By Jovan Krstevski
Barcelona, Spain, a city full of tourists, word class football (soccer), great weather, tasteful food, good nightlife and so on. In this beautiful city we can also find the small pretty unknown watch brand called Unity Watches. Compared to other micro brands they have a pretty low profile and most of their activity is conducted on different watch forums.
It is clear from our discussions with the CEO & owner Eduardo Peres that he would love to significantly increase their visibility within the industry. Over the recent years they have created some interesting models using a range of different materials. Their main thing is that the customers can customize their own watches. They currently offer two case models, “Strong” and “Soft”. These are the two case models they offer the customers to customize their own watch. Both models share a common distinctive design element with their side “staples”. The main difference lies in their diameter: 44 mm for the “Strong” model and 42 mm for the “Soft”.
Both models are available in 316L stainless steel with polished, brushed or DLC black finishes – or bronze for the Jules Verne series – and titanium that was launched just a few weeks ago.
In Januari this year, Unity Watches presented their Jules Verne Limited Edition Bronze model, which gives you the retro and vintage impression.
The case measures a 44 mm, which makes it perfect on your wrist. Primarily this is down to the stylish case design and choice of materials in production. The case is mechanized from solid marine bronze with an old handmade finish which exudes vintage feeling. This combination also makes the timepiece a highweight, but is on the same time very comfortable to wear. Aesthetically the design of the Jules Verne is mind blowing. The old handmade finish of the solid Bronze case perfectly compliments the “staples” and the lugs. I love how the design of the oversized “staples” and lugs “melts” with eachother.
This gives the watch a superb quality and distinguishes it from other watches available on the market. Additional elements include, polished crown and the allen screws in rhodium. The screwed-down crown is not protected by a crownguard, but I find the staples doing that job instead. Overall the chunky appearance of the watch is very attractive and unique. The stainless steel case back is also treated with old handmade finish. The case is also water-resistant to 100 m.
Inside the bold exterior of the watch you can find the Swiss Made workhorse ETA 2824-2. This automatic mechanical movement comprises 25 jewels and oscillates at a frequency of 28,800 vibrations per hour. I own several watches with this caliber and found them to be very reliable in general. Functionally the timepiece feature’s hours, minutes, seconds and date facility. As seen in the pictures the movement can be seen through the transparent caseback.
I must say that they made a good decision when Unity chose this movement, they might as well have chosen cheaper movements from Miyota. The goldish tone, of the movement goes very well together with the bronze case.
The dial comes in two levels, of navy blue colour and with sunray finish. The choice of the colour and the finish is a perfect match for all the dominant bronze of the case. It’s a very simple and purposeful design with a clean layout and font. Unity Watch has added a domed convex sapphire crystal with antiglare finish to protect the lovely blue dial.
The main index consists of rectangular markers and numeral for just 12′ o clock in a white coloured lume that looks great with the bronze case and blue dial. This layout, as well as the font used, is very interesting choice, though they used a 12 numeral instead of a marker. On the outer edge of the dial, there is a minutes index with small lines, which terminates the dial well. At 3′ o clock you will find your standard date window, which presents a black on white date. Unnecessary, though not unwelcome, the date window throws the symmetry a bit, but the dial is so large that it seems insignificant. The text on the dial is prominent, but not distracting. Just below 12′ o clock there is a Unity Watch logo. Just above 6 is a small block of text that says: “UNITY Automatic”.
The watch comes on a brown 22 mm Eichmüller leather strap with a pre-v buckle. The leather strap on the watch is made of hard, moderate quality leather that is very comfortable too wear. The strap is thick, which results in a good weight to counterbalance the watch head. The wannabe Panarai pre-v buckle, seems to be a classic choice for some of the micro brands out there.
I don’t think the leather strap is ideal for the watch, given that the Jules Verne is something of a sporty watch. The strap is rugged on both size with no taper. I have not had a chance to try the watch with accompanying Nato straps. I have seen the watch on the Nato straps, and I must say it looks as the Jules Verne LE feels more at home with these straps. Unfortunately the strap seems to be too small for my wrist. This is something all watch brands maybe have to consider in the future when designing the straps, for big wrists.
The Unity Watches Jules Verne is the way to go for anyone looking for a reasonably sized bronze watch that is unique, well made, and inexpensive. I absolutely love this watch and feel it is clearly designed to make a bold statement. I would recommend it to anyone who wants a real value-for-money workhorse. Limited to only 30 pieces worldwide. The only thing missing in their collection, is an automatic chronograph and maybe an automatic with a small second. I hope that we could see it happen!
Price: 850€
For more information: unitywatches.com
Gallery
Jovan Krstevski – Founder, Proprietor & Executive Editor
Watch collector, aficionado and a Event profile in the Swedish nightlife. He launched Watchgeek back in 2011, which is now known as WristReview. He quotes ’WristReview is a site to help people find, explore, discover and enjoy wristwatches.’ His passion jump started in his early teens, when he was given his first mid-range wristwatch which was an Omega Seamaster. Since then he has always been in love with wristwatches!
Advertisement
