Results for Favre Leuba

Review: Rolex Submariner Ref. 126619LB – Luxury And Utility As One

The new Rolex Submariner Ref. 126619LB in white gold becomes the first Submariner to receive an updated movement and several minor sizing changes.

Massena Lab Introduces the Uni-Racer Chronograph

Having gotten its start by collaborating with independent watchmakers like Habring2, Massena Lab has just unveiled the first watch of its own brand, the Uni-Racer. A vintage-style wristwatch modelled on the Universal Genève Uni-Compax “Big Eye” chronograph of the 1960s, the Uni-Racer features several details that will appeal to enthusiasts, while having an affordable price tag of just under US$3,500. Initial thoughts Like all other remakes of vintage watches, the Uni-Racer reproduces the look of its vintage inspiration, while enlarging everything – the case is 39 mm compared to 37 mm for the original – to suit modern tastes. But unlike most other remakes, the Uni-Racer attends to the details that only a keen-eyed collector would appreciate, which is hardly a surprise since Massena Lab founder William Rohr is a longtime watch collector himself (and probably best known as the former general manager of watch forum Timezone.com). Features like the hand-wind movement and vintage-style buckle indicate the attention to detail in its conception. But there are also the less obvious elements, like the tiny, engraved logo on the crystal and the Massena Lab emblem that resembles an inverted Universal Genève logo. In fact, Massena Lab says it “interviewed former Universal Genève employees and suppliers to confirm original details and aesthetics”. The achievement of the Uni-Racer is not a novel design, but the careful curation of details that give the watch an authentic...

INTRODUCING: Massena LAB Uni-Racer, the first in-house production from Massena LAB, with a fresh take on vintage chronograph perfection

From the secret lab of William Massena we have come to expect the unexpected. The LAB has a short but exciting history of sharp collaborations with a disruptive edge, exhibiting a wide scope of taste and style. This exciting new model is a case in point, with the last public project being a brilliant vintage … ContinuedThe post INTRODUCING: Massena LAB Uni-Racer, the first in-house production from Massena LAB, with a fresh take on vintage chronograph perfection appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.

What nickname has Instagram settled on for the Rolex Submariner ref. 126619LB in white gold?

Now that Rolex has released watches and ended that dreadful rumour that they were sitting 2020 out, the important work begins. Nicknaming them. The one that has perhaps caused the most contention, is this one, the Submariner ref. 126619LB in white gold.   We’re going to tell you everything you need to know about it … ContinuedThe post What nickname has Instagram settled on for the Rolex Submariner ref. 126619LB in white gold? appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.

MB&F;, L’Épée 1839, Massena Lab’s T-Rex Bronze: The Missing Link

For Martin Green, the MB&F; L'Épée 1839 Massena Lab T-Rex Bronze seems more raw and animalistic than its predecessors, as though you can smell the scent of this top predator moving through dense vegetation. He thinks that the true T-Rex variation has landed, and here he explains why.

Introducing the MB&F; X L’Epée X Massena LAB T-Rex Bronze

Massena LAB partners with MB&F; and L’Epée to announce the MB&F; X L’Epée X Massena LAB T-Rex Bronze

MB&F; and Massena Lab Introduce the T-Rex Bronze

Massena Lab was founded by watch industry veteran William Rohr – who is better known by the pseudonym William Massena – in 2018, with the purpose of collaborating with notable independent watchmakers, and perhaps one day make its own watches. Having made its debut with Habring2 , Massena Lab has just announced the T-Rex Bronze, a 15-piece variant of the quirky MB&F; table clock launched last year. Best described as a hand-blown Murano glass eyeball inside a bronze socket with legs, the T-Rex is made by L’Epee 1839, who is also responsible for all of MB&F;’s other clocks. Initial thoughts The T-Rex is an offbeat, statement piece for the desk, but powered by old-school mechanics – a key-wound, eight-day movement made by L’Epee 1839, a clockmaker founded in, well, 1839. That blend of contemporary creative and classic mechanics makes it cool. But the Massena Lab edition is a departure from the usual MB&F; clock style, which is dominated by metallic silver or black, resulting in a highly mechanical look. The Massena Lab T-Rex replaces the steel of the original version for frosted bronze and “aged” feet, giving the clock a striking, steampunk aesthetic. Permanent patina Standing a little under 27 cm high, the T-Rex weighs about 2 kg. According to MB&F; founder Maximilian Büsser, the form was inspired by a bipedal Christmas ornament on his desk. Freelance watch designer Maximilian Maertens then created the clock, relying on images of an actual Tyrannosaurus Rex to d...

INTRODUCING: MB&F; x L’Epée x Massena LAB

How can a table clock be desirable? My thought process is well on the way to becoming coherent, meaning Sellable To The Wife. She has a background as a buyer in the oil business, so I can’t tell her that the need for a USD$27,000 non-wearable time piece is driven by desire.  The title of … ContinuedThe post INTRODUCING: MB&F; x L’Epée x Massena LAB appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.

New: Corum LAB 02 with Editorial Commentary

Corum releases the second in their LAB series with the 02, a watch with a flying gear train. A novel idea yet to be attempted by anyone else.

Introducing the Massena LAB x Unimatic Modello Uno Ref. U1-ML6

Old meets new in the latest collaborative effort from Massena LAB and Unimatic.

New launch: Heritage Corum Lab 01

New launch: Corum introduces two new watches in a new "Lab" collection: the Heritage Corum Lab 01, featuring form movements in a skeletonized dial design.

Hands-on Review: Zenith El Primero Defy Lab with live photographs.

Hands-on analytical review of the revolutionary new Zenith El Primero Defy Lab, with live photographs, detailed analysis and technical discussion.

Pictures of the new Zenith Defy Lab

More details on the Zenith new Oscillator and the 10 Limited Edition Defy Lab watches announced in our interview with CEO Mr. Tornare.

A Horological Revolution: The Zenith Defy Lab

The brand that delivered the El Primero steps up to provide horology with its next revolution. Introducing the Zenith Defy Lab.

Review: Panerai LAB-ID Luminor 1950 Carbotech™ 3 Days PAM00700

Detailed hands-on Review of the Panerai LAB-ID Luminor 1950 Carbotech™ 3 DaysPAM00700. 50 pieces, 50 year warranty, € 50,000. Publicity or high tech?

Panerai Lab-Id Luminor 1950 Carbotech at SIHH 2017

A watch with a 50 year guarantee, which is also independent of traditional lubrication. You better believe it’s the Panerai Lab-Id Luminor 1950 Carbotech.

Another Studio Underd0g Limited Edition Sees the 03SERIES Getting a Taste of the Good Life (Courtesy of Massena LAB)

The great paradox of many brands being so good at what they do is that they’re often so technically precise they lose a bit of personality in the process. Somehow, there’s a trade-off that many watch brands make in striving for the best, only to just miss the mark when it comes to anchoring their product to anything beyond technical specs, brand recognition, and the (oftentimes) half-hearted attempts to jump on a trend. We have, in many ways, become accustomed to this middling way in which watchmakers (and the same can be said for fashion brands and penmakers, truth be told). We have grown used to a sanitized, diluted version of personality for the sake of quarterly targets and minimizing social media backlash. It has, in effect, caused a chilling effect in risk-taking, in humor, in anything new beyond a different dial color here or a new steel bracelet there. It was with this sort of cynicism in mind that I was pleasantly surprised to see the latest release between Studio Underd0g and Massena LAB: the 03SERIES Champagne & Caviar. Finally!, I thought, scrolling through the photos, now this is a watch with personality. And then, of course, my second thought: if it isn’t actually made in the Champagne region of France, should it technically be called Sparkling Wine & Caviar? I’ll leave the purists among us in the comments to weigh in. The two collaborators couldn’t have been better suited for one another in partnering together on a release that’s as cheeky as it ...

Review: the Holthinrichs Signature Ornament LAB Series 1.24

One of the most satisfying experiences you can have when you write about watches is when a new piece completely meets or exceeds all of your expectations. This is a somewhat rare occurrence. When you see as many watches as we do, we notice all the little imperfections, compromises, and, sometimes, flat out mistakes. It means that even when we like a watch a lot our minds naturally go right to the idiosyncrasies that make it less than perfect. Because, after all, no watch is perfect. There are always small things that will bother you or that you wish had been handled in a slightly different way.  But then, sometimes, a watch comes along that legitimately stuns you. Even better when it’s from a brand that you’ve been waiting literally years to see if they could live up to the lofty ambitions they set for themselves, that they told you about over coffee in Geneva at an impromptu meeting with a table spread with rather rough prototypes.  Holthinrichs is a brand that’s been on my radar for just about as long as the brand has existed. Their design language, inspired by architecture, the elegant lines of classic sports cars, and their home city of Delft, is infused with a uniquely Dutch sensibility, and has always grabbed me. Brand founder Michiel Holthinrichs has emerged as one of contemporary indie watchmaking’s great characters. I hope he’d take it as a compliment if I described him as Biver-esque, but there’s some connective tissue there for sure in the way Mich...

Vianney Halter And Massena LAB Unearth “Old Soul”, Using A Vintage Minerva Movement

First Look – The new Holthinrichs Signature Ornament LAB Series 1.24

Headquartered in the historical centre of Delft, The Netherlands, Holthinrichs Watches, named after its founder Michiel Holthinrichs, is one of the rising stars of the indie watchmaking scene. The brand has a truly unique approach to design and manufacturing, combining advanced metal printing techniques (yes, 3D printed cases are THE signature feature there) with high-end […]

Introducing – The Unimatic x Massena LAB U1-SPG “NASA Artemis” Limited Edition

Moon exploration has been a source of inspiration for generations, back in the 1960s with the Apollo Program. Of course, things stopped in 1972, but mankind is once again on its way to step foot again on the Moon’s surface, as NASA is preparing the Artemis program. Intended to reestablish a human presence on the […]

Massena LAB and Vulcain Introduce a Unique Alarm Equipped Diver with an Imagined History

There are niche watches, and then there are niche watches. A dive watch on its own, if you think about, is a very specific kind of thing, and in spite of their incredible popularity, we shouldn’t forget that they’re built for a highly specific purpose that almost nobody wearing one will ever participate in. A vintage inspired dive watch with an alarm that can be heard underwater is even more specific, and a dive watch with an alarm that can be heard underwater and has been designed to imagine what an example of this watch might have looked like if it existed ten years before the actual watch it’s inspired by – well, that’s about as far down the rabbit hole as most will care to go. But that’s what Massena LAB and Vulcain have cooked up for their new collaboration, and it’s one of the strangest and most charming watches of the year.  The Vulcain Nautical Legacy Massena LAB can perhaps be most easily understood as a new spin on the Vulcain Nautical Cricket, which was revived last year. The watch we covered last summer was Vulcain’s attempt at bringing back a truly strange diver that takes a genuinely different approach to the very idea of “timing” a dive. The Nautical effectively brings the no-decompression table to the dial itself, and through the setting of the alarm and matching it with the dive’s depth, the diver can calculate the length of their decompression stops as they make their way to the surface. Again, truly niche, and an early example of t...

H. Moser & Cie and Massena LAB Present the Endeavour Chronograph Compax

The Latest Massena LAB Collaboration is a Rare Heritage Inspired Moser

If you’ve been paying any attention to H. Moser & Cie. over the last few years, one thing should be abundantly clear - the Swiss watchmaker likes to keep things simple. While they may occasionally indulge themselves with an overwhelming quantity of dial text, or acquiesce to the need for a chronograph scale, Moser has increasingly adopted a minimalist approach in their watch design, with wide open expanses of dial and invisible logos taking center stage alongside hammered enamel finishes, minute repeater strikers, and elegantly finished hands.  Today, Moser is throwing all that out, and, in partnership with Massena LAB, the brand is looking back to its history for what is, in many ways, its most traditional release in years. The Endeavour Chronograph Compax would, from anyone else, barely qualify as newsworthy. After all, what brand hasn’t dipped back into the well to create a historically-minded steel sports watch in recent years? Moser hasn’t, and that’s what makes this collaboration so interesting. Even the Heritage model, the closest the brand has come to the format, isn’t so much a recreation as a reimagination, a consideration not of how to make an old watch feel new, but a thought exercise in what H. Moser & Cie. might have made were the modern brand to find themselves in a different era. This new watch is not that. Though not a direct reproduction of any particular model, the new Endeavour Chronograph Compax is a genuine reflection on Moser’s history...

Introducing – H. Moser & Cie. Teams Up With Massena LAB, Presenting the Endeavour Chronograph Compax

Usually, when you think about contemporary chronographs produced by independent watchmaker H. Moser & Cie, you should have the highly complex Streamliner in mind, with its innovative movement by Agenhor. But Moser is more than just its modern side, as the brand was founded in 1828 and carries a rather unknown but wide portfolio of […]

First Look – The Albishorn x Massena LAB Maxigraph is a Regatta Chronograph from a Newly-Created Brand

Albishorn is a new independent brand born to create “imaginary vintage” – watches that could have existed, capturing the allure of the past while exploring the possibilities of what might have been. Inspired by a “what if” spirit, the brand’s inaugural model seeks to answer the question: “What would a modern regatta chronograph have looked […]

Introducing – The Rolex Deepsea 136668LB in 18k Yellow Gold with Blue Dial and Bezel

The Rolex Submariner and Sea-Dweller are iconic diving watches that have achieved legendary status in horology. Originally launched in 2008, the Deepsea is Rolex’s hardcore diving instrument with a water resistance of 3,900 meters (and 11,000 meters for the Deepsea challenge of 2022). The model was updated at Baselworld 2018 with the reference 126660 featuring […]

Geneva Watch Days 2023: Massena LAB x Sylvain Pinaud Chronograph Monopoussoir

Massena LAB x Revolution Uni-Racer 1949

Introducing The Angelus X Massena LAB Chronograph Medical