Quirky horological design house Urwerk has reached back 26 years to revisit one of its classics introduced at Baselworld 1997, with the release of a new "reloaded" version of its space-age themed UR-102 wristwatch that puts a new spin on its minimalist style.
Urwerk has built a reputation for creating a line of wristwatches that push the boundaries of timepiece aesthetics and ways to display hours, minutes, and seconds. Many of these are breathtakingly complex, but Urwerk also comes up with some remarkably elegant watches.
In 1997, Urwerk unveiled its UR-102 wristwatch, which had a clean, streamlined design that was inspired by the first Sputnik satellite launched by the USSR in 1957. Today, the company is revisiting the UR-102 with a "reloaded'' take that tweaks the features and introduces titanium to replace the ceramicized aluminum case of the original and smooths out the design by moving the crown to blend in at 4 o'clock.
But the party piece of the UR-102 is still the display that is based on a clock design dating back to 1656, yet has rarely been seen since then. Called a wandering hours complication, there is only one moving part of the display visible. The dial consists of a semi-circular arch marked out to show the minutes. Over this, moves a band with a window in it showing the current hour. As the band moves, the hour window sits over the current minute until it reaches the far end. It then disappears and is replaced by another window showing the next hour.
The new arrangement remains the same, though the font has been improved for readability and trivia about the UR-102 has been inscribed on the band, which is made of anodized aluminum to reflect the original's color scheme.
The UR-102 "reloaded" is larger than its predecessor, with a 41-mm case instead of 38 mm. The case comes in both satin-brushed titanium and black, with both included in a box set. Inside is a 25-jewel, self-winding, Calibre 2.02 movement beating at a frequency of 28,800 vph and boasting a 48-hour power reserve. The display is protected by a bespoke sapphire crystal and the watch is water-resistant to 30 m (100 ft, 3 ATM). The whole thing is topped off by a rubber strap with textured Baltimore-quilt pattern and a micro-blasted titanium buckle.
The UR-102 "reloaded" comes in a limited twin-set edition of 25 units and will put you back CHF56,000 (US$60,000).
Source: Urwerk