An Underrated German Brand You Don’t Know But Should

so of all the places on the planet that produce some of the best watches in the world Germany has to be at the center and the center of that is glassa and today we have a really special treat we're joined by a brand that I am investigating further I think is one that is definitely underappreciated this is Union gluta I'm here with Tobias their head of product very nice to see you teddy it's really a pleasure to meet you here in gluta and a warm welcome thank you so what I'd like to do because this is an introduction I'd really like to propose and looking at some of the key pillars of this brand before we do that though Union tell us a little bit more about the brand yeah Union is uh one of the oldest Brands here in glas founded in 1893 by Johannes durin and the Really the interesting thing is that beside uh Adolf Langer Julius asman and mor Crosman johanes Stan was another watchmaker he was a sales guy so his Focus was really more on products and design and marketing them than on the technical issues with of all the things so he started in 1874 uh with a wool sale in andron called durin and company and he was very very successful with um selling alang Ona pocket watches all over the world and uh later on um he decided that he want his own production so on the 1st January 1893 he founded Union glass hutter as one of his companies and the special thing is also within his wool sale he has different type of quality prices and technical things and so Union was for him the the top brand for his whole wool sale and in fact without or with having something special within the other glass footer uh companies he has a philosophy he want to have the same quality as the other brands but for a better price this is pretty much the same uh philosophy that we have today so we want to produce a high quality watches mostly manufactured uh here by hand by our watch makers in gluta and uh but they have to have an affordable price so good design good quality for affordable price and this is pretty much what uh johanes Stein's philosophy uh was back in the days mhm and then today your watches are being assembled here producing Your Parts many of your parts here to meet that glassa standard correct yes yes uh for all that not familiar with the glass huta standard gluta standard or this is a security uh quality logo let's say it like this it means that 51% of the value has to be created here in glass hutter but also the main production steps like producing your own components uh mounting your own movement the regulation but also the casing of the design so with the hands with the dials all way all these things have to be have to produced here in glass hood and we will see it later on I would I'm glad to show it to you uh the spe the special thing also for us here in glasswood is that only educated watch makers working on our watch uh watches so we do not have uh other yeah professionals or operators that are doing just one single step really every watch is uh produced by uh educated watch maker that was at least three years in education or watchmaking school and um everything really is mounted by hand regulated oiled so you can see it uh really like a um like 100 years ago there's not a big track and not not a big um yeah production line or line production in this kind of way really everything is uh yeah produced by hand and this is what we're very proud of because at the end of the day um the the price of the watch is really something very good and how do we manage that um and we are uh using uh ITA constructions as a base and of course producing our own components and the e movements we get only in spare parts so nothing is Premed before so everything is made by hand and so we doing a good combination between let's say the Swiss construction also with silicon hairspring a lot of power Reserve inside the latest technology from Switzerland but with the fine watchmaking here in from here in CL M and you are producing some of your own Parts here as well so like specialized components you will do that maybe some bridges and things of that sort so it's kind of a combination of things to uh to make that yes for example all the balance uh automatic Bridges the oscillating weight the rotor uh is produced here uh we also have our own movement within the 18903 line I can show it to you later on uh this is really also a design and construction you can only find within our watches but it's not so expensive like an uh in-house movement yeah so you mentioned the 1893 maybe we start there because we refer to your history so can you tell us a little bit more about this Colleen in the piece in front of us yes so 1893 also the name of the line is our founding year so we try to uh bring the pocket watch design on the wrist of the consumers so we're using for example uh this really the design coats from back in the day so animal white coated dial then we have this slightly curved case that looks like really like a pocket watch and on the front side we have this temperature blue hands but also kind of like gold and this for example is uh yeah perfect because we using a full calendar with a moon indication month indication weekday indication we have a 24-hour indication small second and of course minute and hour and uh if you have a look on the back side this is really what I mean before this is our own movement produced uh completely um here in in classo or mounted here in classo so all that the customer can see what you see right here is uh made here in house so the famous glass 3/4 plate the balance the the gears for uh the power and also of course the finish on top so we have a two tones so in Gold engraving with our logo uh we have a class with stripes on top um to show that there's also a silicon hairspring inside we use this small gold batch with SI so the chemical logo for silicon uh with the hairspring and really everything is fine finished and later on uh mounted by hand or by hand there's a regulation and so it's really a good example for glasso craftsmanship in a more classical or historical um design yeah 41 mm case uh Power Reserve is uh 65 uh hours 65 hours and is this 100 me did I see that right 100 meters of water resistance met of water resistance so even though this traditional CU this is very classic luto watch making here in terms of this approach you have this heavily lacquered dial that you know evokes this enamel type look calendar it's very sharp and you still have that upside of kind of utility with that 100 meters that's nice yes so all of the watches expect the except the sport watches do have 100 m me minimum for all your watches and uh you mentioned already the the animal coated um dial and this is also kind of like the philosophy that Johan Stein had in mind back in the days if you uh you probably know it a little bit better than me uh a um fully kind of like burn animal dial it's very very expensive and of course inside of the production there can be a lot of Damages so if you start with 300 dials only three or five or failure rate is very high yeah yes yes yes so we decided to um yeah if we want to have the animal look but not to have kind of like this expensive um dials inside of the watch because at the end the customer has to pay for it we try to uh find a solution to bring the same look and this is what we have right here the animal is as coaching technique so have uh three to four different layers of color coat then there is a clear coat on top and at the end there the the Arabic numerals printed so you have to have the or you have the feeling if you look closely with the with the lens that uh numerals are floating on top of the dial and this really brings you the animal feeling but it's not to have has to be so expensive like original animal d other model within the 1893 collection if you'd like to just quickly go through this as well yes so this is our uh 130 years uh anniversary piece uh a very nice handwinding chronograph and the design is completely uh based on a pocket watch that we found a few years ago and uh we are uh were able to um to bring it back home to Glass hitter brought it from The Collector back and so the very special thing about the pocket watch and also of course course the design that we see right here uh the pocket watch is from the late 1910s and it was a very very modern design and piece unique for a customer because normally if you see um pocket watch especially chronographs from this area they have also the animl white uh dial they have L song's gold hands so it's very very classical and this is uh yeah cool and modern look so we have a silver brushed uh dial on on front um the small second and and the minute counter with this special forms of H and also temperature BL hens on on top and uh really also that that curved uh design 41 mm is uh the the chronograph and uh yeah 65 hours of power reserve and look at this beauty so it's really something very special it's also based on an EA construction the ao5 movement and we design it that the really the lovers for chronographs really can see all the functions so if you start and stop The Pusher all the uh gears and all the levers are uh visible so you really can see how everything is working and uh really also brings you the the deepness is 3D uh look like a like a city um really to to have all this this shade inside uh that have has an an open chronograph and um yeah also right there the all the bridges are made here in house Balan is made here in the house and also of course the the whole finish uh with the glass with the stripes the golden graving palage on the balance palage on the on the gear bridge and so yeah the blue screws all the L are polished so it's very uh nice moving along to something a bit more playful so we go from very traditional to something that has more of a contemporary form and playful color palette so can you tell us more about this because this is intriguing I like also 40 mm case yes this is very sharp so very poppy so uh for unions very special that we are um a partner of a lot of Oldtimer um sport events here in in Germany but also in Austria Switzerland and for years we bring up uh new ideas and designs that came from the car perspective so the car inspiration and for this year's uh noram estate um we uh use a color chart from an German um car company and uh really brought this um original uh colors from the late 960s on the dial side so this is our enormous date uh 40 mm in in diameter with this nice extremely doomed sapphire crystal on top um and really look at the dial it's really really stunning with this Bahama yellow and uh really it's made like a car varnish so it's also again like the animal coating we have uh a lot of layers with the original um color paint then the clear coat on top then the indexes and also the details for example that the union logo is also made like a sticker on the car on the back side so you can really see like uh like Chevrolet like Audi like Mercedes it's it's printed on top um also highly polished we have this nice Chrome ring so all this details that uh reminds you on these old and and vintage uh cars uh 100 m water resistant um movement automatic movement with our own hoto with the nice uh Union engraving of course the whole movement is finished with the glass with the stripes we have silicon hairspring also again you can see it right there with the Silicon batch UH 60 hours of power Reserve so really uh if you want to wear it only only in the in the weekday uh lay it uh off on Friday Monday morning put it back on your wrist and you're fine to go so it's really the 60 uh hours of power Reserve they are really quite nice and as you know silicon hairspring antimagnetic it's really something that you have in your daily use iPhone iPad or for example you guys fly back to to the US uh tomorrow so it's uh yeah also on on an airplane on um uh the airport a lot of magnetic fields like everywhere and so the silic and hairspring is really something uh yeah very very nice and brings up the quality in a lot of ways yeah and you have how many different colors in this lineup you have about five five different colors we the uh Yellow Version we have a very nice poppy blue uh also a bright red a gray and a green tone that you're wearing exactly to your shirts it's quite quite nice matching today and uh yeah we're quite happy because this is really uh something that um makes you smile at the end of the day and uh caught your eyes on on the point of sale and this is what we want to bring to our customers a little bit like happiness smiling and uh uh also could match perfectly to a vintage car yeah yeah I love those I mean that glossy texture too for the dials really does pop with that lacquer effect so within the same collection but a dive watch here correct uh yeah it's the same yeah design DNA so we have an extremely curved dial and curved box glass on top and within this time an um turnable Bessel with the ceramic inlay 200 M water resistant uh screw down crown on this very nice Germany made textile strap and even for a sports watch uh we do have the the glass bottom on the backside so you can see our beautiful um finished movement even for the 200 M water resistant really something uh quite cool and quite special and yeah I will show you also again an very nice detail that I think it's very interesting for dge so if you look closer then the indexes but also the hands they are on one side they are polished and on the one other side they're uh with a stripe finish and this is uh not only a design thing but it also makes it very much easier if you have bright light on your watch or something low light so sometimes the polished uh side gives you a little bit light back and the mat side is also um yeah disturbing a little bit of light so it's really a very quite nice um design detail that you can see only on the on the second view yeah that's a great detail I mean you're talking about being underwater visibility is a number one concern and sometimes it's very limit limited light you don't have the opportunity to always see that super luminova maybe seeing a small little reflection when you're moving that helps with orientation and being able to see that time it's a cool little trait but also on a on a hot summer day sometimes you have to uh too much reflection it's really something hard to to read and uh this is a quite nice design detail that that makes let's say also the quality of the watch um it's sometimes the the the second view or second look that caught your eye but uh yeah the small detail that we care about in glass 42 mm case correct yes 42 and then but it wor it's a little bit smaller it does it does I tried it on my wrist and then for the colors you have multiple different colors for this model available this is more like this I don't even know it's like a blue green Sunburst yeah yeah so now I want to transition to a wash that has been catching my eye because of just its silhouette of its case but also because there's a lot going on there's multiple hands that I'm not usually used to seeing so could you tell us more about this piece on the far right yeah this is um our aarin and yeah your description is almost perfect because it's the same thing that we uh want to have when the customers see this watch on on the first side uh you probably like it or not but you have a you have your eyes on it grab your attention yes yes yes of course and aarin it's a uh 41 mm Square case and it really has a a very nice flow form so um also on the the glass side if you look closely it's really uh doomed and curved in in the right angles also the pushers is really flowing with with the case uh structure and what makes this so special it's a chronograph with full Calender and a moon phas uh so a lot of going on and we have a patented um date display so we have a um hand from the center and this hand has three different lengths short middle the length and this um yeah we show you later on on these three different levels um the date so um if you turn the around I show it to you very easy mhm so with the actually we have the uh the most length of the hand showing you the 29 31 um date and then it's jumping to the shorter one and showing you first to 10 so it's very something unusual to see and makes also the design so the whole design with this black and white and this large uh uh display for the day something very very unique and the 41 mm is actually quite varable so um the first design we had in 2008 was really something very brutal but it's also caught attention back in the days and now the aarin is yeah one of our top sellers and uh yeah it's really something uh yeah very special and we only have U kind of like this color combination with the black white and red you can also find the red on the uh reversed um build uh strap on side of course we have the glass bottom with the um chronograph inside uh silicon hasir spring 65 hours and of course also 100 m water resistant yeah ni even this sometimes for the construction quite hard with the with the squared gaskets so um but yeah it's really really something very stunning and quite unique for for Union yeah it's very cool and I also like the tie in with the moon phase then you have your Am Pm type of indicator youit the uh register at that 9:00 with the kind of St night and the white for the daytime it's cool well done yeah it seems like another aspect of your history you've been playing on we've been talking about throughout this process here is Automotive right a lot of inspiration from that whole realm so we have one final chronograph here very much looking like as if it's racing inspired yes of course it's uh yeah the racing inspiration from the' 60s actually the Bazar chonograph also one of our top sellers since yeah almost more than a decade um and also quite here this on the the details that makes the watch so stunning so in fact with the let's say very familiar other uh watches that are playing with this kind of like um yeah color combination we are using only two of the totalizators are colored not all of the three and where it's always like kind of like to bring the focus when you're driving the car bring the focus on what you want to have do you want to see first the the really the the day daily daytime then you have of course the focus on the black uh indication on on the dial for the small second hours and minutes and if you really like racing your old vintage car or racing around then you want to have the focus on the chronograph so that's why all the uh displays for the chronograph they have the different color for example outside the T U we have the indication and the hour indication uh also with this quite nice red so the the cred second hand has the red tip on on the front and also the minute counter and the hour counter and um yeah packed really in a in a vintage design so we're using this Art Deco uh print and uh I love I love the typography there I mean like the eight to me like you a small little circle clean but also yeah caught caught your eye in a kind of way and again it's also the the quite nice detail so we have a slightly uh doomed glass on the front and look at the pushers this is really kind of like a really cool detail that I think uh the start stop Pusher had this kind of like onof it's a power symbol yeah quite we have uh the Union Crown with the U and the reset of course also with the reset um for bellaza it's very special this is a design detail that we used since 2008 as well we have this screw down flanks so it's it's really not only a decorative thing so if you have a like canal a um Custom Service issue so you maybe drop the watch or yeah something else you can easily only uh change the flanks and do not have to change the whole case so it's kind of like the germ thing design needs function function needs design and also on the other side so all the B Bellazon models uh do have this uh flanks uh screwed down sometimes also with DLC coating or in 18 karat gold on other models and um yeah so something very uh Biza things of course also glass bottom we have all the straps that you can see right here also manufactured in Germany so also can see and feel the the really the um the quality and uh yeah the B models we have yeah different um special editions as well on this uh sometimes a little bit louder uh for example last year we have this bright yellow to Silver version a blue version and so on so we are really playing around uh with this model uh a lot lot in the last years and it makes especially for me as a as a designer a lot of fun to play with it yeah kind of like our main main watch to beas thank you very much for this walkthrough today I mean for myself it's always fun to inspect something that's a bit new because I'm in this industry every single day you see a lot of the same old same old when it comes to watches so to see a brand that has been doing things for a long time but still producing watches that to me are yet to be discovered by so many is exciting and uh really appreciate the time today yeah Teddy was a huge pleasure to have you here and going through the The Collection or at least a few of them thank you so much thanks

Channel: Teddy Baldassarre

Views: 68,001

Keywords: Teddy Baldassarre, teddy, Baldassarre, union, Glashutte, Union Glashutte, Union Glashutte watches, everyday watch, dive watch, sports watch, chronograph, dress watch, German watch, German made watches, automatic German watches, manufactured in germany, German watch company, underrated brand, best German watch brands, manufacturer visit, hidden gem watchmaker, in house manufacturer, German watch manufacturer, lesser known German brand, German watch design, sport watches

Id: 8hXr49evhjA

Length: 23min 7sec (1387 seconds)

Published: Tue May 21 2024