Massena LAB Uniracer Chronograph ‘Big Eye’ Rally UR-001-RAL

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.

This particular version was newly released in 2021 with a new colourway known as the Rally Dial, with cobalt and red sudbials on a silver face, with a cobalt chapter ring.

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 acrylic, 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 Near Mint condition. The only real signs of wear are some lifting on the side of the strap where it's been passing through the tang buckle , some tiny strap change marks and 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-RAL

Style: Sport

Case Material: Stainless Steel

Case details: 39mm

Strap: Leather

Movement: Sellita SW 510 M manual wind chronograph

Dial: Silver with Cobalt and Red subdials

Hands: Silver

Paraphernalia: Box, instructions/warranty booklet.

TZ Grading: Near Mint

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

BONUS Watch Vault leather watch pouch with each watch purchased directly from our website. If you’d like a specific colour please let us know at checkout, otherwise one will be selected at random and included with your watch.