closed “triple case once more” showing as a resonance chamber and allowing for the alarm to be loud adequate to be heard underwater, plus the presence of an ultra-domed sapphire crystal on prime, the Nautical Legacy isn’t skinny… Thickness is measured at 17.5mm, just like the essential re-edition and as well as dedicated to the proportions of the historic model.

The watch is powered by the manual-wound Cricket Alarm Calibre V10, a movement with historic relevance as a result of the direct descendants of the distinctive Cricket movement created in 1947. It has a twin-barrel construction (one for timekeeping, one for the alarm) and the essential buzzing hammer system for the alarm. It moreover retains the Exactomatic, a patented gadget to equalise the friction on the balance-wheel axis in all positions by modifying the Incabloc endstones. Working at a gradual tempo of two.5Hz, it might retailer as a lot as 42 hours of energy when completely wound.

Let’s now switch to what models this Massena LAB model apart… The dial. The studio has given it a good stronger traditional look, indirectly a tropical style with a rich, chocolate-brown dial with a brushed finish. One different distinctive facet, the arms have been totally redesigned and are distinctive to this Massena LAB collaboration – baton-style hand for the hours, large arrowhead for the minutes, purple arrow alarm hand, and lollipop hand for the centre seconds. These, and the hour markers, are filled with patina-like beige lume.

Together with the time, the diving bezel and alarm carry out, the Vulcain Nautical Legacy encompasses a rotating dial (used with the 4 o’clock crown) showing as a decompression desk, an invention of the Hannes Keller workforce revealed by way of an aperture on the dial. As quickly as set precisely (determining the dimensions and depth of the supposed dive), this scale displays the diver for what variety of minutes they should stop at 9, six, and three meters sooner than returning to the ground – we have outlined intimately how this watch works on this text.

Worn on a selected rubber strap, the Vulcain Nautical Legacy Massena LAB is a restricted model of 25 objects. It is now obtainable at MassenaLAB.com and is priced at USD 4,950.