Review: Unison Model Orbital

And now for something completely different: the Unison Model Orbital…

There’s huge discussion in the watch community about microbrands releasing thinly disguised ‘homages’ to established, big brand designs, and much debate around the lack of bold new watches which stand out from the crowd, but occasionally a microbrand comes along that is brave enough to do something completely different. Unison’s first offering is certainly ploughing a different furrow; the kind of furrow torn out of the ground by a screen classic 1950s UFO crash-landing on a distant planet.

The Unison Model Orbital is like something Ming the Merciless might wear strapped beneath flared cuffs as he sends his clone army in pursuit of Flash Gordon and Dale Arden. But that’s the only clone in sight here; if this watch is a homage to anything, it’s classic screen sci-fi shows such as The Invaders, or Lost In Space (the original version). The swirly logo adorning the dial resembles a black hole or tractor beam port, the indices could be fusion propulsion blasters, and the radial brushed dial a vanadium deflector plate with sandwich dial cut-outs in which the shield arrays nestle. When the lume’s engaged, you’d best back-off before the Orbital releases a pulse from its plasma cannons and then lifts off straight from the wrist. In fact, maybe we’re that distant planet and the CIA dug this watch out of the ground in Area 51, and then hushed it up for decades.

I may not keep this watch, it’s a bit blingy for me with polished bezel, indices and bracelet centre links all catching the eye at once, but I’m really glad I have a chance to try it out, because it’s fun, and totally different to anything else I have in the watch box. It’s also got pretty good specs for the price, and it’s well put together too (despite some dodgy threads with the bracelet screws).

I think this watch would be better if it were entirely brushed and a little bit smaller. Having said that, it wears really well for the dimensions, and some elements of the design are really nicely done, even if it doesn’t quite all hold together. The heat-blued hands in particular are excellent, and unlike anything I’ve seen before. The lume is disappointing, it just has no staying power, and this is a shame because the sandwich cut-out revealing the lume strip is surely where crop circles come from. The crown is interesting, signed nicely, but not the easiest to use and a little incongruous (another reviewer suggested a hidden crown with this watch, and I think that would work well despite it not being something I would usually go for). Having said all that, a side view of the crown does make it look like a jet thruster, so...

Overall, I think this is fun and pretty well done, wearable, different, eye-catching and not quite for me, but I’m very interested to see what Unison comes out with next.

I was lucky enough to win this through the charity auction (thank you Mr.Dee.Bater) which meant double the money went to a great cause, but I also think these tiny microbrand operations deserve our support, especially when they take a risk or two. This model is still available on the website following a Kickstarter launch and it comes in gold and black too if you fancy taking an Unidentified Ticking Object out for a spin...

Specs and pricing:

·      £330 GBP, $417 US, $550 CAD

·      40mm diameter

·      45mm lug to lug

·      20mm lug width

·      13mm thick (doesn’t wear that thick)

·      100m WR

·      Miyota 9039 auto movement with 42hr PR

·      Sapphire crystal with internal AR

·      Swiss Super LumiNova BGW9

·      H-link bracelet + blue leather strap