Massena LAB, a creative force in independent watchmaking, has made a serious name for itself in part due to its creative collaborations. At WatchTime New York 2024 this week, happening from October 18 to 20 at Manhattan’s Gotham Hall, the brand will be highlighting one of these pieces in the Albishorn x Massena LAB Maxigraph— a novel chronograph with a patented regatta timer that works to answer the question, “how might a modern-day regatta chronograph have looked in the 1930s?”
The Maxigraph is the result of a partnership between Massena LAB and Albishorn, an emerging Swiss watchmaker making its public debut this year. Designed by Sébastien Chaulmontet, Albishorn’s founder, in collaboration with Massena LAB, the watch pays tribute to the early history of regatta racing, particularly the Le Bol d’Or race held on Lac Léman in 1939. The Maxigraph is an “imaginary vintage” creation, a timepiece that blends vintage aesthetics with modern technical innovations, evoking a parallel history of what regatta chronographs might have been had certain horological advancements been made in the 1930s.
On the wrist, the new watch measures 39mm with a 41mm bezel. Water-resistant to 100 meters, the case design, featuring a crown at 10 o’clock and a single red aluminum pusher at 9 o’clock, provides both practicality and style, with the monopusher design meant to provide optimal positioning for the use of one’s thumb. The oversized bidirectional rotating bezel is also produced in steel, with it featuring both 60-minute and 12-hour scales executed in black with red accents at the quarter markers.
On the dial, the modern-vintage interpretations continue, the look featuring a sectored look that recalls early-century styles, with accents of Super-LumiNova throughout adding to its utility. A patented ten-minute retrograde regatta countdown is placed timer at 7 o’clock, providing the watch its namesake complication, with a running indicator placed at the 4 o’clock position. Notably, the brand has noted that the timer stops once the ten minutes have elapsed, which marks a distinct departure from typical regatta timers that typically reset and begin again. The countdown is activated via the pusher on the case.
Powered by a proprietary self-winding monopusher chronograph caliber, the Maxigraph boasts a 64-hour power reserve and runs at a frequency of 28,800 vph. The movement is protected via a solid caseback, it engraved with a technical drawing of the Ylliam IV six meter sailboat— the winner of the first edition of Le Bol d’Or in 1939.
With only 25 pieces produced per batch, the Albishorn x Massena LAB Maxigraph is very limited in production. The watch is available now, with pricing set at $4,995.
To learn more, visit Albishorn, here, or Massena LAB, here.
And to secure your tickets to WatchTime New York 2024, click here.
