My introducing article on the Unimatic Modello Tre U3FB-ROPS just so happens to be my last article for Forbes, and I’m excited to now allocate that open void of time to more content right here on the WRB. Additionally, I’ve had this watch in the studio for over 1 month now, and I think it’s about time we give it the full thorough review treatment.
Unimatic is producing some fantastic dive watches as of late, and this one here takes it just one step further by sandblasting and DLC coating the case in a really nice shadow black, almost charcoal like appearance. It’s still retaining the excellent specs that Unimatic is now building a name for. It has a 300 meter water resistance, a well sized 40mm case diameter in 316L stainless steel, and a highly legible gilt-style dial. This version here is using a Meca-quartz VK64, which is not going to be the preference of ours, but it allows the price of the watch to remain reasonable while also maintaining highly accurate and reliable functionality.
As you’ve come to expect, if you’re a returning reader of our blog, we tend to put more importance into the first hand experience of wearing the watch than we do with the specs, which are already easily accessible from multiple sources. Let’s dive into some of the realistic and real-world wearability of this watch below.
Appearance and Design Aspects
As we’ve already touched on, this is a mecha-quartz opererated watch. With that in mind, and upon first examining the watch, I was expecting a slimmer case profile. The official specs state a 12.9mm thickness, which does not seem to include the 2.5mm thick double domed crystal. Combine these numbers with an already fairly compact 40mm case, and you get the appearance of a very stout albeit overly thick diver considering it’s not housing an automatic movement. Yes, Unimatic has designed the watch to withstand 300 meters of water resistance, and it has chronograph functionality, but keep in mind that the trade-off for this is a thick quartz watch. Usually a watch manufacturer will play on the strengths of using a quartz movement, to create a thinner than usual case, but that’s not the goal here.
When observing the dial, it’s set very deep, giving off the appearance of a very tall rehaut wall, a look I’m personally not overly fond of. It gives me the impression that the dial is sunken in, and unnecessarily far from view. The dial itself is lovely though, with a really neat, and on trend, gold on black “gilt-style” dial. The markers are painted on in vintage fashion, and are fully lumed with Super-LumiNova GL light old radium. The hands are excellent, with very wide sword shaped minute and hour hands, and a very tasteful minutes subdial for the chronograph at 9 o’clock. The large slender seconds hand that you see on the dial is actually part of the chronograph functionality.
The lugs of the watch are very well crafted, nice and short, with an elegant curvature that not only looks perfect with the case, but also allows the watch to sit comfortably on wrist. Lug to lug length is set at 51.2mm, and width is 22mm allowing for compatibility with a generous amount of aftermarket straps. On my 6.5 inch wrist it sits tall, but far from awkward, it just seems to bulge from my wrist a little more than I was expecting. It won’t slip under a shirt cuff as elegantly as a Submariner, or any thinner diver for that matter, but it does give off a nice presence when wearing it with a t-shit in warm weather.
Manufacturing Quality
One point that seems common amongst all Unimatic watches I’ve reviewed so far, is their impressive manufacturing quality to price point ratio. I find the build style very similar to Doxa, that is to say, they seem to punch above their weight. The case is machined very well, with great attention to detail on the finishing and edges, offering a smooth and supple feel in hand without forgoing the heftiness you’d expect from a dive watch.
I’m particularly impressed with the functionality of the screw down crowns on both the chronograph pushers and main crown. These aspects are more often than not an afterthought for many brands at this price point, which by the way, is a very reasonable $920 USD. The screwing and unscrewing action of all three crowns emits a sense of quality and reassurance, with a slight tension when turning, and absolutely zero back and forth play. This is in my opinion, a very robust dive chronograph, and I believe this is one of its main selling points.
The crystal, while double domed, sits completely flush with the bezel, which now that I think of it could be the reason for the tall rehaut. The crystal also does not distort the dial as much as I’d expect for such a thick piece of sapphire, which can be a letdown for some of us seeking that retro look, or a benefit if you’re looking for raw underwater performance.
Final Thoughts
I’m thoroughly impressed with the overall build quality and appearance of the watch. It’s incredibly solid feeling in hand and on wrist, with special attention to its tactile moving parts. The style is, a we’ve come to expect from Unimatic, sterile but functional, playing with the heartstrings of collectors and enthusiasts who are fond of purpose built tool watches.
It’s not a perfect watch though, with some very minor design flaws around the implementation of the dial, and its overall sizing, but very close to the ideal tool watch at a relatively affordable price point.
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