In the early hours of the morning, Unimatic – everybody’s favourite Italian indie watch label – quietly dropped a trio of new releases (in the guise of its best-selling Modello collection) all coalescing around a single theme – titanium.
A “natural evolution” of the experiment that Unimatic launched last year when it unveiled its collaboration with Milanese retailer Lorenzi, the latest run of special editions encompasses a diver (Ref. U1S-T-MP), military-style field watch (Ref. U2S-T-MP) and GMT (Ref. U1S-TGMT)
Word to the wise: as predicted, the latter travel watch sold out almost instantaneously; but stock remains for the U1S-T-MP and U2S-T-MP releases. In any event, all are worthy of a brief discussion – particularly in light of their status as two of the only four titanium watches that Unimatic has offered to date.
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Let’s start with the pieces you can still get your hands on: the Modello Uno U1S-T-MP, and Modello Due U2S-T-MP. Both share many of the same stylistic traits for this release, including the ‘Night Blue’ dial treatment; domed sapphire crystals; general blue-over-warm grey colour scheme; and cases forged out of sandblasted Grade II titanium.
The use of this performance material has resulted in these Modello models becoming almost 45 percent lighter than their steel counterparts, with a weight of 62g and 59g respectively.
In either case, the proverbial powertrain is the Sellita SW200-1 – with the diver-style U1S-T-MP incorporating an additional layer of complication for the date wheel. Analogous to the ubiquitous ETA 2824, this Swiss-made calibre provides wearers with around 38 hours of reserve power: a serviceable enough capacity if you spend 90 percent of the week with one of these Modellos on-wrist.
The movement inside the U1S-TGMT might well explain why it pulled ahead of its two blue-dialed siblings in the popularity stakes. Touted by Unimatic itself as the “pinnacle” of the Modello Uno range, this GMT is powered by ETA’s 2893 ébauche. Part of the Swiss movement giant’s ‘Elabore’ range, the 2893 is adjusted for accuracy in three variable positions, providing (for those who care about such things) an accuracy rate of +/- 7 seconds per day.
To be clear, that doesn’t put the U1S-TGMT’s technical performance on par with that of a timepiece with COSC certification, but it’s an assured step up in quality for one of the most compelling brands in the affordable watchmaking segment – perhaps even, a portent of things to come.
