Although it might look a bit small and thin for this watch (as you can see above, the watch is THICK. The satin brush finish seems to be in different directions per part of the watch, showing the level of detail U-Boat puts into these watches.Īnother aspect of the watch I need to mention here is the strap. It also shows the finish on the bezel, tubes, mid-case and lugs. The photo below gives a better view on the external tube-system to keep the watch together and the shield that says it is a limited edition (including the number). Although very practical, the date aperture wouldn’t have been necessary in my book. Laser cut minute and hour hands with a hand brushed finish on the surface makes this watch picture perfect. It works really well with the bronze in any case. The lower dial is matt bronze and the upper dial has this tobacco color which gives the watch a bit of a vintage look & feel. The dial of the watch has layers and this adds quite some depth to it. I am not sure, but I can imagine that the level of patina on a bronze case also depends on the geographical location of the owner (weather circumstances) and of course the type of abuse it will get.Īs you can see on the picture above, the bezel and case back are attached to the mid-case using 5 screws and bolts in external bronze tubes. Limited to 300 pieces only, I am wondering what the difference will be between them in a few years (or decades) from now when these watches start to age. The bronze case will eventually get this patina that will be unique to each timepiece. Of course, the most visible feature of this Chimera is the bronze case. The watch weighs approximately 185 grams which isn’t something you won’t notice when wearing. Chimera Bronze Limited Edition Ref 6945įirst thing I noticed when unwrapping this watch from the box it came in, is the weight and the size.
Let’s zoom in on this bronze piece from U-Boat.
The crown-system that is one of their signatures is clearly present on this watch and extends the 46mm diameter of the case to a whopping 60mm. Where the U-42 collection grabs back to the original designs of Italo Fontana’s grandfather, the Chimera collection is a modern interpretation of it. Create a diver’s watch with high quality standards and guarantee maximum visibility and reliability in any light and weather condition. Until approximately 58 years later, in 2000, Ilvo Fontana’s grandson Italo found these designs and inspired him to finish what his grandfather started. Due to circumstances it wasn’t possible to materialize these watches and the designs disappeared into a drawer. Ilvo Fontana decided to give this company the name U-Boat and submitted his designs. In 1942, an Italian designer and crafter of precision instruments by the name of Ilvo Fontana was asked by the Italian Navy to join the tender for a new officer’s and diver’s watch for them. Nevertheless, little can be discussed about the craftsmanship with regards to the finish of these watches and the high number of details. Fact is that you either love these watches or you hate ’em. When the nice people at U-Boat showed me parts of their collection, I noticed that these watches still reflect the design that they started out with, but the level of finish and especially the level of detail improved in many ways. Time for us to leave the past behind and see what U-Boat is all about. However, since then, they’ve come from far and U-Boat seems to sell extremely well in the United Kingdom (and in other countries as well). However, I decided to go to see the people at U-Boat in London and to my surprise they acknowledged the fact these early days weren’t the best for U-Boat in some countries (like The Netherlands). The reason for this is that they were marketed in The Netherlands (where we are based) in a terrible manner approximately 10 years ago. I have to be honest with you and say that U-Boat wasn’t exactly on my radar for a long time.
However, if you want to know why we didn’t feature more U-Boat in the past, keep on reading.Įarlier this year, I was on a short trip to London and U-Boat UK invited me over to meet with them. If you are not from The Netherlands, Belgium or Luxembourg, you can skip this small introduction for sure.
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