Some stuff gathered from various sources:
Italo Fontana gained an unreal success, realizing ideas of his grandfather Ivo Fontana. That is why the company U-Boat can be considered as a family business. The family business of Fontana that years was design of cloths. Once, Italo started to learn documents from his grandfather archive. Among it there were documents of 1942 with developing of wristwatches for Italian Navy. After that he couldn't think about anything but that.
Few years past and Italo developed design of watch. That time the fate brings him to Munir Muffarige (the managing director of French fashion wrought Ungaro), who suggested Italo to set new private label for watches and introduce new watch collection on the world market. As known, Italo Fontana is a fan of activities. He adores a sea and everything which relate to it. Yachts are one of his main interests. May be that is why Italo called his watches like names of submarines, produced during Second World War.
Watches are being produced in short series which makes every watch production batch - limited collection item. Suddenly, out of the blue - we have great rep of one of iconic U-BOAT watches - Chimera 46 Side View in stainless steel, limited edition of 300 pieces worldwide.
This watch appeared in 2011 catalogue of this brand (access: http://www.u-boat.at/Uboat_2011.pdf ). Funny thing it appeared in 2012, too (access: http://www.u-boat.at/Uboat_2012.pdf ) - problems with sale..?
You can read about its specifications in the catalogue:
MOVEMENT: automatic mechanical chronograph personalized to U-Boat specifications for date display and stem to be positioned at 9 o’clock.
Frequency: 28.800 vibrations per hour, 4 Hz.
Power reserve: 44 hours. 25 jewels. Height: 7 mm.
FUNCTIONS: hours, minutes, chronograph, counter small seconds at 3, counter 12 at 12, counter 30 minutes at 6. Date window at 9 o’clock.
CASE: AISI 316 Plus stainless steel 46 mm diameter, 54,50 mm diameter including external crown-clutter.
The bezel and the back of the case are locked together by external tubing and a customized key that ensures absolute water-proofing.
Personalized rotor, in silver, build with a base and 3 bridges fixed with blued screws. Thickness: 17 mm. Weight: 200 gr approx.
CRYSTAL: sapphire curved glass on the face and flat on the back of the timepiece.
DIAL: two superimposed dials, hour and minute indexes treated with superluminova.
WATER RESISTANCE: 100 m, 10 ATM.
STRAP: hand made and hand finished alligator, black, 3 circular cuts out. Width: 20/20 mm.
Tongue steel buckle, hypoallergenic and color retain treatment.
You can still download official U-Boat leaflet for this watch: http://www.uboatwatch.com/media/collezione/chimera/chimera/pdf/scheda_modello_en.pdf
Now to the replication - I got this watch from Joshua/PC but it is available everywhere (all TD carry them I suppose).
CNC machining, details taken care of, overall feel etc. - judging by the quality no one should even blink if told it is “top class Noob creation†with price set $100 higher. It doesn’t come from Noob - it was our TD ToroBravo sacrificing his genuine Chimera to make this replication in cooperation with some unnamed (yet) maker. There is no feel they cut corners somewhere, even “limited edition†plate is engraved (not just printed), balance weight looks and shines like silver. This thing IS QUALITY, believe me.
When comparing with gen photos available online, it is easy to observe that the gen has small variations, too. Probably because it was offered for more than one year (I found it twice in company’s catalogs) so they did not produced whole batch in one go.
Differences in gen are:
- different typeface/color for “U-BOAT†label on the rotor: colorless (probably prototype) and two black, where bolder one is rarer and our rep is consistent with that latter one.
- different screw mounting of the rotor
So, what are differences when comparing between rep and gen? Small ones, really:
- difference in pearlage effect on movement top bridge - the rep has it as parallel stripes while gen has it circular. Anyway guys, it is a movement, we do not want it to be altered too much (all the bad experiences with Panerai decoration plates and so on….)
- the upper “hours†subdial has edge painted in different way than gen. Actually the way they painted this subdial in rep is more tricky than in gen. Anyway, not a big deal, really.
- strap is not a croco one, which is obvious on this price level. Anyway, quite a solid feel, not too short calf strap, like $30 on ebay so definitely to be used, not just to be thrown out as a first step after unpacking the watch
Overall thoughts
Since the watch is so well replicated - all conclusion are probably very the same for gen:
- the Fontana’s idea to put all crown, pushers etc. on the left side of watch works well - nothing disturbs your wrist at all. U-boats are not first in having controls on the left but it is better designed than i.e. in Graham Chronofighter, where chrono lever is sharp and it is easy to destroy some parts of your clothes.
- this is the watch which looks much better on a wrist than unworn. For most of watches it is the other way - like someone designed them “without wrist†on mind - they tend to look better in box or on some fancy photos than on Your wrist. This was definitely designed with a wrist on designer’s mind.
Little warning - pay attention to Your QC photos - the first I rejected has chrono hands not resetting to zero position. When received, try to locate any loose bolts (I had two loose out of five). But this warning is actually valid for any rep…
Now onto photos:
The AR is probably double side or very solid single side one. Anyway, with such big white hands and numbers - it is very easy to read watch despite any optical problems:
Some side look at the infamous edge-printing. I do not know how they did it - print then cut or other way?
Despite crazy look, it is a bit rare but still a standard square key size S0 (S-zero):
U-BOAT print and “silver†weight:
Some more eye candies:
Back side:
Crown details:
Shape of reset button:
Limited edition plate:
Probably 1 mm hex key…:
…continuing with candies:
My verdict: GO AND ORDER ONE! Especially if You’re after bigger watches. …and want i.e. bronze version of this watch in the future - we need to show support for a maker.
Italo Fontana gained an unreal success, realizing ideas of his grandfather Ivo Fontana. That is why the company U-Boat can be considered as a family business. The family business of Fontana that years was design of cloths. Once, Italo started to learn documents from his grandfather archive. Among it there were documents of 1942 with developing of wristwatches for Italian Navy. After that he couldn't think about anything but that.
Few years past and Italo developed design of watch. That time the fate brings him to Munir Muffarige (the managing director of French fashion wrought Ungaro), who suggested Italo to set new private label for watches and introduce new watch collection on the world market. As known, Italo Fontana is a fan of activities. He adores a sea and everything which relate to it. Yachts are one of his main interests. May be that is why Italo called his watches like names of submarines, produced during Second World War.
Watches are being produced in short series which makes every watch production batch - limited collection item. Suddenly, out of the blue - we have great rep of one of iconic U-BOAT watches - Chimera 46 Side View in stainless steel, limited edition of 300 pieces worldwide.
This watch appeared in 2011 catalogue of this brand (access: http://www.u-boat.at/Uboat_2011.pdf ). Funny thing it appeared in 2012, too (access: http://www.u-boat.at/Uboat_2012.pdf ) - problems with sale..?
You can read about its specifications in the catalogue:
MOVEMENT: automatic mechanical chronograph personalized to U-Boat specifications for date display and stem to be positioned at 9 o’clock.
Frequency: 28.800 vibrations per hour, 4 Hz.
Power reserve: 44 hours. 25 jewels. Height: 7 mm.
FUNCTIONS: hours, minutes, chronograph, counter small seconds at 3, counter 12 at 12, counter 30 minutes at 6. Date window at 9 o’clock.
CASE: AISI 316 Plus stainless steel 46 mm diameter, 54,50 mm diameter including external crown-clutter.
The bezel and the back of the case are locked together by external tubing and a customized key that ensures absolute water-proofing.
Personalized rotor, in silver, build with a base and 3 bridges fixed with blued screws. Thickness: 17 mm. Weight: 200 gr approx.
CRYSTAL: sapphire curved glass on the face and flat on the back of the timepiece.
DIAL: two superimposed dials, hour and minute indexes treated with superluminova.
WATER RESISTANCE: 100 m, 10 ATM.
STRAP: hand made and hand finished alligator, black, 3 circular cuts out. Width: 20/20 mm.
Tongue steel buckle, hypoallergenic and color retain treatment.
You can still download official U-Boat leaflet for this watch: http://www.uboatwatch.com/media/collezione/chimera/chimera/pdf/scheda_modello_en.pdf
Now to the replication - I got this watch from Joshua/PC but it is available everywhere (all TD carry them I suppose).
CNC machining, details taken care of, overall feel etc. - judging by the quality no one should even blink if told it is “top class Noob creation†with price set $100 higher. It doesn’t come from Noob - it was our TD ToroBravo sacrificing his genuine Chimera to make this replication in cooperation with some unnamed (yet) maker. There is no feel they cut corners somewhere, even “limited edition†plate is engraved (not just printed), balance weight looks and shines like silver. This thing IS QUALITY, believe me.
When comparing with gen photos available online, it is easy to observe that the gen has small variations, too. Probably because it was offered for more than one year (I found it twice in company’s catalogs) so they did not produced whole batch in one go.
Differences in gen are:
- different typeface/color for “U-BOAT†label on the rotor: colorless (probably prototype) and two black, where bolder one is rarer and our rep is consistent with that latter one.
- different screw mounting of the rotor
So, what are differences when comparing between rep and gen? Small ones, really:
- difference in pearlage effect on movement top bridge - the rep has it as parallel stripes while gen has it circular. Anyway guys, it is a movement, we do not want it to be altered too much (all the bad experiences with Panerai decoration plates and so on….)
- the upper “hours†subdial has edge painted in different way than gen. Actually the way they painted this subdial in rep is more tricky than in gen. Anyway, not a big deal, really.
- strap is not a croco one, which is obvious on this price level. Anyway, quite a solid feel, not too short calf strap, like $30 on ebay so definitely to be used, not just to be thrown out as a first step after unpacking the watch
Overall thoughts
Since the watch is so well replicated - all conclusion are probably very the same for gen:
- the Fontana’s idea to put all crown, pushers etc. on the left side of watch works well - nothing disturbs your wrist at all. U-boats are not first in having controls on the left but it is better designed than i.e. in Graham Chronofighter, where chrono lever is sharp and it is easy to destroy some parts of your clothes.
- this is the watch which looks much better on a wrist than unworn. For most of watches it is the other way - like someone designed them “without wrist†on mind - they tend to look better in box or on some fancy photos than on Your wrist. This was definitely designed with a wrist on designer’s mind.
Little warning - pay attention to Your QC photos - the first I rejected has chrono hands not resetting to zero position. When received, try to locate any loose bolts (I had two loose out of five). But this warning is actually valid for any rep…
Now onto photos:
The AR is probably double side or very solid single side one. Anyway, with such big white hands and numbers - it is very easy to read watch despite any optical problems:
Some side look at the infamous edge-printing. I do not know how they did it - print then cut or other way?
Despite crazy look, it is a bit rare but still a standard square key size S0 (S-zero):
U-BOAT print and “silver†weight:
Some more eye candies:
Back side:
Crown details:
Shape of reset button:
Limited edition plate:
Probably 1 mm hex key…:
…continuing with candies:
My verdict: GO AND ORDER ONE! Especially if You’re after bigger watches. …and want i.e. bronze version of this watch in the future - we need to show support for a maker.
