Unimatic Embrace Cartoons with Unimatic x South Park Modello Uno U1-EC ‘Eric Cartman’

From roasting American politics to courting a lawsuit from Meghan Markle and Price Harry, South Park’s remained one of the most consistently incisive shows during its many, many years on TV. That’s pretty impressive given their love of Christmas poops, addict towels and man-bear-pig. Unlike the toothless nostalgia of Peanuts and Popeye however, we rarely see any element of South Park on a watch. Well now, South Park has teamed up with popular Italian watchmaker Unimatic to create the Unimatic x South Park Modello Uno U1-EC.

Off the bat, that reference number is perhaps my favourite I’ve ever seen on a watch. Most Modello Unos follow the pattern of U1 followed by a string of numbers or letters that are usually some obtuse internal code, but in this case the EC stands for Eric Cartman. The rotund (sorry, big-boned) misanthrope with signature turquoise beanie that can be seen on the watch’s dial.

He’s depicted in the form of a multicolour print on top of a plain white dial with green hour markers and a peripheral minute track. He does have the central hand stack emerging from his face but with the art style of South Park (stubby arms) it doesn’t make sense to have him pointing to the time in the manner of a traditional character watch.

Beyond the dial, it’s the Unimatic Modello Uno we’ve seen before. It has a 40mm stainless steel case with a rotating bezel that features a matte black aluminium insert with a lumed indicator. Housed inside is the Seiko NH35A automatic calibre with a power reserve of 41-hours. It all lives up to Unimatic’s tool watch vibe.

The Unimatic x South Park Modello Uno Ref. U1-EC is a limited edition of 100 pieces and is presented on a turquoise nubuck strap to match Cartman’s hat. Considering the very accessible price of €625 (approx. £550) and the popularity of South Park, it’s likely to sell out faster than the first run of the Book of Mormon – in fact, it already has.