Urwerk rebuilds its UR-102, which debuted in 1997, to create UR-102 Reloaded, a round watch that still offers the hands-free wandering-hour display of the original, which was inspired by the Sputnik satellite launch of 1957.
With its familiar semi-circular time track and digital hour marker, the new Urwerk UR-102 updates the pioneering original model with a slightly larger (41mm) case with larger lugs.
Urwerk has also merged the crown into the case and moved it from the 3 o’clock position to the 4 o’clock position. And instead of the ceramicized aluminum of the original, the new edition is cased in satin-brushed or black titanium.
“If you observe our UR-102 Reloaded in its titanium version, you will notice that the minutes track is the same blue,” explains Urwerk’s Martin Frei.
“We redesigned and shifted the crown slightly. The migration of the crown led to a change in the opening for reading the time. No longer a perfect semi-circle, this ‘window’ is wider with sloping edges, giving it a fresher, more dynamic look,” he adds.
Urwerk has also redesigned the font of the hours and minutes markers and added new information on the dial.
Urwerk offers the UR-102 Reloaded in a boxed set issued as a 25-piece limited edition comprising the titanium and black titanium versions. Later this year the watches will be available individually.Price: $60,000.
The new Urwerk 100V P.02 allows the viewer to track typical Space Shuttle launch and landing sequences.
The pioneering independent watchmaker has re-designed its existing UR-100 to incorporate color-coded indicators designed to give the viewer the ability to track the Space Shuttle program’s typical launch and landing sequences. These are visible through apertures that also show the approximate location of the Shuttle at each phase of launch and landing.
Thus, on the new titanium and steel-cased Urwerk 100V P.02, green represents the shuttle on Earth. Blue indicates the shuttle traveling through the Earth’s sky or lower atmosphere. Red represents the upper atmosphere and black indicates time in low earth orbit.
Where the standard Urwerk UR-100V tracks the kilometers traveled on the equator in twenty minutes, and the kilometers the earth covered around the sun in the same period, the new edition takes a different approach. It re-configures the dial’s two lateral apertures to track the process and timing of the Space Shuttle’s launch and landing.
Space Base
The partnership is Urwerk’s first collaboration with an organization or individual other than a watchmaker (and one whiskey maker). The joint effort was spurred by life-long admiration for the Space Shuttle and space travel by Urwerk co-founders Martin Frei and Felix Baumgartner, and by Asher Rapkin and Gabe Reilly, founders of Collective Horology, a California-based collector group.
“We loved URWERK’s use of orbiting satellite hours and minute hands for the UR-100 SpaceTime launched in 2019, but we saw an opportunity to tell a different story,” says Reilly. He adds that he imagined how Urwerk might create a watch that was a tribute to the Space Shuttle prototype Enterprise.
Collective Horology and Florida-based Goldsmith & Complications, the watch’s official authorized dealer, will donate $50,000 dollars from the proceeds of this project to the Intrepid Museum in New York City.
The new Urwerk UR-100V P.02 is available to existing and new Collective Horology members. This will be a limited edition of twenty pieces. Price: $62,500.
Specifications: Urwerk UR-100V P.02
Movement: Self-winding UR 12.02 movement with the winding rotor governed by a Windfänger airscrew. Materials include satellite hours on beryllium-bronze Geneva crosses; aluminum carousel; carousel and triple baseplates in ARCAP alloy. Forty-eight hour power reserve. Finishing: Circular graining and sanding, shot peening; chamfered screw heads; hours and minutes painted in SuperLumiNova.
Displays: Satellite hours and minutes; space shuttle sequence of events indications.
Case: 41mm by 49.7mm by 14mm titanium and stainless steel with a gun metal PVD finish. Sapphire crystal and thirty meters of water resistance.
On September 17 the Musée International d’Horlogerie (MIH) in La Chaux-de-Fonds will present the Gaïa Award to individuals who have advancedwatchmaking through their work and achievements in three categories.
For 2020, the awards will be presented to:
—Antoine Preziuso (winner in the Craftsmanship, Creation category) for his “systematic approach to mechanical watchmaking in his exceptional creations and his perseverance in developing his brand and his dedication to sharing his passion.”
Antoine Preziuso
— Denis Savoye (winner in the History, Research category) “for his exceptional career as a theorist, historian and builder of sundials.”
Denis Savoie
— Felix Baumgartner and Martin Frei (winners in the Entrepreneurship category) for “the pioneering role their company (Urwerk) has played in defining watchmaking in the 21st century watchmaking.
Martin Frei (left) and Felix Baumgartner
The public ceremony (entry only with prior registration due to the health measures) will take place September 17 at the Musée international d’horlogerie (MIH) in La Chaux-de-Fonds.
The MIH created the Gaïa Prize in 1993 to honor those who have contributed — and who continue to contribute — to the reputation of watchmaking – through its history, its technology and its industry.
New talent
In addition to the three award categories, the MIH also presents the Horizon Gaïa, an incentive grant for ongoing work made possible by the Watch Academy Foundation to encourage new talent.
The Museum of Horology in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland.
The 2020 Horizon Gaïa incentive grant has been awarded to Zoé Snijders, who is taking her Master’s in Conservation-Restoration for technical, scientific and watchmaking instruments at the Haute École Arc in Neuchâtel. Her knowledge means she will be able to understand a mechanism as complex as the Delvart astronomical clock, an object that combines science with belief, history and watchmaking expertise, and which entered the MIH collections in 2015. Snijders will study the origin, symbolism and operation of the clock, with the aim of raising its profile among the museum’s visitors.
