U-Boat 1000s of Feet

U-Boat 1000s of Feet with the nicely-decorated base-calibre manual-winding 17-jewel ETA 6497.2 with a 46-hour power reserve.

This watch comes with full box and papers and is in NOS (new old stock condition) which spent it's life larely untouched so it's in fantastic condition. The watch was released in the mid-2000's with an MSRP of over $6,250!

The black PVD case is a whopping 50mm x 50mm in diameter with a thickness of 14.6mm, this is a hefty watch weight in at just under 200 grams. The case-back is stainless steel painted black with an exhibition crystal. The water resistance is 100 meters, so unlike the name, it is not good for 1000's of feet. Fitted with the OEM black leather strap it can accommodate a wrist size up to 8 inches.

In 1942, the Italian Government commissioned Ilvo to design a watch to be used by the pilots of the Navy. He designed a professional watch which was large in size with a dial which was visible in any weather or lighting, and a crown located on the left-hand side which allowed for more comfort and safety. But the political situation of the time prevented this design to come alive.

And only in 2000, the grandson of Ilvo Fontana, Italo Fontana, who from the early childhood was creative and interested in modern technical novelties, inspired by his grandfather’s design created the current U Boat model we know today.

Italo combined his grandfather’s unique design with watch manufacturing techniques of 20th and 21st centuries.

The watch size and Italo’s love for the sea, yachts, and auto sports have prompted the name of the brand – “Your Boat”, which one step at a time was transformed to “Ur Boat”, and then eventually to “U-Boat”.

U-Boat’s base collections are Classico, Flightdeck, and Thousands of Feet.

Thousands of Feet collection was born when Italo was visiting USA, one of the known airplane hangars. He was exploring airplanes from 1930’s with its various devices, which allowed these machines to create history once.

But the airplanes could only go up to 1000 feet above sea level. Italo was inspired by this and thought of today’s technology which allows airplanes and submarines go thousands of feet above and below the sea level. Right there and then the “Thousands of feet” design was born.