Massena LAB Uniracer Chronograph ‘Big Eye’ UR-001

For those unfamiliar with this piece, it was the brainchild of William Massena, the man behind Massena LAB. William is a long time enthusiast, quite an influential character within the world of Horology, and a lover of Universal Geneve. The issue with a lot of UG’s are old, and so are inherently not particularly well suited to the rigours of daily watch duties. They are also sized on the smaller side, which doesn’t suit all modern wrists. Another issue with some references, such as the Big Eye, is that they’re exceedingly rare and therefore extremely valuable. With only a handful of these known to be in existence, they fetch north of $30,000 USD when they do pop up…ouch.

So Massena LAB created the Uni Racer, which is essentially a faithful replica of the Universal Geneve Big Eye, but with a modern manual wind chronograph movement, and an upsized 39mm case. Now, replica is usually a dirty word, and plenty of people in the watch community have been more than a little disparaging about the piece. But we feel this is a little unfair as Universal Geneve had no interest in pursuing the project, and essentially are a shell of the once great company they were. The original is almost unobtainable, and if you did own it, the value would scare you off wearing it. While I’m not a huge fan of other homage watches in general, these are essentially unobtainium, and if this gives us a chance to wear this masterstroke of design for reasonable money without worry of mechanical failure, parts availability etc then we’re all for it.

As touched on above, it is powered by Sellita SW 510 M manual wind chronograph movement, which is contained within a 39mm steel case that sits superbly on the wrist. The crystal is scratch-resistant domed acryclic, and it is mounted to a leather strap with Massena LAB signed tang buckle.

This particular example was purchased direct from Massena LAB and presents in TZ Mint condition. The only real signs of wear are some creasing of the strap, some tiny strap change marks and some very light swirlies. Please see images for full condition details.

All functions operating as they should.

Comes with box, and instruction and warranty booklet. This is unsigned/dated, as they all seem to be direct from Massena.

Super-cool piece that is absolutely stunning in person. Vintage vibes with modern sizing and reliability – perfect.

Brand: Massena LAB

Model #: Uni-Racer UR-001

Style: Sport

Case Material: Stainless Steel

Case details: 39mm

Strap: Leather

Movement: Sellita SW 510 M manual wind chronograph

Dial: Panda

Hands: Silver/Blue

Paraphernalia: Box, instructions/warranty booklet.

TZ Grading: Mint

Watch Vault utilises the TZ Grading system. Please see here for details.