This is the Unimatic UT1-GMT, it’s a tool watch from the highly-regarded Italian microbrand that comes at a price point likely to make it affordable for the vast majority of people – just €525 or $580 USD.
All Unimatic watches are designed and handmade in Italy, the company has become well-known around the world both for their minimalist tool watch designs, and their typically affordable MSRPs. Despite the lower cost, these watches are made to a high standard, and they’re well-suited to being daily worn.
The Unimatic UT1-GMT has an in-house designed 360° protection system, and it’s tested to withstand the MIL-STD-810H standard
Unimatic: A History Speedrun
Unimatic is an Italian watch brand that was founded in 2015 by Giovanni Moro and Simone Nunziato, two industrial designers who met while studying at Politecnico di Milano. Their passion for vintage watches and minimalist design led them to form Unimatic, to develop a series of limited edition tool watches with a very specific aesthetic.
The brand’s inaugural model, the Modello Uno, was a dive watch that would come to form the foundation of Unimatic’s design ethos: clean lines, functional aesthetics, and a focus on durability. Drawing inspiration from classic dive watches of the 1950s and 1960s, the Modello Uno featured a 40mm stainless steel case, a minimalist dial, and it was powered by Seiko’s NH35A automatic movement.
Its limited production run of 300 units quickly sold out, and they remain highly collectible today.
Building on the success of the Modello Uno, Unimatic expanded its lineup to include the Modello Due, a field watch, and the Modello Tre, the brand’s first chronograph, which maintained the minimalist aesthetic while incorporating chronograph functionality.
Each model that has followed the original has stayed true to Unimatic’s commitment to building high-quality, Italian-made watches with a distinct design language at a price most people can actually afford. The company has now produced am array of models, mostly limited edition, but they do now also offer a “permanent edition” series that will remain in production indefinitely.
The Unimatic UT1-GMT Tool Watch
The Unimatic UT1-GMT tool watch is one of the newer members of the permanent edition line, each is made in Italy, and has the classic design cues we’ve come to expect from the brand.
This watch has an in-house designed 360° protection system, and it’s tested to withstand the MIL-STD-810H standard. It’s water resistant to 300 meters (~1,000 feet), a countdown bezel, Super-LumiNova® C1 lume on the markers and hands, and a black nylon keeper two-piece strap with stainless steel sandblasted hardware.
The movement is the quartz Swiss made Ronda 515.24D, with date and GMT functionality, fitted inside a TPU anti-shock system. That GMT function means the watch has four hands and displays two timezones at once.
It does this, in this instance, by having the fourth hand pointing at the 12 o’clock window which displays the second timezone time in a 24 hour format. When it says 16, for example, this means it’s 4 pm in your second timezone.
Super-LumiNova® C1 lume on the markers and hands, offering excellent nighttime and low-light visibility.
The watch has a 316 stainless steel case with a sandblasted finish, a matte black dial with printed Arabic numerals, a sapphire crystal, and it comes with a Unimatic tough pouch, and a warranty card with a unique ID seal – the warranty is for 24 months.
The Unimatic UT1-GMT can now be bought directly from the company’s online store here, it retails for €525 or $580 USD and they ship worldwide.
Images courtesy of Unimatic
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