An Honest Review: Everything You Need to Know About the Vianney Halter × Massena Lab “Old Soul”

Massena Lab recently unveiled a curious offering: a timepiece built from Minerva movements dating back to the 1920s, modified and hand-finished by the inimitable Vianney Halter. The latest addition to Massena Lab’s “Old Masters” collection and the sequel to 2021’s Massena LAB x Luca Soprana “Old School”, this 47-piece limited edition Old Soul is available exclusively via the Massena Lab website.

Two Dreamers

Vianney Halter, the French independent watchmaker often recognised by his wild hair and piercing eyes, is celebrated as one of contemporary horology’s great visionaries. Trained in Paris as a traditional watch restorer, he rose to prominence with futuristic steampunk timepieces like the Antiqua, featuring signature porthole-style dials that helped define the early 2000s independent watchmaking boom. A former collaborator of François-Paul Journe and Denis Flageollet at the short-lived THA Ébauche, Halter has earned the moniker “the Watchmaker of the Future” despite his love of antique techniques—and has accumulated four GPHG prizes to date.

William Rohr, better known as William Massena, was Chief Operating Officer of Antiquorum in Geneva and Managing Director of the TimeZone forum before founding Massena Lab, which is known for its quirky and distinct horological creations. Rohr is a GPHG laureate as well, having won the 2024 Chronograph Watch Prize for the Massena Lab × Sylvain Pinaud Chronograph Monopoussoir.

New Old What?

“New old stock” refers to existing movements used to build new watches. My former employer, Wei Koh, for instance, created a trio of ravishing throwback chronographs using Franck Muller new old stock during my time working with him. The million-dollar question with new old stock watches is always: are these movements historically significant, or simply surplus inventory?

The Old Soul is powered by the Minerva 17’22 caliber, produced in the 1920s before Minerva was acquired by Montblanc. (That’s why Montblanc’s flagship collection is now called Minerva.) Well-made and never mass-produced like ETA, Lemania, or Valjoux, Minerva movements remain highly esteemed: references like the 13-20 and 13-21 chronographs, and even the simpler 48 and 49 manual-wind calibers, still generate buzz among collectors.

The 17’22 is 17 lignes in diameter (38 mm) and was the 22nd 17-ligne movement produced by Minerva, hence the name. Released in the 1920s when temperature-resistant hairsprings had just been invented, this 2.5-Hz movement was considered high-end for pocket watches: 12 mm thick, 36 hours of power reserve, regulated by a Breguet balance spring. Originally designed with the crown at 12 o’clock, the small seconds counter sat at 6 o’clock. For the Old Soul, it has been rotated 90 degrees to display the time in a symmetrical regulator (Régulateur) layout: seconds at 9 o’clock, hours at 3, and minutes indicated by a seemingly floating losange hand tracing an old-school railroad track.

Halter designed a transparent sapphire “mystery” disc, linked to the gear train via discreet peripheral gears, as just one of the many meticulous touches applied to the 17’22. Watchmaking’s Mad Max has also adorned the Old Soul with his signature brutalist bridges and rivets. The 38 mm movement fits inside a 42 mm stepped case that accentuates the whimsy of the regulator layout, while both Vianney Halter and Massena’s signatures are printed on the inner surface of the sapphire crystal rather than on the dial itself.

Arriving on a Midnight Blue calfskin strap made in Italy, the Old Soul is water-resistant to 30m, but I wouldn’t be too rough with it, considering that movements of the 1920s are barely as shock resistant as today’s.

True to Halter’s love for Star Trek lore, the Delmore Schwartz line “Time is the Fire in which we burn”—popularised by the 1994 film Star Trek: Generations—is engraved between the lugs at the 12 o’clock position, with the edition number at 6 o’clock.

Yay or Nay?

So, would you fork out CHF 37,000 for this head-turner? At the risk of sounding anti-climatic, your decision depends on your perspective.

This is a time-only watch. While Halter is renowned for his complications, owning one of those costs at least CHF 100,000. Still, the mystery minutes display is a beautiful addition to this historic ebauche, and the hand-finishing across the unmistakably Halter-esque dial and majestic caseback makes for a sumptuous main course.

If you don’t have CHF 37,000 of spare change lying around, you can still check out the recent Louis Erard x Vianney Halter Régulateurs that were priced under CHF 5,000. However, their open casebacks lack the insight and multi-dimensionality of the Old Soul.

If you’re still on the fence, well, you can make your decision when you see it in person at Geneva Watch Days this coming week.

And even if the Old Soul isn’t your cup of steampunk tea, the Massena Lab website burgeons with intriguing offerings and collaborations reflecting William Rohr’s creativity.