In the current bleak climate of the watch world, with almost every news story full of doom and gloom, there glows a bright spot — that of the so-called “micro” or “boutique” brands that have come of age in the past decade. These small, often one-person companies have taken advantage of the increasingly egalitarian playing field of internet watch forums, crowdfunding, and contract manufacturing that has emerged to challenge huge marketing budgets and giant workshops full of watchmakers. Of course, among these, quality is hit or miss, many designs are downright derivative, and a lot of these small marques have folded as quickly as they appeared. But to the die-hard watch enthusiast crowd, some have offered fresh alternatives to the big brands and affordable watches that, when done well, remind us that sometimes strapping on a watch can be just plain fun instead of a statement or an investment. Unimatic and its Modello Uno (U1-B) are a perfect example.
Unimatic isn’t just a small brand, it’s in fact one of the smallest. The Italy-based company produces extremely limited series of sports watches and is the brainchild of two industrial designers, Giovanni Moro and Simone Nunziato. Though they’ve only been in business for since 2015, the pair have managed to create a buzz not only because of their watches’ ultra-minimalist aesthetics, but also because of (or despite) their minimalist approach to marketing them. Their current offerings only include two families of timepieces – the simply named Modello Uno, a dive watch, and Modello Due, a field watch. I recently had the chance to take the Modello Uno U1-B dive watch for a week of tropical underwater exploration and found it to be immensely satisfying.
There is a well known aphorism that says that design perfection is achieved “not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” The Modello Uno U1-B, Unimatic’s second dive watch effort, is a case in point, immediately striking because of its stark restraint. Students of dive watch history will recognize cues from a couple of famous divers – the virtually naked bezel with its slim coin edge and single luminous descent marker conjures the Squale-made “Bund” Blancpain Fifty Fathoms of the 1970s, and the dial and ladder hands remind one of the “Type 1” watch Benrus built for U.S. Special Forces divers during the 1970s. There’s even a bit of Submariner in there, with the gold-tinted minute track and dial printing. All of these traits avoid homage territory, due to the way they’re well-merged and then situated in an angular, modern case that would have made a 1980s IWC designer proud.
Powering the Modello Uno is a Seiko NH35A automatic movement that hacks and is wound by hand, a subtle clue to which (whether intentional or not) is the needle-like sweep seconds hand that has the luminous flag as a counterweight like so many Seiko divers. Among the micro brands, the great majority turn to Japan for movements, from both Miyota (Citizen) and Seiko, thanks to their value proposition, quality, and the upheaval in the third-party Swiss movement market. The NH35A is a fine movement for the Modello Uno, a nice step up from the lower end Seiko “shake-and-bake” calibers and no one will argue with putting a Seiko automatic in a dive watch. Unimatic chose to eliminate the date function, likely an aesthetic choice, and it is perfectly in keeping with the watch’s overall minimalism.
On the dial side, the use of tan luminescent paint for the markers will draw both cheers and jeers. Some find this color, pejoratively termed “faux patina,” gimmicky and overdone, while others, myself included, see it as merely an attractive alternative to bright white markers. The fact is, many like the rich gold color seen on vintage watches not because it signifies age but for aesthetic reasons, so why not use it on modern watches?
The Modello Uno’s dial text sits in the bottom third of the dial, an unexpected jolt for those accustomed to tomes of verbiage on both top and bottom. It lends the watch an almost sterile appearance, which is accentuated by the “gilt” text color that almost disappears into the matte black dial. Below the name “UNIMATIC” (an almost anonymous name) is even smaller text that reads “Made in Italy” as well as the 300-meter depth rating. I personally could have done without the rather dubious origin statement (since the watch uses largely Asian-sourced components) but it is written so small that it almost requires a loupe to read, and so remains unobtrusive.
At the Modello Uno’s €450 price point (approximately $ 480 at time of publishing), one expects corners to be cut – scratchy crown threading, loose and noisy bezel – but honestly, I could find none. Sure, the steel case finishing lacks beautiful brush-work or polished bevels, but this is a stripped-down dive watch after all. Where it matters, the build is high quality. The most prominent feature, the 41.5-millimeter bezel, is slightly wider than the case, making it very easy to grip. The crown is nestled flush between the crown guards, slightly difficult to grab, but without a date and with automatic winding there should be no need to fiddle with it once it’s set, assuming its owner wears it regularly. And this is a watch that inspires wearing a lot.
When one thinks of the perfect vacation watch, certain criteria come to mind: something nondescript enough so as not to inspire a mugging, relative affordability should it get lost or damaged, a few fathoms of water resistance, and versatile looks that can go from the beach to the buffet line. In other words, a Seiko dive watch. But the Unimatic provides an attractive alternative, which is why I packed it along for a week of diving in the Dutch Caribbean.
The watch came mounted on a black nylon strap but I swapped it to a grey NATO, which fit well with the sterile military look, dried quickly, and offered assurance in the event of a springbar failure. Other than for photography, the Unimatic never came off my wrist, through 16 dives, ocean swims, and showers, in addition to numerous knocks and bashes while slinging tanks and dive gear around. The case size and weight are near perfect, wearing much like a Submariner or older Seamaster. Since I was on island time, the Seiko movement kept more than acceptable time, easily tracking hour-long dives and never making me too late (or too early) to dinner.
When most people see this watch, the first thing they ask is, “what good is that bezel for diving?” My flippant reply is, “it was good enough for the German Navy” (remember the Blancpain “Bund” Fifty Fathoms cited above), but the fact is, for sport diving, it truly is adequate. All that is needed on a wrist bottom timer for no-decompression diving is a minute hand and a descent marker. Align the bezel pip with the minute hand upon descent and the elapsed time is easy to read off using the dial in relation to when you started your dive. The same holds true for timing steaks, boiling eggs, and parking meters topside. During my week diving with it, I used the bezel as a navigation aid, timing swim distances, as well as for tracking my surface intervals between dives. Besides its usefulness, the matte black bezel ring, surrounded by the slivers of matte steel, is bewitching to look at from any angle.
From that bezel, to the angles and near-perfect proportions of the case, to the clever case-back engraving that incorporates a conversion table for units of measure, it’s clear that the Modello Uno is a watch that was sprung from the minds of designers. There is a maturity to its aesthetics and an overall coherence that drew the attention and interest of even seasoned collectors of watches worth thousands more. So despite the fact that this particular reference, the Modello Uno U1-B, is currently nearly sold out of its 200-piece run, no doubt we can look forward to future attractive offerings from Unimatic.
More information about the Modello Uno, and Unimatic, can be found on the brand’s (minimalist) website.
Photos: Gishani Ratnayake
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