Vianney Halter And Massena LAB Present Old Soul
THE REINCARNATION OF A VINTAGE HOROLOGICAL SPIRIT
PRESS RELEASE | 2377 WORDS | 21 MINUTE READ
New York, August 26, 2025
Massena LAB partners with the legendary independent watchmaker Vianney Halter to create Old Soul, a limited-edition wristwatch that marries his otherworldly vision and technical mastery with William Massena’s encyclopedic knowledge of watch history. Blending the science fiction of steampunk with watchmaking references from the early 19th century, all the while powered by a vintage Minerva movement, Old Soul is a timepiece that is somehow untethered from our current timeline.
Photo Courtesy: Massena LAB
To explain the concept of Old Soul by Vianney Halter and Massena LAB, one must begin with the Soul. In the case of Old Soul, a limited-edition wristwatch from the imaginations of Vianney Halter and Massena LAB, the soul in question is of course the movement: the animating force of a wristwatch which represents not only its heartbeat but also an intangible essence and individual character. After all, a soul is an immortal entity, meant to outlive the physical vessel that contains it.
The development of Old Soul began with an exciting discovery: a cache of new old stock vintage movements from celebrated watchmaker Minerva. This Minerva 17’22 caliber, first developed in the 1920s and used in pocketwatches until 1942, would be reimagined and revived in 2025–transformed into an object that is mysteriously neither past nor present.
Old Soul by Vianney Halter and Massena LAB features a three-dimensional, multilayered dial with notable steampunk influences—a Vianney Halter calling card—as well as vintage and mid-century design inspiration from William Massena and Massena LAB. Old Soul displays hours, minutes, and seconds on three separate registers: hours are shown on a subsidiary dial at three o'clock, seconds are displayed on the subsidiary dial at 9 o'clock, and minutes are tracked on the outer chapter ring, which is radially brushed and rhodium-plated. The dial’s Arabic numerals, rendered in Vianney Halter’s characteristic typeface, reinforce the watchmaker’s individual touch. The chemin de fer, or railroad track styling on all three registers, recalls legendary vintage watches from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, though the execution here is distinctly modern. Through Vianney Halter's technical mastery, Old Soul employs an ingenious mysterious minute disc system that creates the illusion of a blued arrow orbiting in space, floating magically above the dial's silvered surface
The signatures of Vianney Halter and Massena are printed on the interior side of the sapphire crystal rather than directly onto the dial itself. This subtle layering accentuates the dial's three-dimensional design and casts a subtle, pleasing shadow across the dial's surface. These signatures are framed by one final layer: a three-dimensional stainless steel shield that rests atop the sapphire crystal. Engraved with concentric circles to complement its hourglass shape, the shield is dotted with stainless steel studs that further evoke Vianney Halter's signature steampunk aesthetic.
Old Soul is housed in a 42mm stainless steel case, which features a stepped lug design that anchors the watch more firmly to vintage tradition. The case artfully mixes polished and brushed surfaces for elegant contrast, with the polishing flowing seamlessly from the concave bezel down to the stepped lugs—a distinctly mid-century touch. The crown, which mirrors the same motif as on the dial shield, is dotted with functional studs that not only enhance the steampunk aesthetic but also improve tactility for easier winding and time setting.
While a soul is typically believed to be invisible and immaterial, the movement of Old Soul is on full display through a pane of sapphire glass, which has been treated with an anti-reflective coating for excellent visibility. This original Minerva caliber 17’22, crafted entirely by hand well before the invention of CNC machines, is hand-finished with elegant stripes of Côtes de Genève, anglage, and black polish finishing. Its mainspring barrel is engraved with the signature of the original movement maker, Minerva, alongside the classic arrow motif–a direct link to the brand’s storied heritage. Beating at a frequency of 18,000 vibrations per hour (2.5Hz), its unhurried pace of the movement recalls its past life at the heart of a pocket watch.
The caliber is then modified to incorporate a transparent minute disc used to achieve the mystery dial complication—marking the first time a vintage movement has been used in this way. The movements retain their original movement numbers and authentic character, touched lightly by the addition of a double emblem bearing the insignias of both Vianney Halter and Massena LAB.
The caseback of Old Soul is signed with the signatures of both Vianney Halter and Massena LAB as well as a unique serial number. At the top of the case, between the lugs is a fine engraving: “Time is the Fire in which we burn,” borrowed from the American poet Delmore Schwartz (1913-1966). The line, taken from the poem Calmly We Walk through This April's Day was popularized in the 1994 science fiction film, Star Trek Generations. In the film, the line is uttered by the actor Malcom McDowell in his role as the villain Tolian Soran, the murderer of Captain Kirk. Fans and collectors of Vianney Halter will undoubtedly be familiar with the watchmaker’s appreciation of science fiction and his enthusiasm for the Star Trek series in particular.
Old Soul follows the release of Old School, a collaboration between the independent watchmaker Luca Soprana and Massena LAB. Both projects, conceptual in nature, belong to a series of thematic collaborations with independent watchmakers that Massena LAB calls its "Old Masters" series. While Old School explores the beginning of a watchmaker's journey, Old Soul explores its end: mortality, immortality, and the persistence of mechanical objects.
Old Soul by Vianney Halter and Massena LAB will be available for order, August 26, 2025 at 10:00am EDT by submitting an inquiry via the product page at MassenaLAB.com.
The watch will be available for viewing at Geneva Watch Days 2025 starting Thursday, September 4. Interested collectors in the Geneva area may reach out to Massena LAB directly to schedule a viewing.
Limited edition of only 47 pieces. Price available upon request.
VIANNEY HALTER: AN UNUSUAL SOUL
THE NOTABLE WATCHMAKER HOLDS A SIGNIFICANT PLACE IN INDEPENDENT WATCHMAKING
Though it wouldn’t be fair to describe any early independent watchmaker as having “burst” upon the scene, it is fair to say that once Vianney Halter made the choice to become fully independent his unheralded arrival changed everything.
His solo career started with a horological bang: the Antiqua Perpetual. In 1998, Halter introduced a perpetual calendar masterpiece that in a nutshell seemed to come straight from a science fiction novel complete with a chapter on steampunk flourish. But watch aficionados weren’t fooled by the unusual – and unusually appealing – appearance of this wristwatch outfitted with an at-the-time rare perpetual calendar complication: the forward-thinking mechanics came straight from the annals of traditional horology, even if their displays did not.
Halter, whose mind somehow lives in the space between Captain Nemo and Captain Kirk, graduated from the Ecole d’Horlogerie de Paris in the early 1980s before specializing in restoring old masters. In 1990, he followed his friend François-Paul Journe from Paris to Switzerland, where the pair worked alongside (now co-founder of De Bethune) Denis Flageollet and other talented watchmakers in a think-tank for complicated watchmaking called THA (Techniques Horlogères Appliquées SA). Halter permanently settled in Ste-Croix in 1994 where THA was located (THA was sold to Carl F. Bucherer in 2007 and closed by Rolex in 2024 after its takeover). Developments produced by THA with the trio included sympathetic clocks for Breguet and mystery clocks and early complicated timepieces like a monopusher chronograph and a minute-repeating Tortue for Cartier’s Collection Privé.
Having established a small manufacture in Ste-Croix and naming it Janvier SA after nineteenth-century watchmaker Antide Janvier – his horological hero – Halter’s Antiqua Perpetual was followed by the Contemporaine Perpetual, Classic, Trio, and Contemporaine Moonphase models as well as the celebrated Goldpfeil project. The Antiqua set the tone for this work, giving birth to a retro-futuristic vision of the traditional marine chronometer and laying a baseline for the timepieces, which he gathered under the collection name “Futur Antérieur” (“future past”). The spirited designs obfuscated the exact time period in which they were made; they were unique, avant-garde, distinctive, and above all inspired by both history and what might still come.
In 2003 Halter landed squarely in the spotlight with the Opus 3, the third timepiece in a line of annual special edition watches created by significant independent watchmakers for the then-fledgling Harry Winston Rare Timepieces, at the time headed up by a young Maximilian Büsser (now MB&F). Picking up where his own marine chronometer-inspired timepieces left off, the Opus 3 was a mechanical-digital masterpiece with portholes displaying individual numerals for the hours and date; it was unlike anything seen before or since. Despite winning the Technical Innovation and Complication award at the 2003 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève, the timepiece’s über-complicated nature delayed development and production, and it needed a full decade and the aid of additional watchmakers to reach completion.
This, coupled with difficult economic and personal times, led to a dark period for the temperamental Vianney Halter, bringing about something that can be described as writer’s block for watchmakers. He “recharged” by ingesting science fiction media for years, which gave birth to a new Halter era: in 2013, the Deep Space Tourbillon emerged from the depths of a seeming black hole (much like the timepiece’s central triple-axis tourbillon), years after the introduction of his last new watch. An artistic manifesto of sorts, this timepiece in a brand-new style for Halter represented the triumphant comeback of one of the single most influential and innovative horological artists of the modern era. The Deep Space Tourbillon was subsequently given the Innovation Award at the 2013 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève.
While the Classic Janvier No 1, a limited edition including an annual calendar and a running equation of time presented in 2008 to celebrate 10 years of Halter’s life as an independent watchmaker, embodied his tribute to Antide Janvier, the Deep Space Tourbillon and the timepieces that have since emerged were a way for him to share a philosophy he identifies with on a deeply personal level, displaying bits of his own “fourth dimension” and love of science fiction. Building on this, his current collection also includes the complicated masterpieces Deep Space Resonance, La Resonance, and Art Deco Metropolis. This is Vianney Halter for a new generation of watch lovers.
Another building block in Halter’s contemporary world has been that of collaborative work, notably including a kickoff collaboration with Louis Erard under the direction of Manuel Emch, which appeared in 2020. This, and other such recent collaborative works, have allowed more of Halter’s work to be spread among a larger group of watch enthusiasts.
Vianney Halter has been the recipient of prestigious accolades like the Prix Gaïa 2016 awarded by the Musée International d’Horlogerie (MIH), which he won for Artisanat Création (“artisanal creation”). Aside from the Opus 3 (Technical Innovation and Complication award, 2003 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève) and the Deep Space Tourbillon (Innovation Prize, 2013 edition), Halter has received two other GPHG awards: one with the entire AHCI (Académie Horlogère des Créateurs Indépendents/Horological Academy of Independent Creators), who won the Special Jury Prize at the GPHG 2010, and the Best Watchmaker Prize at the 2011 edition. In the watch world, the Gaïa might be comparable to the Nobel Prize while the GPHG may be equivalent to the Oscars.
Despite having made less than 500 individual timepieces over the course of his career, Vianney Halter is considered to have one of the most unique minds in the watch world. His influence on modern watchmaking cannot be overstated. For one, by becoming one of the first true independent watchmakers at a time when companies and factories dominated the horological landscape. He bucked not only production styles of the times, but also the security that a 9-to-5 watchmaking position would afford him. Stylistically, what Halter accomplished in the 1990s paved the way for the non-traditional masterpieces of horological art that followed, including (but not limited to) independent boutique brands Urwerk and De Bethune, Ulysse Nardin with its groundbreaking Freak watch, and, yes, even the crazy and immensely popular timepieces of Max Büsser’s MB&F. The Antiqua is pointed to again and again by experts in this area as one of the most influential timepieces of the 1990s, and certainly the most influential independent-made watch of the time.
Vianney Halter creates what he dreams, and luckily for us mere mortals what he dreams is far more than “just” mechanics. It is a mixture of the fantasy and the reality that lives inside this most unusual watchmaker.
ABOUT VIANNEY HALTER:
Vianney Halter has been an independent watchmaker since 1994 and a member of the AHCI (Académie Horlogère des Créateurs Indépendents/Horological Academy of Independent Creators) since 2000. This groundbreaking horologist has often been described as a “mad scientist” due to his unusual and often theatrical timepieces that involve healthy portions of steampunk, science fiction, and complicated horology, beginning with 1998’s Antiqua Perpetual. Known in particular for his Futur Antérieur and Classic Janvier model families, since 2013 Halter has concentrated on a new style of complicated watchmaking that finds its basis in his deep love of science fiction. His current collection encompasses timepieces like the Deep Space Tourbillon, Deep Space Resonance, La Resonance, and Art Deco Metropolis models.
ABOUT MASSENA LAB:
Massena LAB, founded by William Massena, is a creative horological studio that designs, develops, and produces timepieces, often in collaboration with respected watchmakers from around the world. Massena LAB exists to be a reference point of horological culture and to play an integral part in its constant evolution, using elements of style from the past to enhance the future of watchmaking. It aims to create and nurture a community of informed watch enthusiasts with a passion for novel timepieces from independent watchmakers. The “LAB” in Massena LAB is a combination of two words: “laboratory,” for our willingness to experiment and our embrace of new ideas, and “collaboration,” for our fruitful, long-standing relationships with our partner brands. In 2024, Massena LAB was awarded the Chronograph Watch Prize at the GPHG for the Chronograph Monopoussoir Sylvain Pinaud x Massena LAB.
For further information visit massenalab.com