belisar

Union Glashutte Belisar Big Date Carbon Fiber Dial Watch

You'd think with a design this slick Union Glashutte could have named the watch something a bit more elegant. It scares me to think how long it will take to pronounce the title when it is translated into German. Too bad Swatch Group owners Union Glashutte is hard or impossible to find in the US. If so, then this Big Date with Carbon Fiber Dial version of their Belisar would be a sporty and appealing piece.

At 41mm wide the case is in steel (water resistant to 100 meters), with PVD coated black side panels and a sporty perforated leather strap (that is well-integrated into the case design). The dial is easy to read with applied hour markers and well-sized hands. They are also coated with SuperLumiNova under the AR coated sapphire crystal. Inside the watch is an ETA 2896 big date automatic movement - which is thin and has a great layout. I just am really impressed by the no-BS good looking design that isn't boring, but it still easy to live with. Price is set to be 1,950 euros. Look for this Union Glashutte watch soon.

Ariel Adams publishes the wrist watch reviews site aBlogtoRead.com.

Tags: belisar, carbon fiber, Union Glashutte, watch, watches

Union Glasshute Belisar GMT Watch

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

New for 2010 is this good looking timepiece from Union Glashutte - a Swatch Group brand. Seeing stuff like this, especially at a price level of under $2,500, makes me wonder why stuff like it isn't available in the US (actually, it is available - just not widely available). Cause as far as I know Union Glasshute has no serious distribution stateside. Go to Europe though, and you see the brand almost as often as Tissot (well, almost as often).

The Belisar GMT watch looks exactly as I would imagine a timepiece would look like if a Chopard Mille Miglia and a Bell & Ross BR01GMT got together and had a kid. The resemblance to each of the parents would be uncanny! The watch is in steel and 41mm wide that wears big due to the relatively thin bezel. The slanted flange ring has the 24 hour scale for the bold GMT arrow hand. The watch dial itself has Bell & Ross style Arabic hour numerals with Chopard style hour markers. See that? The polished steel dial gives off a nice silvery sheen, but the black and white hands are still easy to read. Good use of a centrally aligned date window as well. The watch is also available with a few other dial colors as well, and it is matched to an alligator strap with a folding deployment clasp.

Inside is a Swiss ETA 2893-2 automatic GMT movement that is visible through a sapphire caseback window. The watch is very handsome, just short of being sexy. Probably makes for a really good father's day gift. Price is 2,250 Swiss Francs and should be available soon.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com

Tags: belisar, GMT, Union Glashutte, Watch