Urwerk has recently released a brand new model: the new Urwerk UR-100V “Blue Planet”
URWERK occupies a unique place in the world of modern and independent watchmaking. It is considered a true icon and it has its roots in space inspired watchmaking, with its interplanetary imagination, science fiction iconography and unlimited creative freedom.
The history of Urwerk in short
The manufacture was founded in Geneva in 1997 by Felix Baumgartner and Martin Frei. It produces watches that redefine and expand the experience of time in materials, mechanics and visual impact.
URWERK played a very important role at the beginning of the “Clock Renaissance” in the 1990s, in the era following the quartz crisis, at a time when mechanical watchmaking had finally begun to assert itself, not just celebrating tradition, but also trying innovations never seen before.
Of the many new brands founded in that period some have become history, while others have taken a more mainstream approach, URWERK has remained faithful to its original vision over the years, of celebrating unusual ways of viewing time and then living it, rewriting new directions in Watchmaking matter.
The stile of an independent watch
An Independent manufacture that enhances the highly spectacular mechanical movements of the watches, with one feature in common: the satellite complication with wandering hours, with or without retrograde minutes according to the various interpretations.
In recent years he has given us pieces like the AMC, wristwatch mechanically controlled by an atomic clock, as well as the EMC timepiece, which monitors its own mechanical accuracy.
“Un’autentica e nuova esperienza del tempo, in un orologio da polso.”
The new UR-100V “Blue Planet”
With the UR-100 “Blue Planet” URWERK continues its tradition of reinventing the past.
In fact, this extraordinary timepiece shows two very unusual pieces of information, the distances of rotation and revolution of the Earth.
On the dial, at 10 and 2 o’clock, two thin windows open with astronomical indications, the first showing the kilometres traveled by the earth in its rotation on the axis near the equator, equal to 555 km every 20 minutes.
The second window, on the other hand, measures the distance that the earth travels around the sun, which corresponds to 35740 km in the space of 20 minutes.
The complication is not only new to URWERK, but also to watchmaking. The UR-100 “Blue Planet” was inspired by a clock in the maison’s offices completed in 1893 and shown at the Chicago World’s Fair
Features of the “Blue Planet”: “Innovative design with classic sizes”
The UR-100V “Blue Planet” is a return to slightly more classic proportions which, from a design point of view, are perfectly suited to the complication.
The 41mm titanium and stainless steel case with blue PVD finish has a 49.7mm lug to lug and a thickness of 14mm and is resistant to 3 atm. The look is completed by the blue canvas strap and the crown at 12 o’clock.
The UR 12.01 Caliber
The timepiece is powered by the exclusive UR 12.01 in-house automatic caliber, which can be admired from the visible sapphire crystal caseback.
The perforated solid rotor is regulated by a flat planetary turbine, called “Windfänger”, useful to minimize the impacts on the bearing and reduce its wear. Traditional feature of the brand, the baseplates are made of ARCAP, an alloy that does not contain iron and therefore non-magnetic.
“Adorned with Blue … a blue that recalls our planet Earth”
To make the movement even more exclusive, the plates, the bridges and the turbine are coated in blue PVD while the most visible screws are in titanium, rendered blue with a unique technique of the Baumgartner family.
As well as the movement, also all the elements of the dial, from the perforated aluminum movement to the hour satellites including the hour modules is blue, URWERK’s designer Martin Frei says:
“When I create and when I paint, all colors resonate in me, but blue in particular is a color that surrounds us, that envelops us.”
martin frei
Numbers and tracks are printed in white, while the time is indicated by a yellow and green pointer. The dial is easy to read even in low light conditions, thanks to the help of the Super-LumiNova which covers both the pointers and the numbers of the minute and hour scale.
But.. how do you read the UR-100V Blue Planet?
The hours and minutes are indicated by an orbital satellite that runs on the Geneva crosses, while the two thin windows with astronomical indications open at 10 and 2 o’clock.
The retrograde minutes are shown in the lower part of the dial, which are indicated by 3 different arrows, each accompanied by a group of 3 satellites which, at each arc corresponding to 60 minutes, rotate to show the following time.
The two astronomical indications lasting 20 minutes correspond accordingly to the other two minute arrows, which make their path outside the indication of the minutes themselves.
List price and limits to production
The UR-100V “Blue Planet” adds a new dimension to URWERK watchmaking and a fresh and very poetic aspect to the experience of time, making visible the perception of its flow, which we are not normally aware of.
This innovative timepiece is produced in a limited edition, in just 25 pieces and sold at a price of approx 48,000.00 CHF
Translated by Federico Secci
