Mostel
4360
The fake patina is surprising from William
It's a nice watch with nice details, but a bit thick. William was a bit of a bitter and unkind/punitive moderator not too long ago and it's hard to root for him. On the other hand, it's easy to love and appreciate all that he appreciates and loves in watches. If I could modify this offering, I would simply lose the faux patina... and I would do something to differentiate it from a pure remake of a vintage watch, giving it something unmistakably contemporary amid the obviously passionate rendition of something from the past.
WatchProSite Review: Massena Labs Archetype 0.0 Gilt Dial
Moderator Patrick_y reviews the Massena Labs Archetype 0.0 timepiece. A small production timepiece from a new independent brand that features a strikingly beautiful gilt dial. Read on and find out what Patrick_y's verdict is about the watch! Introduction ...
Hi, and thanks for the review
I'm a fan of William's. He's insightful, and that makes his outspoken ways worth paying attention to. His lecture at HSNY in 2018 was excellent, for instance. I haven't paid too much attention to his watchmaking project, but I do appreciate that he is inv...
The Dan Henry dial is printed whereas the Massena is gilt which is a much more
difficult and expensive process to do correctly. Great DH, I have the 1937 with the silver sector dial.
Very nice Dan Henry!
I have to admit this Dan Henry timepiece didn't come up during my research phase for writing this article. Thank you for introducing it to me! Thank you for sharing your thoughts and comments about Massena. I haven't attended one of those HSNY events in a...
You're welcome.
Of course I did not mean to detract from your review of the Massena LAB watch. My apologies if it came across like that to you or to anyone else reading. I enjoyed reading it for its balance, and the comparison with the DH both instinctive and interesting...
Great review.
Definitely a great looking watch . Love the gilt dial and overall design
Agreed! A great looker!
I admittedly hardly wear a watch since I'm at home all the time. But I still take it out of the box every now and then to just stare at it. What a nice piece!
Thanks for that review I am quite sad I never ordered one
This is one of the few massena designs I did not purchase Julian
*cringe* That is indeed unfortunate!
They were unfortunately sold out in a few days from what I'm told. It certainly didn't leave a lot of people much time to think about it. I was a bit concerned about the size since I don't have a large wrist. I don't like buying watches sight unseen. But ...
Thank you for the great writ up. I love mine and Massena with each of his
creations shows his deep knowledge of watchmaking. His watches have that vintage flair with a modern twist and the Archetype 0 gives you quite a lot of watch at its price point
Great to see you Alex!
It's always a pleasure to read you again! You've been missed! And I agree with your comments!
Definitely worth looking into if you like vintage watches...
I like vintage watches, but I don't like certain things about vintage watches. Drilled lugs for spring bars are not my favorite. Vintage Rolex watches with sagging bracelets don't appeal to me. Furthermore, vintage watches can be difficult to service, hav...
I agree with you on all counts
But, this watch is not on their website. It must be sold out or was never published, which would explain why I never knew about it.
The fake patina is surprising from William
It's a nice watch with nice details, but a bit thick. William was a bit of a bitter and unkind/punitive moderator not too long ago and it's hard to root for him. On the other hand, it's easy to love and appreciate all that he appreciates and loves in watc...
Hi Patrick
I see you are describing the dial as 'gilt. Hmmm. Ok. Then my critique of 'fake lume' should be retracted.
Over the years...
Over the years... I've seen unkind people do amazingly good things. And I realize that while it's easy to judge someone for something we interpret they did as "unkind" at the time. None of us are perfect. I may be a shrewd person in one aspect of business...
Well put Patrick
As the Daniel in the Bible suggests, we all tend to have heads of gold and feet of clay Cazalea
Thanks Caz
William--who really was VERY unforgiving-- is getting a lot of forgiveness here--under the umbrella of something much larger--fair enough. Perhaps he has earned it in unseen ways... Happy to move on in this spirit.
Can't wait! I've enjoyed your posts so much for the past decade!
I can't wait to meet as I've enjoyed your posts so much over the past decade. We are hoping to do a WatchProSite GTG meeting in Europe once it is safe and reasonable to do so. But with the pandemic still raging on, we haven't really started any official p...
Thank you for commenting!
That dial is just exquisite! I still admire the watch just to look at the wonderful reflection in the dial!