In the past, the German watchmaking industry has always been ahead of the world, and even the world's first watch was invented in Nuremberg, Germany. But because of the war, this ancestral craft was later cut off from the incense. Until the last few decades, with the support of several major watch groups, there were still a few big brothers who stood up trembling. So the brand We are going to talk about today, Yulian, is now also a member of Swatch, and has a very close relationship with the glashütte original of the same group, what is the story behind this brand?
Let's first understand that the founder of the Yulian brand was first engaged in watch wholesale, and even the largest agent of Lange at that time, began to build its own brand in 1893, when it also joined forces with Audemars Piguet of Switzerland, launched some super complex pocket watches, and the recognition in the market is also in the sky. But the good times were not long, soon the European continent was shrouded in the clouds of war, after the war, Yulian was forced to stop production, and even the brand was written off, until 1994, with the rebirth of Glashütte original, Yulian was also resurrected again, and in 2000, along with Glashütte Original was acquired by Swatch Group, Swatch after acquiring these two brands, decided to split the operation, and built Glashütte Original with Blancpain, Breguet, Omega into the top building of the group. Yulian, along with Longines and Radar, forms the backbone of the brand camp.
Today to evaluate these two Yulian watches, one is the Yulian 1893 series full calendar moon phase watch, the other is the Yulian Bailix series chronograph, these two watches are steel shell, steel buckle with belt such a design, we first look at this is 1893, when I got the first feeling on the hand is that it is a bit like Longines's eight-needle moon phase, but then I looked closely and found that the difference between the two watches is actually very large.
In terms of function, Longines' eight-needle moon phase has a chronograph function, so the disk surface will inevitably have a lot of hands and scales used in timing, on Longines' body, we can see that many functional scales are stacked together, the overall look is very complicated, and in contrast, the disk surface of Yulian 1893 looks a lot fresher. In addition, in some details, the difference between the two watches is also very large, the biggest difference in the plate is that Yulian 1893 adopts a monochrome enamel dial, the enamel plate is characterized by warm and transparent, the luster of the surface enamel is more textured than the ordinary metal paint, of course, because the glaze formula is different, some enamel plates will appear milky white, some are ivory. And this watch is this white, each has its own characteristics, the time mark is a black handwritten Arabic numeral mimeograph process, in the magnifying glass to see also very fine, the edge of the font is very neat, on the white background appears very sharp and shiny.
GLASHÜR (UNION) GERMAN MOON PHASE WATCH 1893 SERIES CALFSKIN MOON PHASE MEN'S MECHANICAL WATCH D007.458.16.017.00 ¥21800 PURCHASE
And Longines eight needles Moon phase scale tone is different, Yulian 1893 uses the Scale of german tracks, and not only the time scale is used in the orbital type, the 24-hour display and the moon phase disk are also used in the scale of the track, with this monochrome enamel disk surface to give an old pocket watch look, very retro, this design helps to distinguish between various functions, increase the convenience of users when reading, and in addition to increasing the concept of convenience, its pointers also make a special distinction.
Longines Swiss Watch Master Craftsman Series Moon Phase Mechanical Belt Men's Watch L26734783 ¥26000 Purchase
Unlike Longines' all-blue steel willow leaf frame, Yulian 1893 adopts a two-color needle design, according to the different functions, the hour, minute and second hand used for walking is blue steel, the 24-hour display and date needle are rose gold, and the two-color hands will not be wrong even if they appear in the same functional area. The basic layout of this Yulian 1893 is the same as Longines' eight-needle moon phase, the outermost circle is the date, the 6 o'clock is the moon phase, and the corresponding 12 o'clock is the two windows of the week and the month, because the minute dial of the chronograph is removed, so the window of the whole week and month is larger and more eye-catching, and the 9 o'clock is the second hand disk and the 24-hour display.
On the side of the small seconds disk is annotated a German word meaning manual winding, this watch is equipped with a manual movement UNG58, so its entire head is much thinner than Longines. We first looked at its movement through its back cover, and in homage to the tradition of De watch, a 3/4 splint was used, with the brand's logo in the middle of the splint, and a 60-hour pestle marker can be seen in the corner. Another thing to note is that its balance splint has a very prominent silicone filament mark here, indicating that this watch uses a silicone hairspring. In addition, we can see that this Swatch exclusive double T suspension, which used to be used only in brands above Omega, has now sunk to the Longines and Unilian brands, and its seismic resistance is significantly better than that of the traditional Ingabelu shock absorber.
We revealed that the balance wheel can see the ETA logo on the inner splint, under the current ETA external supply cut policy, the brand outside the group has rarely seen such a mark, and can continue to use the casual transformation of the ETA movement has gradually become a hidden advantage of the group's brands. Longines' eight-needle moon phase calibre 678 is based on the ETA 7751, and this UNG58 should also be based on the 7751.
So although Yulian 1893 has many functions, some of its design details and its way of winding give a very classical feeling, like a pocket watch. Relative to the automatic part missing from this watch and the function of timing, we can all find a supplement from the next Yulian Bailix series chronograph, this watch is really the best selling explosive watch in Yulian at present, let's first look at its design.
It is said that it is a panda chronograph, which is actually very obvious, that is, the design of the white plate and two dark circles. But this panda is not the same as our ideal, it is a crooked panda, the crooked head looks at you, then in fact, after understanding the original intention of its design, we can understand that these two small seconds are used for its chronograph function, which are its chronograph minute hand and chronograph timer hand. The white second hand at nine o'clock is the second hand used when walking. In addition, we will find that the hour, minute and second hands used for timekeeping are all made red. So it's clear that the reason why brands do this is to be able to distinguish functions and read the time of the user.
GLASH (UNION) German Watch Belis Mechanical Men's Chronograph D009.427.16.267.00 ¥18400 Purchase
Then let's look at the details of this watch. First of all, the case is made of fine material, the crown is made of onion-shaped upper and lower two column-shaped chronograph buttons, and there is a detail on this side that the brand has made the start and reset logos on the two buttons, and the U logo on the middle crown echoes.
Then we look at its disc surface, the small dial has been made of record pattern processing, the outermost ring of the disc surface is the black background of the tachymeter scale, the middle is still used to track the scale of such an element, and its digital hour marker is a font similar to stick figures, very cute, but because it is too slender, so rich in the middle of the disc to give people a feeling of less conspicuous, the naked eye, this time marker is not yet on the side of the date display large, the calendar window is at 6 o'clock, the calendar is jumping, by 10 Point the button to adjust.
The official introduction of this watch is the use of UNG2701 is a soft movement, but from its entire functional layout and the way it is adjusted, it can be judged that it should be used ETA 7753 as the basic movement modified, and on its balance clamp we do not see any marks, indicating that the springspring of this movement is not made of silicon, but its vibration arm is still using double T.
So in general, these two watches are still more practical in design, whether it is the use of its enamel plate, two-color pointers, button logos, or its case to protect these design elements, you can see that the brand still has some pursuits in a series of details. That for the movement, there are not many brands that can still get the ETA blessing today, the reliability is naturally needless to say, and it has also made upgrades and changes in key components, it seems that the company has certain expectations for this brand.