William Massena?s Massena LAB has created a handful of limited collaboration pieces with some of our favorite brands (we covered their effort with Unimatic here, and they previously collaborated with Habring and MB&F). This time, however, Massena is going it alone, with their first watch produced solely under their own name. The Massena LAB Uni-Racer feels like a very personal creation for Massena, a watch inspired by and paying homage to a cult favorite, wished into existence by Massena himself. That, in a way, is what all vintage inspired watches are to some degree, so it?s revealing to see what Massena has come up with here. Let?s take a closer look.

The Uni-Racer is inspired by Universal Geneve?s Uni-Compax, a watch that over the years has earned the nickname ?The Big Eye? for its oversized 3:00 subdial. Massena began planning the Uni-Racer project in 2017 – he had always wanted a Uni-Compax, but its slightly smaller than average dimensions (the Big Eye measures about 36.5mm in diameter) and genuine rarity (it was produced for only two years, between 1964 and 1965, with potentially as few as 100 examples leaving the factory, according to some scholars) made it a tough watch to own on multiple fronts. The Uni-Racer is Massena?s contemporary interpretation of the Uni-Compax, and is the product of careful study of the original watch, even going so far as to speak with former Universal employees to ensure that important details are captured. 
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