Time & the Botta UNO24
I guess there are different ways to look at time and how slow or fast it goes by. When I was a kid, I was told that I should embrace the early, carefree years of my life because all I had to do was to play and be in the moment. True, I couldn’t wait for the summer to point its nose around the corner but, for the most part, I was pretty much doing whatever I wanted. I didn’t have to worry about going to work or paying bills. I went to school, of course, but I spent a lot of time playing after school and on the weekends. Time flew by because I had a lot of fun. That’s how I perceived and understood time when I was little: it goes by fast because you’re having a good time.
Then I started working and time slowed down to a turtle pace. It’s as if I could feel each minute passing by, each second ticking inside my head, and boy was I bored! I saw time as something that needed to go faster so that I could be done with responsibilities as quickly as possible. But now, at age 40, I have an entirely different appreciation of it. I want time to pass as slowly or as fast as it should, and I like to keep track of the passing time by way of an analog wristwatch. While most of the time I wear a timepiece that has three hands, it was nice to spend some time with the Botta UNO24 Edition 15: just one hand making one full rotation around the dial every 24 hours.
Key Features of the Botta UNO24 Edition 15
You may be familiar with the idea of single-hand watches, the modern version of which was invented by Klaus Botta in 1986. I say “modern” because time-telling devices with one hand have been around since the dawn of horology—think of the first sundials and mechanical clock towers. However, Botta created the first single-hand wristwatch and therefore simplified the idea of keeping track of time on the wrist: one hand doing two full revolutions a day as the original Uno had (and still does) a 12-hour dial layout. Then, 15 years ago, Klaus Botta created the first 24-hour single-hand wrist watch which we’re taking a look at here today. That is, in other words, the most straightforward way of showing time.
With the UNO24 Edition 15 we find ourselves with a relatively compact case measuring 40mm in diameter, 34.5mm lug-to-lug, 9.5mm thick, and coming with a 20mm lug width. (This model also exists in a 45mm diameter case.) Being entirely made of titanium, the watch weighs around 36 grams on a leather strap (one can choose from various types of leather and rubber straps as well as metal bracelets,) which is extremely light and makes the UNO24 very comfortable to wear on the wrist all day. Note how short the case is and how flat of a profile it has and—the icing on the cake being—the ways in which the case flanks flare up towards the fixed bezel to guarantee maximum comfort when wiggling your wrist around.
Powering the UNO24 Edition 15 is a modified and regulated ETA 2893-2 elaboré calibre, beating at 28,800 BPH (4Hz) and coming with 42 hours of power reserve. The wide dial is protected thanks to a piece of double-domed sapphire crystal complete with two layers of scratch-resistant, anti-reflective coating so that seeing the one hand on the dial is easy at any angle. You’ll also find a piece of sapphire on the back so that you can glance at the charming ETA calibre within. Being only 9.5mm thick and definitely not a tool watch, the UNO24 Edition 15 comes with 50 meters of water resistance and no lume.
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SPECS
| Case | Titatnium 40mm Diameter 34.5mm Lug to Lug 9.5mm Thick 20mm Lug Width 50m Water Resistance |
| Dial & Crystal | Sapphire Crystal 24-Hour Dial Date @6 (or “zero”) |
| Movement | ETA 2893-2 Elaboré 28 800bpm 21 Jewels 42-Hour Power Reserve |
| Strap | Vintage Leather Strap |
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Of Interest
Obviously, the most interesting part here is how one reads the time. Being equipped with a GMT caliber, the UNO24 Edition 15 showcases a two-part dial layout where the upper section, highlighted in bright orange, represents the daytime hours (from 6am to 6pm) while the lower section, in black, represents the nighttime hours (from 6pm to 6am.) This means that if the hand is in the orange section you better be up and ready as the day has started. And if the hand enters the dark section of the dial—or gets close to it—then you know that your work day is about to end. It’s a novel and interesting way to perceive and track time.
The word of the game here is, therefore, speed. Once you get used to it, you can quickly determine where you are in the day without having to worry precisely to which minute you’ve arrived. Botta invites people to look at time as a continuous process that is not precise, or at the very least, one which we shouldn’t want to track with the highest degree of precision. In other words: take it easy. And you can tell approximately where you are because each of the hash-marks between two full hours represent 10 minutes, the taller one in the middle representing the half hour.
All of this is made possible thanks to a very well thought-out design process. Indicating time with just one hand is not an easy task, even more so if the hand in question rotates around the dial only once every 24 hours. Which is why Botta highlighted the 12, 18, 0, and 6 hours (noon, 6pm, midnight and 6am) to make reading the time easier, and that the single hand is so long and thin so that it reaches the hour and minute scale printed on the surrelevated rehaut and that it tips easily indicates what time it is. I find the design to be quite genius and fascinating and I was already a big fan of their 12-hour original version.
Quibbles
There is nothing I can genuinely quibble about here because Botta created its own system of displaying and keeping track of time. And not only did the brand lay out the dial in a novel way, but it also created a novel type of case design to go along with it. And there is no lume because it’s not a tool watch, and it only comes with 50 meters of water resistance because it’s not a diver. There, I said it. Perhaps I could say something about its price, however: $2,425 USD on the leather strap. Which seems like a lot but you need to remember what the UNO24 is and what it is made out of. It’s a different and novel way of showing time; it’s made with high-quality components such as the ETA 2893-2 elaboré calibre, sapphire crystal, and a full titanium case which is light, durable, anti-magnetic, and hypoallergenic.
Final Thoughts
It’s not every day that we come across a watch like the Botta UNO24 Edition 15. It invites us to look at time in a different way and to track it from a different perspective. Not that of a navy officer who must plan a precise attack on enemy warships, but more that of a casual human being who has stuff to do but not at very specific times. And someone can, nevertheless, not miss a meeting or an important phone call because the dial shows time in 10-minute increments. And having such a precise design, it’s easy to tell when we’re approaching a full or half hour when we, humans, normally schedule things. (When was the last time you had a meeting that started at 3:48pm? Exactly.)
If you want to know more about Botta and the UNO24 Edition 15, I recommend checking out the brand’s website here.
Vincent Deschamps is a museum professional, originally from France, with more than 10 years experience as a researcher, producing visitor experiences for national and international organizations. He is also the founder of mainspring.watch. You can follow Vincent on Instagram.
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