Unimatic Celebrates The Style Of The Great Dive Watches Of The Past With The New Modello Uno U1S-ET
You guys know by now that I am a fan of Unimatic. I won’t lie, I love the design signature of the Milan-based brand a lot. With their minimalist design approach, Unimatic founders Simone Nunziato and Giovanni Moro have found the magic canvas for their timepieces. The style they developed is modern, minimalist, and easy to recognize overall. But the next layer is that the style combines very well with different influences without ever losing its recognizable character. Further proof of that comes once more in the form of the brilliant new Unimatic Modello Uno U1S-ET.
Loving a design signature is a strange phenomenon. When it comes to Unimatic, I don’t love all of the brand’s releases, but the chance that I’ll like one of the brand’s new designs is very high. This is the effect of the modern, minimalist style that Simone Nunziato and Giovanni Moro created for their timepieces. While a minimalist approach might sound like a limiting factor, the opposite is true. It turned out to be a canvas of great exploration for the two founders. The style they created offers a versatile platform for the integration of many design styles and influences. And at the same time, the timepieces never lose their characteristic presence.
The new Unimatic Modello Uno U1S-ET is a collaborative timepiece
I greatly appreciate the canvas that the two men behind Unimatic created, but the mindset that inspired it is even more admirable. Seeing all the different designs made over time proves that their idea and the mentality that comes with it works. And that is why I have such great respect for the Unimatic brand. It has led to a great number of releases that I love. There are way more models that I would love to own than I could ever chase, and that doesn’t often happen with a watch brand.
The latest addition to the long lineup of great Unimatic Modello Uno pieces is the new Modello Uno U1S-ET. The watch was developed with Exquisite Timepieces, a retail destination located in the beautiful bay of Naples, Florida. As this collaborative timepiece is a limited edition, only 100 pieces will be made available. The idea behind the watch is simple but highly effective. It pays homage to the great sports watches of the 1970s, and more specifically, the dive watches of the era. And you need only one element to make that apparent — an orange minute hand.
A look inspired by the great dive watches from the 1970s
This one characteristic immediately conjures up images of the famous Omega Seamaster Professional Ploprof and Mini Ploprof from the 1970s. But there is obviously a wide variety of dive watches from that era that featured an orange hand. Doxa and Squale are two more brands known to have used orange minute hands for their classic timepieces. And we have seen that many brands in recent times have taken inspiration from the classic combination of black and orange, as Thomas Stover explained in this article. With the new Modello Uno U1S-ET, Unimatic does the same thing. But as you would expect, the brand does it in its own characteristic way.
The watch is water resistant to 300 meters and features the familiar 40mm stainless steel case with a slightly bigger 41.5mm bezel. The case gets a black DLC coating with a brushed finish for this new piece. It creates a rather muted appearance that contrasts with the bright orange parts. The black DLC bezel has a black aluminum insert with the diving scale engraved. As you can see, the lume pip at 12 o’clock is also bright orange to correspond with the orange minute hand.
The contrast of black and orange is visible anytime, day or night
The matte black dial features instantly recognizable oversized white hour markers that are treated with white Super-LumiNova C1. The same white lume that lights up green in the dark is also used for the hour hand. For the lume pip and minute hand, Unimatic chose to use orange Super-LumiNova C1 to keep the same aesthetic at night as during the day. The watch comes equipped with a double-domed sapphire crystal that adds a little bit of height to the 11.6mm-thick case.
Underneath the 2mm-thick screw-down case back, Unimatic and Exquisite Timepieces decided to go for the automatic Sellita SW200-1. The Swiss movement is finding its way into an increasing number of Unimatic timepieces. It gives them an added value over the Seiko NH35 that Unimatic also uses and has used for most of its watches in the past. The automatic Swiss movement operates at 28,800vph and has a 38-hour power reserve.
Initial impressions of the Unimatic Modello Uno U1S-ET
To finish off the look, the watch comes with a black nylon NATO strap as well as an orange nylon NATO strap. Both straps feature a black buckle and keepers to match the black case. Each of the 100 pieces will feature both an individual number and a conversion scale engraved in the case back. All 100 pieces are available exclusively through the website of Exquisite Timepieces as of right now for US$1,150 (approximately €1,075 at the time of publishing). As I’m sure you’ll understand, if you want one of these timepieces, you had better move quickly.
The limited production number in combination with the stylish looks makes for another great Modello Uno. The integration of the orange hand is a simple touch, but if you know anything about the history of sports watches and dive watches of the 1970s in particular, this watch will bring great timepieces to mind. It tells a great design story that works very well with the Unimatic design language. The result is another Modello Uno that simply looks stunning and one that I would love to own. I guess it’s time for me to start a Unimatic collection…
Let us know what you think of the Unimatic Modello Uno U1S-ET in the comments!
