URWERK’s Latest Creation Translates Cosmic Distances Into Mechanical Timekeeping

There are watches that tell the time. And then there are watches that make you rethink time altogether. URWERK has always belonged to the latter category and with the UR-100V LS Ceramic, the independent Geneva-based disruptor pushes its cosmic storytelling to dazzling new heights. This isn’t just a wristwatch. It’s a mechanical meditation on one of the universe’s most fascinating constants: the speed of light. With the UR-100V ‘LightSpeed’ Ceramic, URWERK transforms the familiar act of timekeeping into something far grander. Here, minutes and hours are no longer simply measured they are travelled. The watch steps beyond Earthly references and turns your wrist into a stage where astronomy, physics and haute horlogerie collide.

When a Wandering Hour Becomes a Cosmic Traveller

URWERK’s signature wandering hour satellite remains at the heart of the watch, but in this iteration it takes on a remarkable new role. Once it completes its sweep across the minute track, the satellite begins an entirely different journey one that mirrors the path of a photon travelling from the Sun toward the planets of our solar system. In other words, time isn’t merely displayed; it is mapped across cosmic distance.

Every indication on the dial corresponds to measurable scientific data. Each movement represents an actual astronomical phenomenon. The watch effectively bridges two scales that rarely meet: the vastness of the universe and the intimacy of the human wrist. It is astronomy translated into kinetic sculpture. Light, in this watch, is not poetic symbolism it is hard science. Photons, the massless carriers of electromagnetic energy, travel through space at a constant velocity of 299,792 kilometres per second. Born deep within the Sun’s core, these particles spend thousands of years battling through dense solar matter before finally escaping into space. Once free, sunlight reaches Earth in just 8.3 minutes a reminder that what we perceive as “now” is often delayed information. Every beam of sunlight we experience is, in essence, a memory. This scientific reality forms the philosophical backbone of the UR-100V LS Ceramic.

Alongside its satellite hour display, the watch integrates a three-dimensional planetary scale representing the eight planets of our solar system. Each position reflects the exact time sunlight requires to reach that planet. When the hour satellite exits the minute track, it becomes a moving marker tracing the journey of sunlight across interplanetary space.

Mapping the Solar System onto Your Wrist

URWERK’s Artistic Director and co-founder Martin Frei describes the watch as a poetic compression of the universe. “Wearing this creation is like carrying a fragment of the universe on the wrist. By mapping astronomical distances onto the geometry of a wristwatch dial, the apparent velocity of light becomes visually slowed. A constant physical speed is perceived as gradual simply because the scale has changed.”

More than raw data, the complication offers a tangible sense of scale, a reminder of the staggering distances that define our solar neighbourhood. URWERK co-founder and master watchmaker Felix Baumgartner expands the narrative beyond science into existential territory. “It’s a story we are all told as children,” he notes. “It explains our place in the universe and our complicated relationship with the present. When the light of a distant star reaches us, that star may no longer exist. What we see is never the present only a memory.”

Engineering a New Kind of Ceramic

URWERK’s storytelling doesn’t stop at the dial. The case itself represents one of the brand’s most ambitious material innovations. Traditional ceramics offer incredible hardness but are notoriously brittle. URWERK tackled this limitation by developing an entirely new composite ceramic. According to Baumgartner, integrating glass fibres and carbon within the ceramic structure dramatically improves impact resistance, preventing the catastrophic shattering typical of conventional ceramics.

The material uses a polymer matrix containing woven ceramic fibres layered with glass fibre and carbon technologies borrowed from aeronautics and advanced medical laser manufacturing. The result is a case that delivers ceramic’s visual precision while significantly improving structural resilience. It is engineered rather than merely decorative.

The Power of White 

The aesthetic choice of white further deepens the narrative. URWERK employs a specially developed white resin that contrasts with the silvery layers of glass fibre within the composite. During machining, these layers reveal a subtle stratified structure that creates natural visual depth. Depending on lighting and viewing angle, the case shifts between deep matte and softly luminous finishes. These are not applied effects but organic expressions of the material itself controlled yet inherently unpredictable.

Martin Frei ties the colour choice to both science and symbolism. “A white ceramic case frames the black dial like a portal into space,” he explains. “White is not truly a colour but an optical effect created when all wavelengths of light are balanced. It changes depending on illumination and contrast. In our watch, white ceramic and white light meet two forms of energy expressed through surface.”

The UR-100V LS Ceramic measures 43 mm in width, 51.73 mm in length, and 14.55 mm in thickness. The caseback, crafted from DLC-treated Grade 5 titanium and finished with micro-blasting, reveals the rotor an abstract visual tribute to the Sun powering the watch. At the core sits the UR 12.02 automatic calibre, equipped with URWERK’s Windfänger system. This air-resistance turbine regulates winding efficiency by preventing excess energy build-up.

The movement operates at 28,800 vibrations per hour and offers a 48-hour power reserve through twin barrels. Forty jewels support a complex kinematic structure arranged across three ARCAP alloy plates, selected for their stability. Aluminium hour satellites mounted on beryllium bronze Maltese crosses, an aluminium carousel, and a black PVD-treated aluminium rotor complete the mechanical architecture. Finishing techniques remain deliberately functional rather than decorative, featuring circular graining, sandblasting, shot-blasting and circular satin finishing. Chamfered screw heads provide a respectful nod to traditional watchmaking, while Super-LumiNova® on the time indications ensures clear legibility without disturbing the dial’s architectural purity.

A Universe Reduced to Human Scale

The UR-100V LS Ceramic does not attempt to explain the cosmos that would be impossible. Instead, it performs something far more compelling. It translates astrophysical reality into a mechanical experience that unfolds on the wrist, allowing wearers to engage with universal phenomena in an intimate, tangible way. In typical URWERK fashion, the watch reminds us that time is not simply something we track. It is something we travel through often at the speed of light.