News · Unimatic

Unimatic leaves its mark across ten Impronte limited editions

Raised bezels, debossed dials and wrinkled casebacks bring one tactile idea to five familiar Unimatic formats in black and aluminium colour.

Hen & Mills Editorial · 4 min read · 31 August 2026

• The collection comprises ten references across the Modello Uno, Modello Tre and Modello Quattro platforms, with 250 examples of each.
• Matte-black AEB and aluminium-colour AEG treatments use debossed dial details and wrinkled casebacks, with raised markings on the rotating bezels.
• Current tax-and-duty-inclusive prices run from €690 for the U4 to €940 for the U1 GMT, with all ten references listed in stock.

Unimatic introduced the Impronte collection on 28 August, applying one tactile design idea to ten limited references across the Modello Uno, Modello Tre and Modello Quattro families. Each model comes in matte-black AEB and aluminium-colour AEG form, with 250 numbered examples of every reference.

One idea across five cases

The Impronte name points to the treatment more clearly than a list of colourways would. Unimatic has raised the markings on the rotating bezels, pressed the open seconds rail and other details into the dials, and given the casebacks a wrinkled finish. The result is not a new case family. It is a surface treatment carried across five existing formats.

Those formats cover a time-only Modello Quattro U4, a U4 GMT, a Modello Uno U1 diver, a U1 GMT and the Modello Tre U3 chronograph. Doubling that set in two executions produces the ten references. It is a broad collection by Unimatic standards, but the repeated details give it a coherent reason to exist.

The approach is clearest on the bezels. Rather than printing a conventional flat scale, Unimatic uses raised numerals and markers that catch light along their edges. The debossed dial furniture works in the opposite direction, creating shadows below the main dial surface. A wrinkled caseback completes the imprint theme in an area that is felt more often than it is seen.

Black absorbs, aluminium catches

The AEB versions put matte black across their dials and hands, with matching inserts on the rotating bezels. Their recessed details rely on changing light and shadow for definition, while Super-LumiNova C1 brings back the essential markers after dark. These are the more restrained watches, especially in the largely black Modello Uno forms.

The AEG treatment uses an aluminium-colour surface to bring the relief forward. On the Modello Tre chronograph it is paired with a contrasting matte white subdial, making the chronograph display easier to separate from the surrounding texture. Both versions retain the functional layouts of their host cases rather than treating the collection as a purely decorative exercise.

Unimatic's representative U1-AEB shows how much hardware sits beneath that visual treatment. Its brushed 316 stainless steel case is 40mm across, or 41.5mm including the 120-click unidirectional bezel. A 2.5mm double-domed sapphire crystal has an anti-reflective coating on the inside, and the watch is individually tested to 300 metres of water resistance.

The U3-AEB chronograph shares the 40mm case and 41.5mm bezel measurement, along with the 300-metre rating and 2.5mm double-domed sapphire. That is an unusually serious case specification for a meca-quartz chronograph, and it makes the textural experiment feel like a variation on Unimatic's tool-watch language rather than a departure from it.

The movements split three ways

The cited models use three movements. Unimatic specifies the automatic NH35A for the U1-AEB, the automatic NH34A for the U4 GMT, and the VK64 meca-quartz for the U3. The U1-AEB and U4 GMT automatics beat at 21,600 vibrations per hour, support hacking and hand-winding, and provide more than 41 hours of power reserve. The NH34A adds a dedicated GMT function.

That GMT display receives its most distinctive treatment in the Modello Quattro. Its 24-hour scale is printed directly on the flat sapphire crystal in luminous C1 material, leaving the dial itself comparatively open. The U4 GMT case measures 40mm across, uses a fixed monobloc bezel and retains 300-metre water resistance. Its crystal is 2.8mm thick and anti-reflective on the inner face.

The Modello Tre uses the VK64 meca-quartz calibre. Quartz regulates the timekeeping, while the chronograph has the more direct action associated with a mechanical mechanism. Unimatic quotes accuracy of plus or minus 20 seconds per month and approximately three years of battery life. That combination suits a chronograph designed as a practical instrument, even when the dial and bezel are doing more visual work than usual.

Every Impronte watch comes with two seatbelt nylon NATO straps. The AEB versions arrive on black with an additional olive-drab strap; the AEG versions reverse that pairing, arriving on olive drab with an additional black strap. All are designed and made in Italy, individually numbered and supplied in Unimatic's tough case with a warranty card.

Ten references, four prices

The official store currently lists every Impronte reference as in stock. The two U4 time-only watches are the entry point at €690 each, followed by the U3 chronographs at €750. The U1 divers and U4 GMT models are €815, while the U1 GMT references sit at €940. These are the brand's current tax-and-duty-inclusive prices, not temporary sale figures, although an Australian buyer should still confirm the checkout total and delivery details before ordering.

Each of those prices applies equally to the AEB and AEG version of the same model, so choosing between black and aluminium colour does not introduce a premium. The limitation is also consistent: 250 pieces per reference, for a theoretical collection total of 2,500 watches.

Impronte works because the idea remains legible from the simplest U4 to the busier U3. Raised, recessed and wrinkled surfaces give ten watches a common vocabulary, while the underlying case, movement and function still determine how each one is used. It is less a new family than a tightly controlled study in how an established tool watch can carry texture.