Whilst Union Glashütte might not be ranked in the top echelon of Glashütte watchmakers, they are by no means a poor product. As a region, Glashütte produces some fairly amazing timepieces for such a small area and the baseline quality is extremely high.

Can you really compare Union Glashütte against an A. Lange & Söhne, Glashütte Original or even a Nomos Glashütte? We all know they are at a different level, so for me the answer is no, but I like Union Glashütte regardless. The history of Union Glashütte is interesting, as is the whole Glashütte watchmaking community. Post World War II and the Russian occupation, the German factories all formed part of the communist industrial machine.

The once prolific German watchmakers were still producing timepieces and precision engineering, but these were not the luxury products we see today. These were requirements of the centralised economy of the Soviet regime in post WWII Germany. Union Glashütte as we now know it was founded in 1996 as part of the Glashütter Uhrenbetrieb GmbH group that includes high-end watchmaker Glashütte Original. However, the brand’s roots stretch back over 125 years to 1893, when watch wholesaler Johannes Dürrstein created the Union watch factory in Glashütte.

His goal was to offer high-quality watches at affordable prices. Union Glashütte remains true to that concept to this day. I really like the Union Glashütte branding, this is a quality German brand that I really hope gains the recognition of the watch community. Strangely, insofar as German watchmaking is concerned, Union Glashütte is a fairly low-key manufacturer, their watches are reasonably priced and not really well marketed outside of Germany, and Europe in general, I would like to see the Swatch Group increase their marketing energies to the particular watchmaker.