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 one in every of many first of its selection, merging diving credentials with the alarm attribute that proved to be extraordinarily wise underwater. Not too way back and faithfully recreated by the mannequin, Massena LAB depends upon this technical base and presents it some retro, nearly tropical touches in order so as to add some traditional attract, ensuing on this new Vulcain Nautical Legacy Massena LAB.

As we’ve outlined in a modern article regarding the fundamental mannequin of this watch, reverse to frequent notion, sound travels successfully underwater. As such, with the looks {of professional} and beginner diving inside the late Nineteen Fifties, the alarm movement would develop to be a fairly wise safety attribute for divers who wanted not solely to hint their diving events 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, one in every of many main specialists of this chiming carry out (since 1947 and the Cricket watch) received 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 nevertheless the outcomes of research 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 events constructed correct into the dial. So to say, the distinctive Vulcain Cricket Nautical was pretty a little bit of engineering. Remaining yr, Vulcain, which works by the use of its resurgence, launched once more the thought in a reliable re-edition. A definite section, cool and ultra-focused model, it is now used as a base by Massena LAB to ship one factor way more retro-styled.

Massena’s work is often seen on the dial of what’s proper right here named the Vulcain Nautical Legacy. Which implies the technical base stays unchanged – as is often the case with watches achieved in collaboration with this design studio. It thus begins with a fairly sizeable case of 42mm, fabricated 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” performing as a resonance chamber and allowing for the alarm to be loud ample 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 reliable 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 system to equalise the friction on the balance-wheel axis in all positions by modifying the Incabloc endstones. Working at a sluggish tempo of two.5Hz, it can probably 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 wonderful stronger traditional look, in some way a tropical sort with a rich, chocolate-brown dial with a brushed finish. One different distinctive issue, the arms have been totally redesigned and are distinctive to this Massena LAB collaboration – baton-style hand for the hours, huge arrowhead for the minutes, crimson arrow alarm hand, and lollipop hand for the centre seconds. These, and the hour markers, are stuffed with patina-like beige lume.

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

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