Introducing URWERK UR-100V In A Titanium Jacket
5 min read
URWERK, a young company founded in 1997, and regarded as a forerunner among independent watchmakers, sees itself as a craftsman's studio where conventional expertise coexists with an avant-garde flair, producing only 150 timepieces per year. The business creates unrivalled modern and sophisticated timepieces that meet the most stringent fine watchmaking criteria: independent design and development, advanced materials, and handcrafted finishes.
And here they are! The URWERK story continues with the release of the UR-100V Full Titanium Jacket, a single-color variant with several shades of grey ranging from Payne grey to lead-grey only at Dubai Watch Week 2021. A made-to-order metal bracelet complements this limited-edition UR-100V. This one-of-a-kind bracelet made up of 32 sandblasted titanium links, dawns a flawless look.
"With the UR-100V Full Titanium Jacket, I'm reliving a childhood dream." I've always imagined and planned our works on a metal bracelet, from my first ideas for URWERK to the present day. The latter is a wrist extension of the watch, and it wonderfully matches the design. When you put it on your wrist, the material — in this case, titanium–is quite cold, which I appreciate.
On contact, it gradually warms up, acclimating to you and softly embracing your skin. When you play with the links on this ultra-light bracelet, it emits a unique sound. It makes me happy. It's quite lovely. This watch is a huge success and I'm excited to see it come to life in real life.", says Martin Frei, artist and co-founder of URWERK.
Under The Dome
The UR-100V Full Titanium Jacket, besides URWERK's signature satellite configuration of the wandering hours and minutes, brings your spin through space into sharp focus under the dome. When the minute’s hand has completed its 60-minute journey, it will return on a 555-kilometer 20-minute scale. If you stand on the equator of our rotating globe, you will move this distance in 20 minutes. The opposing scale depicts your travel around the sun in space: 35,740 kilometers every 20 minutes.
“Our goal was to create a watch that was as comfortable to wear as possible. The UR-100V Full Titanium Jacket is a watch that is extremely comfortable to wear. Its bracelet is exceptionally light and delicate against the skin. It's a pleasure bracelet," said URWERK co-founder and master watchmaker Felix Baumgartner.
You can see the display of time and distance in the same way on the UR-100V Full Titanium Jacket, with the hours and minutes in blue and the kilometers in dazzling white. Felix Baumgartner, a watchmaker, and co-founder of URWERK says he got the idea from a clock handed to him by his father, Geri, an expert clock restorer. "It was created for the Universal Exhibition of 1893 by Gustave Sandoz. It displayed the distance traveled by a point on the equator rather than the time."
Movements and Carousels
URWERK's new calibre 12.02 drives the carousel, which carries the roaming hours on three satellites. "This movement enabled a redesign of the carousel, bringing the hours closer to the minutes as they travel in succession along the 60-minute scale," Felix Baumgartner explains. As a result, reading the clock becomes easier and more intuitive."
They've made the carousel and the framework on top of the hours out of anodized aluminum, sanded and shot-blasted, with the satellite screws being circular sanded. You can see the satellites mounted on a ruthenium-plated sanded brass carousel. The structure atop the hour’s display is made of shot-blasted and sanded aluminum.
A Nostalgic Value
The case of the URWERK UR-100V Full Titanium Jacket has a retro feel to it. Many URWERK watch collectors will remember the brand's initial models. Martin Frei adds, "We adopted some of the artistic aspects of our earlier structures and then destroyed them."
"For example, our early models' steel dome is now made of translucent sapphire crystal. The titanium and steel case's strong shapes emphasise its perfection. "I've employed diverse proportions to capture the attention because I'm always at odds with the dictates of symmetry," he concludes.
URWERK means "original movement" in English, and it is a testament to generations of watchmakers whose efforts have resulted in what we now call Haute Horlogerie, or "superlative watchmaking."
