Angelus cuts the ribbon on their new La Fabrique collection, a series of limited editions that tribute historic models from the brand’s history, with the launch of the Angelus Chronographe Medical x Massena LAB watch. The design revives the aesthetic of a 1960’s “doctors watch” from Angelus’ past but one powered by a modern, yet still faithful, in-house movement.
During the 1960’s, Angelus launched its first “doctors watch”, a design defined by its unique dual scale dial that allowed doctors to monitor the vital sights of patient during examinations. The hand-wound chronograph presented a pulsometer scale for measuring the patients pulse and an asthmometer for recording respiratory rate. It was certainly an uncharacteristic display with a magnifier on the crystal to accentuate the pulsometer scale and the chronograph providing only a one-minute measurement since no other counter was required. The retro personality of this original design has been beautifully revived in a new collaboration between Angelus and Massena LAB, a 99 piece limited edition named the Angelus Chronographe Medical x Massena LAB watch.
“When talking to Bertrand Savary (President of Angelus), we discussed Angelus’ spectacular heritage,” explains William Massena, founder of Massena LAB. “We hit on the idea of creating a capsule collection that would revive one of the most perfect tool chronographs of the 1960s.”
Starting with the case, there are of course a few minor differences between the new Angelus Chronographe Medical x Massena LAB Limited Edition and its 1960’s predecessor, but overall the finish feels remarkably faithful. To house the new A5000 movement, something we’ll get onto shortly, the case has been increased slightly from 37mm to 39mm but it is still entirely engineered from 316L stainless steel. This type of stainless steel is the same as those used to make surgical tools so it feels befitting of a doctors watch. The case is perfectly round and highly polished, topped by a slim, fixed bezel and box-shaped sapphire crystal glass. It also sits low on the wrist at only 9.22mm in height and promises a 30 metre water resistance. The Angelus Chronographe Medical x Massena LAB watch secures to the wrist by a golden brown Novonappa leather strap with cream ecru stitching and a stainless steel pin buckle.
The dial of the Angelus Chronographe Medical x Massena LAB Limited Edition is its most noticeable feature. Subtly domed and decorated in a silvered opaline finish, the display reveals the same dual-scale layout as the original with a pulsometer scale and asthomometer scale decorating the periphery. Both scales are distinguishable by their placement and colour codes; the pulsometer is placed at the top tight of the dial and is printed in green, black and red to correspond to the severity of the reading. On the other side of the minutes track, the asthomometer scale is done in red. Because of their significance, these two scales are given pride of place on the dial and in turn push the minutes track and hour markers closer to the centre. The applique hour markers and dauphine hands with luminescent lines are identical to the model that inspired this timepiece.
Just when you think the Angelus Chronographe Medical x Massena LAB Limited Edition can’t get any more faithful to the original 1960’s “doctors watch”, you turn the design around and see the movement. Of course, the original movement is no longer available, but instead Angelus has harnessed the mastery of their in-house La Joux-Perret facility and created its own modern interpretation of a hand-wound monopusher chronograph with traditional column wheel and horizontal clutch architecture. The A5000 calibre uses the THA monopoussoir architecture, harnessing only one-minute hand of the chronograph movement since it’s the only one needed to use the medical scales. The small seconds remains at 9 o’clock but the 30 minute counter is taken away, proving that the watch is here only for diagnosis. The manual-winding movement also promises a frequency of 21,600vph, a 42 hour power reserve and a whole set of high-end finishing displayed through the Angelus Chronographe Medical x Massena LAB Limited Edition’s case back.
If you’d like to learn more about the Angelus Chronographe Medical x Massena LAB watch and secure one of the 99 limited edition pieces for yourself, head over to the Jura Watches website here. Alternatively, get in touch with the team by calling 01335 453453 or send us a message at help@jurawatches.co.uk.
Specifications:
- Case Size: 39mm x 9.22mm
- Case Material: 316L stainless steel
- Bezel: Fixed
- Glass: Box-shaped sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating
- Crown: Non-screw locked
- Case Back: Exhibition
- Water Resistance: 30 metres
- Movement: Calibre A5000, in-house, manual winding with column-wheel and horizontal clutch monopusher chronograph mechanism
- Functions: Hours, minutes, small seconds, one-minute chronograph, pulsometer and asthmometer scales
- Power Reserve: 42 hours
- Jewels: 23
- Frequency: 21,600vph
- Dial: Domed, silvered opaline with medical scales, rhodium-finish applique indexes and numerals, Superluminova dauphine hands
- Strap: Golden brown Novonappa calfskin leather
- Buckle: Pin
- RRP: 15,100
- Limited: 99 pieces
- Reference: 0CHAS.A01A.V010S
