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 own take on an emblematic model, the Cricket Nautical. This watch, which relied on the brand’s signature chiming complication, was one of the first of its kind, merging diving credentials with the alarm feature that proved to be highly practical underwater. Recently and faithfully recreated by the brand, Massena LAB relies on this technical base and gives it some retro, almost tropical touches to add some vintage charm, resulting in this new Vulcain Nautical Legacy Massena LAB. 

As we’ve explained in a recent article about the classic version of this watch, contrary to popular belief, sound travels well underwater. As such, with the advent of pro and amateur diving in the late 1950s, the alarm movement would become a rather practical safety feature for divers who wanted not only to track their diving times and signal when it was time to re-surface. While the concept of an alarm dive watch was first created by Jaeger-LeCoultre, with the Memovox Deep Sea in 1959, Vulcain, one of the main specialists of this chiming function (since 1947 and the Cricket watch) came close second in 1961 with the Cricket Nautical, equipped with a “triple case back” that acted as a resonance chamber, to amplify the sound underwater.

This watch was not just an exercise of style but the result of research conducted by three passionate divers; Hannes Keller, a Swiss deep-sea diving pioneer, Max-Yves Brandily, an explorer and filmmaker, and Arthur Droz, a national certified diving instructor. In addition to the alarm function, the trio added a system for determining decompression times built right into the dial. So to say, the original Vulcain Cricket Nautical was quite a piece of engineering. Last year, Vulcain, which is going through its resurgence, brought back the concept in a faithful re-edition. A niche, cool and ultra-focused model, it is now used as a base by Massena LAB to bring something even more retro-styled.

Massena’s work is mostly visible on the dial of what’s here named the Vulcain Nautical Legacy. This means that the technical base remains unchanged – as is often the case with watches done in collaboration with this design studio. It thus starts with a rather sizeable case of 42mm, made of stainless steel, and using an atypical three-crown/pusher layout – 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 back” acting as a resonance chamber and allowing for the alarm to be loud enough to be heard underwater, plus the presence of an ultra-domed sapphire crystal on top, the Nautical Legacy isn’t thin… Thickness is measured at 17.5mm, just like the classic re-edition and also faithful to the proportions of the historical model.

The watch is powered by the manual-wound Cricket Alarm Calibre V10, a movement with historical relevance as the direct descendants of the original Cricket movement created in 1947. It has a twin-barrel architecture (one for timekeeping, one for the alarm) and the classic buzzing hammer system for the alarm. It also retains the Exactomatic, a patented device to equalise the friction on the balance-wheel axis in all positions by modifying the Incabloc endstones. Running at a slow pace of 2.5Hz, it can store up to 42 hours of energy when fully wound.

Let’s now move to what sets this Massena LAB edition apart… The dial. The studio has given it an even stronger vintage look, somehow a tropical style with a rich, chocolate-brown dial with a brushed finish. Another distinctive element, the hands have been completely redesigned and are unique to this Massena LAB collaboration – baton-style hand for the hours, large arrowhead for the minutes, red arrow alarm hand, and lollipop hand for the centre seconds. Those, and the hour markers, are filled with patina-like beige lume.

In addition to the time, the diving bezel and alarm function, the Vulcain Nautical Legacy features a rotating dial (used with the 4 o’clock crown) acting as a decompression table, an invention of the Hannes Keller team revealed through an aperture on the dial. Once set correctly (knowing the length and depth of the intended dive), this scale shows the diver for how many minutes they must stop at nine, six, and three meters before returning to the surface – we have explained in detail how this watch works in this article.

Worn on a specific rubber strap, the Vulcain Nautical Legacy Massena LAB is a limited edition of 25 pieces. It is now available at MassenaLAB.com and is priced at USD 4,950.