Angelus Chronographe Medical x Massena Lab

Quick specs Chronographe Medical x Massena Lab
Price: CHF 19’900 | £ 15,100 | approx. € 18.500 | $ 19,900 (excl. taxes)
Size: 39 mm
Reference: 0CHAS.A01A.V010S

The collaboration between a watchmaker and a watch collector pro leads to this Angelus Chronographe Medical x Massena Lab, a remake of a historical doctor’s watch. And this remake comes very, very close to the original although your doctor won’t use it anymore.

In the beginning of the past century most watches were tools. For sure to read the time, but also to sync military actions, to calculate flight or diving times or to measure heartbeats and the rhythm of one’s breath. Just to name a few functions. So with an accurate seconds hand, that can be stopped manually, and an accurate scale printed on a dial, doctors could do a quick and easy check of your ‘health’. Until late in the 1960s this was common practice.

The Swiss brand Angelus, which made their first mono-pusher chronograph in the 1920s, launches a dedicated doctors watch in the 1960s. First available as a mono-pusher, later also with two pushers. This new Angelus Chronographe Medical x Massena Lab is about the mono-pusher. As this new model is almost an exact copy of the 1960s model.

Compare the Angelus Chronographe Medical x Massena Lab with its predecessor

The differences between the old and new Angelus doctor’s watch? This one has a diameter of 39 millimeters, the original is 37 millimeters. The original has a modified Valjoux caliber 22 movement, the new one has a fresh Angelus A5000 movement. And the most prominent difference is the absence of a cyclops above the pulsometer track. This magnifying part in the plastic crystal that covers the dial is a great detail on the vintage model. And it would have looked great on the new one too.

However, the glass on watches is not plastic anymore, but sapphire. Much stronger, clearer and more resistant against scratches, which also makes it more complicated to create a large cyclops. Besides that, the new model is 2 millimeters larger, so a bit easier to read.

Despite the absence of a cyclops the Angelus Chronographe Medical x Massena Lab is a beautiful watch. From a distance you can feel the vintage looks, with its pulsometer and asthmometer, and the smaller minute track within. Take a look at the pictures of the 1960s model and you will notice the dial almost hasn’t changed.

The hand-wound Angelus A5000 movement offers a mono-pusher chronograph with a power reserve of 42 hours. The watch comes on a decent leather strap and it is limited to 99 pieces.