Marcus Hanke
[PuristSPro Moderator]
11515
Gone, but not forgotten - Union Glashütte Flieger
Since GO's small sister, subsidary or whatever you want to call it, the brand Union Glashütte discontinued to use own movements a year ago, it also ceased to be discussed here, and - now equipped with ETA movements - has found a new and more appropriate discussion place at HoMe.
However, I managed to find one of the "real Unions" at a local dealer a short while ago, and decided to pull the trigger. So please permit me to show you a remnant from a more glorious past not too long ago, the Union Flieger with panorama date. Sized at about 40mm, it is rather small nowadays, but I think it shows perfect proportions:
The unique panorama date was offered in the Union line for only a short time. Unlike the GO watches, which had the date window at 4, Union located it under the dial center - a position that more recently has been adopted by various new GO designs.
The casework has straighter edges and angles as the GO Senators, but shows a similarly complex interaction of polished and brushed surfaces.
The satinized bracelet is well made. Compared with today's standards, it is a bit thin, but matches the decent dimensions of the watch case. Also, the double folding clasp is missing release pushers.
The sapphire displayback shows the nicely finished Union cal. 26. This is a simpler version of the well-known GO cal. 39, or better, an improved version of the older cal. 10-30, the cal. 39's immediate predecessor. The most apparent difference with the GO movement is the lack of a swan neck regulator, and the simpler balance wheel without adjustment screws. Less apparent, but more important regarding production costs, is the different finish: Union movements got their decoration entirely by a machine, which treated some six or eight bridges at the same time. On the GO movements, only the stripes on the skeletonized rotors are applied by machines (would not be possible to make straight lines by hand there), while all cocks and bridges are polished, decorated and beveled by hand.
Hope you liked this small reminder!
Regards,
Marcus
Regards,
Marcus
Gone, but not forgotten - Union Glashütte Flieger
Since GO's small sister, subsidary or whatever you want to call it, the brand Union Glashütte discontinued to use own movements a year ago, it also ceased to be discussed here, and - now equipped with ETA movements - has found a new and more appropriate d...
beautiful watch...
only thing is that IMO it would look better with a gator strap I hope that you enjoy it cheers
Nice Pilot. Sad that they decided to put ETA movements instead of these
Lovely U.G movements. All an era. Thanks for the reminder. Nicolas This message has been edited by amanico on 2009-05-13 21:14:23
I agree with you...
and it is equally sad that IWC uses ETA in some of their watches. I was thinking about the ST Ex watch but was put off because of the ETA movement cheers
Even sadder is the fact
that UNION together with the GO movements seem to have sacked their designers also. The current models - at least to me - lack proper design ideas and inspiration. There is a hard to define line between boring and balanced design as well as between exagge...
Here are the 2009 Union watchs, just to show ...
... what we are talking about. Since they are not distributed outside Germany and Austria, it will be difficult to see one in the other parts of the world. I have to admit that I do not dislike them entirely, or at least some of them. Yet they are but a n...
I love the clean dial on this watch!
What great legibility and elegant styling on display here! The movement is quite attractive as well. My favorite design element on this watch? The crown. It's solid-looking and has a great knurled pattern to it. Congrats, Marcus, on grabbing this future c...
Absolutely, Marcus! Although I've never seen a Union here . . .
. . . as they were never distributed in America, G O did bring in the Autodate line which used similar hands and were priced below comparable Senator models; I don't believe any of them employed the central PanoDate aperture, though. Btw, thanks for posti...
always a pleasure Marcus
too bad the brand was very difficult to find outside Germany...
I got an education reading your post and
looking at the photos your Union.. Approximately when do you think this watch would have been made? Thank you Marcus. David
Well, Union discontinued the panorama date in 2004 ...
... so my watch must have been produced before, but not earlier than 2001/02, because then, Union only had the standard date windows. Regards, Marcus
Wonderfull watch!
Hi Markus, I was so pleased to discover your post few hours ago while by coincidence I was showing the purists website to a colleague. And I was doubled pleased because I was wearing my flieger today! This is a fantastic watch and I know that I will never...
beautiful watch...
is it new (with an ETA based movement) or an older version with in-house movement? cheers This message has been edited by PinkPanther on 2009-05-20 16:22:21
