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Sunday, August 24, 2008

BEST BANG FOR BUCK UNITAS FLIEGER

If you're looking for a budget Unitas 6497 powered flieger/pilot watch, especially a 'nine-eater', then you probably might had already heard or looked at brands like Ollech & Wajs, Trias, Jurgen & Gallai, or Kienzle to name a few. The problem is the really budget ones like the Trias are not nice enough and the really nice ones like Jurgen & Gallai or Kienzle can't really be considered budget watches. Anyway at the same price range people probably look at the more interesting Debaufre watches instead.

Enter the Altanus Unitas Flieger. It has the same style of nine eater dial like those offered by Jurgen & Gallai and Kienzle, cathedral hands and strong lume. The price is just right. However these seems to be rare and it seems really hard to find new pieces, though they sometimes pops up pre-owned on the various sales forums. Having no luck at the sales forums, I thought I should check out the original seller's Ebay store.

So while trying to procure a piece from the Swiss Ebay seller uhren_baron, who's the source of these Altanus watches, I discovered he's got another brand to offer. The Oscar.
It seems identical to the Altanus and the seller told me its from the same factory.
Comes with a display back. The Unitas 6497 movement is undecorated.
Lume is pretty good, I think it's Super Luminova.
The mineral crystal is slightly domed, the stainless steel case size is about 40mm excluding crown and lug to lug distance is about 48mm. The watch also wears flat at about 10mm height at the thickness part.
Needless to say I am happy with this purchase. I paid about CHF250 shipped back in December 2007. Thus far I had not see another similar piece, though I seen many other Oscar watches on the Unitas movement.

Till date, I think the Altanus is still the best bang for buck Unitas Flieger watch. There are some Altanus owners who are bothered by the 'anus' word on the dial, so the Oscar might be a better option if one could find another one from the Ebay seller. Though the sales forums might be more practical, since I had not seen either watches in uhren_baron's Ebay store for sometime.

*Update on 31 August 2008: I was informed by Chris (Ray Knight on WUS forums) that this watch was being sold on Ottofrei as a kit recently, though when he last checked it was no longer available.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice watch. hope to get 1 too.

ANTON C said...

Good luck striker968! I am sure you will be happy with it, as I do.

Anonymous said...

how much you pay for it?

ANTON C said...

As mentioned in the article, about CHF250 shipped. :)

Anonymous said...

I picked up the Altanus version a few weeks ago from the forums. I could not be happier with it. I'm planning to blue the screws when I get some free time. Some pics can be seen here...http://forums.watchuseek.com/showthread.php?t=175851

Fantastic pics yourself and congrats on the purchase.

ANTON C said...

Thanx and congrats to you too!

Anonymous said...

Hi Anton where u got the strap show in second pic?

ANTON C said...

Got it on ebay couple of years ago from the ebay shop Military Watches Mall the seller was watchesu571.

Anonymous said...

Please congrate me . I just got this same watches as you. hahaha

Now looking for a nice strap to compliment it.

ANTON C said...

Congrats! I think BUND or aviator styles are nice.

Anonymous said...

http://www.dealingtime.com/upload/albums/userpics/10112/Oscar1.JPG

Hi Anton I cant find this strap, any idea where can I get it? Will you consider selling it off hahaha pls let me know if u intend to sell it off.

I found 1 but dun look the same.

ANTON C said...

Okie,

Here's the link:

http://cgi.ebay.com/18mm-Mil-Style-Genuine-Leather-Brown-Bund-strap_W0QQitemZ180291471411QQihZ008QQcategoryZ98624QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItem

This is the 18mm version though, it seems that he does not have the 20mm version listed, maybe you can ask him?

I believe he should have it.

Vladimir Pandovski said...

Nice post :)
I just got me an Oscar. However I cant find the company web site to browse for various models avalible. Do you happen to know a link?

Thanks in advance.

ANTON C said...

Hi Kenzo, congrats on your new purchase. I wasn't able to find a link either. I don't think they have a website.

Anonymous said...

Greeting from Paris,
You should try STowa or Steinhart...

Anonymous said...

Hello, Does anyone know where you can purchase one of these watches?

Im based in Uk

Denis J. Cirulis said...

Hello,
how do I order such a great watch ?