The other day, my friend Pauline asked me some advice on buying a vintage watch.
I was trilled to be able to help her. Instantly I replied "Nice!", "what's your budget?", "what diameter?", "what style?".
She knew what she wanted: "36mm round, leather bracelet, like a 60's Glashutte GUB". She saw the one from her friend Fleur, a 33mm, white dial, dark blue oil painted hands, beige leather bracelet.
So where does GUB come from and is it related with Glashutte Original?
I will cover the beginnings of Glashutte history, which was probably not the best at that time, but allows us today, watch enthusiasts, to get a bit of that heritage at an affordable price.
Officialy named VEB Glashutter Uhrentrieber, meaning Glashutte Watchmaking plants, and shortnamed Glashutte GUB is the predecessing company of Glashutte Original, and the heir of previous Glashuette (German village) independent watch makers. Side note, the name is international known and most often written Glashutte, but the german writing allows Glashuette when the "u" is not available.
At the time of east Germany and west Germany, the German watch industry suffered by restricting imports from abroad, and therefor making the local watch manufacturers more independent and producing locally.
Around 1951, three watch companies, UFAG, UROFA and VEB Lange (A. Lange & Sohne) merged to create GUB (Glashutter Uhrenbetriebe). The calibre 60 was one of the movement made at that period and can be found in many Glashutte GUB watches.
Picture: Glashutte GUB movement 60
Picture: Glashutte GUB movement 60, zoom
Later came one of the more "famous" ones, the calibre 10-30, an automatic movement beating at 28800bph, 22 jewels, 42 hours power reserve. Watches with that movement are distinguishable by the mention Spezimat on the dial.
Picture: GUB Spezimatic movement
Like Pauline, you can find good deals of vintage GUB Glashutte on Ebay. Prices vary between 100USD and 1500$. Some basic hand/hour hands, second sub dial, and chronographs. We advise you to contact the seller and ask about the accuracy of the movement, check the pictures of the movement.
Today, the "modern" Glashutte belongs to the Swatch Group since 2000. It was created in 1994, and doesn't bring us back in a long history, but an interesting one.
In Glashutten village, you can find 4 watch manufacturers: A. Lange & Sohne, GLashutte Original, Nomos and Muhle.
Here are the links to their websites
Picture: Glashutte village, map Germany, red point
