Like the Swiss watch industry, the German one has many names that have been around for a while. A good example is Junkers. They were founded in 1895.
The German watch industry is known for its prowess in aviation and Bauhaus pieces. As mentioned, Junkers is a leading name in the aviation game. They were the trusty supplier to the German military.
If you’re a watch enthusiast, you’ve heard of the Bauhaus movement before. It consists of timepieces that are super minimalistic and modern. The design is all over European watches these days. It wasn’t always popular, however. Junkers is one of the brands that brought it to prominence.
The company rebranded itself recently. They now go as Iron Annie. The original Junkers watches are still being manufactured in Germany, under their previous name.
Before we dive into our review, give the following section a read. We summarized our entries’ specs in the table below.
Our Pick
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The watch is a vision in black. Its strap is made from a shiny black material. It is premium genuine leather. It feels like a dream on your wrists. Thankfully, the band is not thick. We’re not a fan of thick leather – it makes your arms sweat. There’s stitching on its edges. We aren’t sure, but it looks hand-done.
Its case is 1.65 inches (42 mm). Although not the largest, its dial is wide. The timepiece is a pilot’s piece, so you’d expect such a thing. It’d be easier to read when in the air. As its case is only 42 mm, you can wear the Tante JU even if you have smaller wrists – it won’t look awkward on you.
What’s the material on it? You’re getting quality stainless steel. It’s not only waterproof, but it’s superbly scratch resistant.
There are large Arabic numerals on its face. This makes it even easier to read. The cherry on top is the lume on its hands. You don’t have to look closely to notice that it was slathered on thick. You’ll easily be able to tell the time in dark settings. In terms of the type of pigment used, we have no idea. We’d guess Swiss quality, though.
You might be wondering what the pushers on its sides are for. They work its chronographs. Being so large, they might slam against your wrist. However, their size makes them easy to work with.
Its chronographs are the three sub-dials on its face. You can think of them like ultra-accurate stop-clocks. The ones on the timepiece read the milliseconds, seconds and minutes passed. As you can imagine, they’d be useful when flying.
There’s a crown-protector. This prevents its crown from snagging onto you.
Pilots need accurate time. They have places to be after all. The 6872-5 comes with an ultra-accurate Japanese quartz movement. It is the Miyota 6S10. It moves like butter.
Don’t get too rough with its face. It’s made from mineral. If you didn’t know, it’s probably the least resistant watch crystal around.
What makes it special:
The super-accurate chronographs.
The timepiece is ful black. It looks very chic. As it’s a Bauhaus piece, you might be iffy about its markers. They’re thin, minimalistic metal strips. They look good, but if you have bad eye-sight, they won’t be the easiest on your eyes.
Its strap is shiny and premium-looking. It is genuine leather. Thankfully, it’s not thick. As mentioned, thick leather bands make you sweat. Just like the entry above, there’s stitching in-place. The work looks like it was hand-done.
Its case is 1.57 inches (40 mm). It’s on the smaller side, but its face is wide. The material in its case is surgical grade stainless steel. It’s very shiny, almost silver-like. It makes the 6050-2 look like a million bucks.
The movement inside of it is not quartz. It is a Swiss automatic. This explains the exposed back. You’ll be able to watch its many gears in motion. We would’ve loved if its front was exposed too, but this would’ve taken from its Bauhaus look.
What is the name of its specific automatic movement? The one inside it is the ETA 2824-2. It comes with 25 jewel bearings between gears. No, they aren’t real. They’re synthetic. 17 is the standard amount, so 25 is good. The more of them present, the smoother your device’s gears will run.
We are told its power reserve. It is 38 hours. This isn’t the best as 40-42 is commonly available.
The fact that it’s a Swiss automatic instead of Japanese is good. More craftsmanship was put into its build.
What about its window? It’s made from hesalite. It is not the most resistant glass around. It especially doesn’t hold a torch to Sapphire. However, its composition lets it handle glare well. Compared to counterparts, it can handle sunlight the best.
As the crystal is not the most resistant, it’s good that Junkers domed its window. This lets it handle impacts better.
The Junkers automatic is water-resistant. Unfortunately, it can’t handle much of a dip. It’s only resistant up to 100 feet (30 meters). This means that a couple of splashes will be all it can handle. You probably wouldn’t want to get it wet anyway. Its strap is genuine leather, so it’ll get soaked easily. Once wet, good luck trying to get it to dry.
What makes it special:
Its hesalite watch window.
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The unit isn’t very big. Its case stretches 1.57 inches (40 mm) across. It looks like Junkers follows a pattern, producing more petite devices. Although its face is small, it has the widest dial so far. There’s barely any bezel between its case and face.
The material in its case is shiny stainless steel. It’s why the 6730-1 looks so expensive. You’ll notice that its crown isn’t in the regular 3 o'clock angle. That’s because Junkers is considerate. Having a crown in the 3 o'clock position is not the best as it might slam into your wrist.
Speaking of its crown, it’s grooved great. Its shape also gives off an elegant look.
You’re getting the time read in bold Arabic numerals. They contrast against its plain white backdrop well. If you look closely, you’ll see the minutes in an hour in an outer ring. They’re not the easiest to read, however.
Like any good watch, there is a date-feature. It’s at an angle you don’t normally get calendars in, though. It’s at the 2 o'clock position. But it doesn’t affect how easy it is to read.
What’s the glass on its display? Regular mineral. Once again, you’re met with a unit with a domed crystal.
Like its counterparts, it can’t handle that much of a dip. It’s only resistant up to 165 feet (50 meters). This means you’ll be able to swim with it at most. Considering it’s such a good-looking piece, swimming with it won’t be on the top of your list. The fact that its band is made from leather doesn’t make hitting the pool appealing either – remember what we said about it soaking like a sponge?
We’re glad to see the stitching on its strap. No, we don’t know if it was hand-made, however, it looks the part.
What’s the sub-dial in the 7 o'clock position? It reads the seconds’ passed.
The 6730-1 is a Swiss quartz unit. In terms of the specific mechanism present, it’s the Ronda 6004.D. We’re fans of it. Junkers knows what they’re doing.
What makes it special:
The date-feature is at the 2 o'clock angle.
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As the watch is for women, it is smaller in size. Its case stretches 1.41 inches (36 mm) across. For a women’s piece, 1.41 inches (36 mm) is not too small actually.
As you might’ve guessed, the material on its strap is leather. It is Italian and consists of stitching. It’s not too thick, like its siblings’.
There are thin Arabic numerals on its face – they’re super minimalistic, going with its Bauhaus theme. You’ll notice the absence of a seconds’ hand. No need to fret, there’s a sub-dial that’ll tell the seconds passed. It is the one in the 6 o'clock position.
You’re not getting good water resistance. The 6035-2 can only handle 100 feet (30 meters) underwater.
Its case is made from surgical grade stainless steel. It is superbly waterproof.
We don’t think its face is the easiest to read. The markers on it are brown while its dial has a black back-drop. They don’t contrast well. It doesn’t help that the numerals aren’t large either. You’ll be squinting trying to read them.
There’s lume on its face at least. But the pigment is only on its hands. It’s slathered on thinly too.
Something noteworthy about its dial is that it’s made from anthracite. It’s why there’s a metallic look to it. It doesn’t have much of a purpose, other than making the watch look good.
What about its window? It’s nothing to write home about. It’s just mineral. Thankfully, the crystal was domed, giving it some durability.
Its crown is on the larger side. This makes it easier to move. It’s also grooved well. We would’ve loved it if it was in the 4 o'clock position, but you don’t always get what you want.
Before we move onto the latter part of our review, let’s talk about its movement. It’s Swiss quartz. The Junkers Bauhaus quartz has the Ronda 1069 is inside it.
What makes it special:
Anthracite crystal is what makes-up its dial.
Now that you’re aware of some great Junkers watches, let’s take a closer look at the brand. We’ve answered some burning questions you may have.
Their units boast a Made in Germany label. They are designed and manufactured in the country. However, parts are imported. This is especially true for their movements. We looked at entries with both Japanese and Swiss quartz mechanisms in our review.
Speaking of German-made pieces, check our German watch review if you’re interested in timepieces from the region.
With every purchase, you’re getting a 2-year warranty. You need to make sure that you purchased your device from an authorized seller, though.
The warranty covers units internationally. We think the coverage they offer is competitive. You can learn more about it on their site.
The company is one of the best German brands around. They are notorious for their aviation pieces, and watch enthusiasts are especially fond of them. They’ve been around for a while and even catered to the German military. Their watches aren’t the most affordable, so they’re more up-there, and they use quality parts (like buttery Swiss movements), which gives them an edge.
Junkers offers a myriad of pieces. Most of our picks just happened to be quartz. You can find many automatic ones around.
What did you think about our Junkers watch review? The brand is a giant in the German watch industry for a reason. They’re known for their good-looking, minimalistic pieces and it shows. We ran through a list of stunning devices, and we’d pick any of them up.
