We consider the dynamics of a measured SYK model. The latter can be viewed as a universal many-body Hamiltonian for mesoscopic sized quantum systems. Focusing on the observable of state purification, we analytically describe the limits of strong and weak measurement rate, where in the latter case monitoring up to time scales exponentially long in the numbers of particles is required. We complement the analysis of the limiting regimes with the construction of an effective replica theory providing information on the stability and the symmetries of the respective phases. The analytical results are tested by comparison to exact numerical simulations.