union glashutte

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 Glashutte Sera Watch

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

While this watch may look like a man's watch, it is... well sometimes a man's watch. Union Glashutte creates a "boyfriend watch" in a woman's size. But a man who likes more "classically sized" watches will wear this new Sera timepieces from Union Glashutte as well. With its 36mm wide case, the timepiece is sized under what most men's watch are today, and about what most women's watches are sized at. UG calls it a business watch - implying that it is meant to be slim and demure. That may be, but the aggressive hands and hour markers remind me of Ball watches, and they aren't exactly the opposite of bold. This watch does have legibility going for it, and the steel case with is sapphire crystal and Swiss ETA 2892 automatic movement are plus factors as well. The watch is available in a few dial colors (silver, black, silver with gold toned hour makers and hands), and is also available on a metal bracelet in addition to the leather strap. Ladies (and gentlemen) interested in this piece can expect to pay about 1,350 euros, when it is available soon.

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

Tags: Sera, Union Glashutte, watch

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

Union Glashutte Averin Chronograph Watch

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

I was stunned to see this interesting watch from German Union Glashutte. I've always liked the brand's classic watches with a bit of a functional edge, but I was not expecting something as creative as this. Aside from the cool design, I am impressed by the unique way that Union Glashutte laid out the information for the Valjoux 7751 automatic mechanical movement. The 7751 as always been of the odder 7750 derivative movements because of the large amount of complications it had, and the quirky way it presented the information. Owning a watch with just such a movement I can attest that it is impressive, but not for everyone (as some of the information is small when trying to read or laid out in a complex manner). The movement includes the time, a 12 hour chronograph, an annual calendar with the day, date, and month, a moon phase indicator, and a synchronized 24 hour hand. Kind of a lot right?

The problem with the movement layout has always been symmetry as the entire right side of the dial is often left over for the brand logo or something like that. Still, most watches with the movement in this normal orientation ended up looking a bit lop sided. What Union Glashutte did is take the peripheral date dial and place it all on the right side of the watch and replaced the basic date hand with a three pointed hand that functions like the seconds sub dial on most Daniel Roth watches. Very clever and yet totally quirky in a sort of old world sense. The dial looks visually interesting with a textured black dial against silver, while most of the hour markers are visible and applied to the face.

The Averin Chronograph's case is a perfect square at 42.5mm by 42.5mm in size, and looks good in my opinion. The dial is available in the pictured two-tone or an all black or all silver tone dial. There is also a brown or black strap available. Price for this impressive number is about $4,200 and should be available now. Distribution for Union Glashutte should be wide as it is part of the Swatch Group, but still lagging in the US.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Gallery: Union Glashutte Averin Chronograph Watches