The Breitling Watch Blog

Neuhaus has released a new watch, the Janus Minimal Limited Edition. A very cool Unitas-based piece that is limited to 99 pieces, and minimalist in design. Sounds like the case is the same as the Janus Doublespeed, which is a 44mm Stainless Steel case, Water resistant to 50m, 10.7mm thick, with a 24mm Lug spacing. Neuhaus watches are hand assembled in Germany.

http://www.neuhaustimepieces.wordpress.com/

Union Glashutte – one of the better German watchmakers along with its sister company, Glashute Original. While not in the same league as A. Lange, Union Glasshute used to do some good stuff, before the company was recently repositioned to have all ETA-based movements, dropping the in-house Glashutte Original movements. This Tradition Automatic Chronograph here is one of the older breed of Union Glashutte watch, and is a great, all-German, no-frills chronograph.

Here’s a beautiful head-shot of this rare breed of German Chronograph, with its tritium coated hands and indexes, all on a equisitely understated matte black dial. The subdial layout is a tri-compax, with the running seconds at 3 o’clock hour totalizer at 6 and minutes at 9 o’clock.

You can just catch the edge of the bezel which is knurled, just like the surrounds for the pushers. The crystal is sapphire, which is always great, especially on older watches like this one – probably from the late 90’s. The case shape is a good usable 39mm, which is more than enough for many, but far too little for some of the trendier folk. I personally find it just big enough, but I could do with 2-3 extra millimeters.

The bracelet is superb, and screwed together, which was also a rarity back in the 90’s. This is a really well made timepiece! Clasp is a non-locking double butterfly style, with friction locks and a deep engraved Union Glashutte logo.

Last but not least, the movement. This Tradition Chrono features the 48 Jewel, Union caliber 26-31. This is a less decorated version of the Glasshute Original Caliber 39, and lacks many of the refinements such as the extensive decoration and swan neck regulator. The rotor has some nice Geneva striping, but the bridges are quite bare. However, its still a very unique and reliable movement that gives it that extra bit of personality over many other Valjoux pieces these days.

Sorry for the lack of a wrist shot, but I forgot to take one and I ended up selling this watch already! I really enjoyed my time with it and I urge anyone that is interested in this kind of timepiece to get one because its a very cool watch, and with all the current Union watches going to ETA-only, these will be rare.

I was browsing around on a British Watch forum, and stumbled onto this brand called Pacardt. The cases were really cool, reminding me of Kobold and and another German Boutique brand – UTS, both of which have caught my eye at one time or another. Pacardt leans towards the chunky side, but maybe not quite as chunky as UTS. The watches have a minimalist style, with a less-is-more approach to dial design.

Currently all their watches appear to use what they call the 1T case style and come in PVD as well as plain Stainless Steel. They have an impressive 1000m water resistance, with the help of a 5mm sapphire crystal. Price is €440-750, which is pretty reasonable. Interestingly, right now I can’t tell where you can buy these aside from eBay.

Case diameter: 45.5 mm
Case thickness: 15.5 mm
Case material: stainless steel
Case back: screwed
Crown: screw-down
Bezel: unidirectional rotatable, 120 clicks
Movement: automatic, ETA2824-2 Swiss Made
Water resistant: 1000 m
Date: yes
Crystal: Sapphire crystal, 5 mm, screwed with case
Luminous hour markers: Super-LumiNova Grade A
Luminous hands: Super-LumiNova Grade A
Bracelet: silicone strap
Lug width: 24 mm, screwed
Buckle: Pin buckle, screwed

Website: http://www.pacardt.com/

Just returned from Vacation, and its time to update the blog. Just came across a newish German watch company and they looked pretty interesting to me so I figured I would give them a mention on here. I’ve owned some Glashutte Original and recently picked up a Union Glashutte from when they still used GO movements and so I’m still quite a fan of the German watch companies.

Neuhaus Inventing Timepieces has been around since 2010 it appears, but I have not heard about them until now. They only have one model, the JANUS DoubleSpeed, which they claim to be the most accurate one-hand watch in the world. The watch is based on the ETA Unitas 6498 movement, and features a double-speed single hour hand, which makes it easier to tell the minutes. The drawback to this is that if the hour hand is at 3, it could be 9 – its up to you to know the difference.

Neat watch, with a well thought out design and details. Hopefully we will see more from Neuhaus. See the video below or visit their website here: http://www.neuhaus.com/

Most watch aficionados have heard of UTS Watches, and have seen them pop up now and then in discussion forums and sale forums. What many may not know is that every watch is hand machined and fabricated by Nicolaus Spinner in Germany, one of the Principals of UTS Watches. Along with Stephen Newman, the President and CEO who is based in California, USA, the team fabricates entirely in Germany and is able to market and sell their watches in the USA. They are celebrating 12 years in the business!

The company is primarily famous for their 1000M, 2000M and 3000M Divers, which all use progressively more advanced machining processes and features to allow the depth rating to increase. The 3000M Diver in particular uses a ceramic ball-bearing bezel system with a unique locking system invented by Spinner.

If you’ve never handled UTS watch cases in person, then you should know that they are some of the most well-made cases in the industry with incredible attention to detail and precision fit and finish.

I am planning to add the UTS 1000m v2 GMT as pictured above to my collection sometime, but as with most of these specialty brands, resale is often difficult so may hold off until I can find a good deal on a used one.