We‘ve selected two entry-level watches for this watch pairs article. We don’t want to sound snobbish of course, as anything over a few hundred Euro is considered a luxury watch. However, compared to some of the previous watch pairs we‘ve described, the Union and Tissot are at a more accessible and affordable price point. The Union we‘ve selected is a dress watch, and the Tissot is a sports watch. Both brands belong to the Swatch Group and both carry dress watches as well as sports watches.
Union Glashütte is one of the brands from the German watch “mile“ in the Glashütte village, near Dresden. Tissot is Swiss and has its headquarters in Bienne, where you’ll also find other Swatch Group brands and Rolex production plants. Let’s take a closer look at these watches.
Union Viro Date
The Union Viro Date, is a handsome three-hand watch with a date window located at 6 o’clock. This watch is powered by ETA caliber 2892-A2. ETA also belongs to the Swatch Group and their movements are used by different brands within and beyond the group. This movement, which has been available since the early 1980s, is considered a real workhorse. It has also been used by brands such as Omega and IWC before they started creating movements of their own. This proves that it is a movement with a solid track record that has been used in watches with higher price tags than the Union Viro Datum. It has a power reserve of 42 hours.
The dial of the Viro Datum is available in several versions, but our favorite is silver and features four hour markers that are PVD coated in rose gold (5N). This provides great contrast and makes the dial more readable. The hands are also PVD coated in rose gold. The sleek case is made of stainless steel and measures 41 mm in diameter and is 9 mm thick. This is just one of the variations, however, there are also versions with black hands and applied indexes.
Union Viro Date with black dial
Although the water resistance is 100 meters (~10 BAR), it isn’t wise to take this watch into the water due to its leather strap. However, at least you know it can handle some moisture. It is a great all-around watch that will suit casual attire (due to its relatively large size for a dress watch) and formal attire. However, it isn’t a sports watch. That is where the Tissot comes in.
Tissot PRS 516 Automatic
The PSR 516 comes in many flavors, but we focused in on the three–hand version here. However, it is also available as a chronograph. Let’s begin by looking at the movement of the PSR 516. As Tissot is also part of the Swatch Group, many of their watches are powered by ETA movements as well. Here is no different: the PSR 516‘s Powermatic 80 movement is based on ETA’s caliber 2824-2. You can forget about all these things if you are not interested, however, you should know that this movement has been modified by ETA to give it a power reserve of — you guessed it — 80 hours. This means that if you put your Tissot aside to wear your Union Glashütte for a few days, you can pick it up later without needing to wind and set it.
Tissot PRS 516 Movement
The Tissot PSR 516 has been in production for quite a while and is available in many different versions. Perhaps the sportiest three-hand PSR 516 is the version with a rubber strap, black PVD case, and carbon dial. It has a case diameter of 42 mm and is almost 13 mm thick. It‘s not even that extreme, but it does look awesome. The eye-catcher of this edition is the model with a gold PVD case. Of course, this does take away the sportiness a bit. The PSR 516 is also water resistant up to 100 meters (10 BAR) — and indeed, you can take this watch swimming.
In short, you can get these two watches for 2,000 euros with some change to spare! You might want to “upgrade“ to a chronograph version of the Tissot. You‘ll have everything covered with the Tissot PSR 516 and the Union Glashütte Viro Date: sports, work, weddings, swimming, you name it.
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The post Two watches for every occasion: Union Viro Date & Tissot PRS 516 appeared first on Chrono24 Magazine.