Not all images were able to load for printing. Please close the print window and try again. The Union Glashütte 1893 Johannes Dürrstein Edition Double Moon Phase (incl. Video)
Shooting for the moon, and landing there in Saxony style.
Over the past couple of years, we’ve come to the conclusion that Union Glashütte is quite a stand-out brand among the predominantly Swiss Made brands under the Swatch Group umbrella. It benefits from the group’s vertical integration yet is able to put its own mark on things, allowing it to hallmark its watches as Made in Germany, and more importantly, Made in Glashütte! It is a brand where you can genuinely find strong value-for-money watches. We’ve seen this with the likes of the 1893 Johannes Dürrstein Edition Power Reserve and the Noramis Chronograph Sport, to name just two. And Union Glashütte is back at it again, with the new, and admittedly rather handsome 1893 Johannes Dürrstein Edition Double Moon Phase.
The collection not only honours Union Glashütte’s year of birth, but also its founder, and is home to some of the brand’s most refined watches. This new 1893 Johannes Dürrstein Edition Double Moon Phase takes a similar path as watches we’ve seen before, very much pairing style with substance. In terms of sizing, the new Edition Double Moon Phase is on par with the Edition Power Reserve we featured two years back. The stainless steel case comes in a modern but not overly large 41mm in diameter and 12.23mm in height. Yes, it could have been a bit slimmer, but it’s still very wearable for a lot of people. The finishing is nicely done, with brushed flanks and lugs, and a polished bezel on top.
On the right side, there’s a knurled crown bearing the UG logo, and on the opposite end there’s a recessed corrector for the day of the week, and the watch comes with a tool to adjust it. To keep everything safe, a sapphire crystal covers both the dial and movement, and the water-resistance is rated at a pleasant 100 meters. Not that you’d want to go deep-sea diving with a watch like this, but it’s certainly reassuring it can withstand an accidental splash.
The sandblasted dial has a soft champagne-coloured finish, with a lovely sense of balance. From the outside in, the first thing you’ll come across is the pointer date scale, indicated by a gold-coloured central hand. One step in are the baton hour markers, with a Roman XII numeral at noon. In the upper half, there are two bevelled and outlined windows, with the day of the week on the left, and the month on the right. Moving down, you come across the logo and the fact that this is a manually wound moon phase watch, in German. Time itself is indicated with elegant blued leaf-shaped hands for the hours and minutes, and there’s no seconds indication.
And then there’s the main attraction, the double moon phase. Using a blue disc with gold moons and stars, it’s as classical as can be. On the outer perimeter, there’s a printed double scale for the 29,5 day lunar cycle for the northern and southern hemispheres. What’s important to note is that all scales and markings are engraved into the dial and then filled with black lacquer. It’s again a testament to Union Glashütte’s ability to design and finish a dial that elevates the watch to a higher echelon in looks, but not necessarily in price.
While UG is part of the Swatch Group and uses ETA movements as a base, a lot of work is done in-house to not only make the movements more their own, but also to meet the Glashütte restrictions. As with Champagne or Swiss Made, certain specifications have to be met before a watch can be hallmarked as Made in Glashütte. And to be honest, as we have come to know by now, the work UG does to its movement is really rather nicely done!
The Calibre UN-58.S2 is based on the architecture of the Valjoux 7750, developed by ETA, obviously, but exclusive to Union Glashütte. One of the biggest changes is the modification into a manually wound, non-chronograph movement, but there’s more to it than that. The large central plate is typical of German watchmaking, and finished with broad Glashütte ribbing. There are blued screws to be seen all around; the gears for the winding mechanism are polished, and crisp gold-infilled engravings give you the specifics on the calibre. It’s also equipped with a silicon balance spring, indicated by the SI medallion. The movement runs at a rate of 28,800vph and has a healthy power reserve of 65 hours.
The Union Glashütte 1893 Johannes Dürrstein Edition Double Moon Phase comes on a brown calfskin leather strap with an alligator embossing. The butterfly is perhaps a bit outdated but does its job, although it lacks any form of micro-adjustability. It is not limited by number or otherwise, and retails for a sensible EUR 3,100. Sure, that’s a sizeable chunk of money, but in return you get a genuine handsome watch riddled with details, and a movement that stands out from the masses! It’s again an excellent addition to the already handsome 1893 Johannes Dürrstein edition and a fitting tribute to Union Glashütte’s founding father. The dial is neatly done and very clean and legible, the case wears well on the wrist despite its modern proportions, and it is actually very fairly priced.
For more information, please visit Union-Glashuette.com.
