Urwerk, founded in 1995 by Felix Baumgartner and Martin Frei, has quickly established itself as a trailblazer in the world of luxury watchmaking. Characterized by unconventional designs, complex mechanisms, and novel time display systems, Urwerk watches often incorporate satellite displays, wandering hours, and other unusual methods of indicating the time. Alongside brands like MB&F, De Bethune, Greubel Forsey, and Atelier Akrivia, Urwerk is leading the charge in the modern high-end independent watchmaking space.
With a blend of traditional watchmaking techniques and futuristic aesthetics, Urwerk watches stand out as unique and bold creations. Let’s explore three remarkable timepieces from Urwerk: the UR-CC1, UR-110 RG, and UR-120. Each watch represents the brand’s commitment to pushing boundaries and redefining the art of timekeeping.
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Urwerk UR-CC1 “King Cobra”
Introduced in 2009, the UR-CC1 is a prime example of Urwerk’s ability to create watches that challenge conventional watch design. The timepiece features a linear display of time, where two stacked cylinders serve to indicate the hours and minutes. The lower one is for the jumping hours while the upper one is for the retrograde minutes. What’s more, thanks to a cleverly designed display with a rotating disk on the top portion of the case, the watch indicates the seconds both digitally and linearly — a world first.
The sides of the case offer windows into all the intricate mechanics that power the watch. From one side we can see a toothed rack of the vertical triple-cam, which rotates the minute cylinder. As this is a retrograde minutes display, when the cylinder arrives at the 60-minute mark, it instantly jumps back to its starting position and begins the cycle all over again. Moreover, it also triggers the hour cylinder to jump to the next hour. The other window gives us a look at the Rotor Fly Brake shock absorber turbine of the automatic winding system inside the case.
The sloping rectangular case of the Urwerk UR-CC1 measures 42.6mm from side to side, 53mm from top to bottom, and 18mm thick. It’s available in either white gold or black gold, both furnished with titanium casebacks and limited to 25 pieces each.
The Patek Prototype Inspiration
Now, this watch is a modern work of mechanical art, yet it does surprisingly draw inspiration from a vintage Patek Philippe prototype. Back in 1958, renowned designer Gilbert Albert and innovative watchmaker Louis Cottier (the man responsible for the world time complication) collaborated to create the world’s first watch to feature a linear display. This was a completely wild concept back in the mid-20th century!
Despite the technical difficulty of producing such a timepiece, the men went ahead and created a prototype for Patek Philippe. Louis Cottier even filed a patent for the complex mechanism in 1959. However, the Patek Philippe ref. 3414 “Cobra” watch never went into production and it currently sits in Patek’s museum in Geneva. The Urwerk “King Cobra” UR-CC1 is a tribute to that vintage Patek and the “CC” in the reference number is short for “Cottier Cobra.”
Urwerk UR-110 RG
Urwerk introduced the UR-110 model in 2011, and after the watch won the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève prize for Best Design that same year, the red gold UR-110 RG joined the collection the following year.
The Urwerk UR-110 RG sports a distinctive asymmetrical 47mm x 51mm case (16mm thick), where the titanium body is topped with a red gold bezel. As is customary for many Urwerk pieces, the UR-110 RG uses orbiting satellite complications to tell the time. Time is read off the 60-minute scale on the right with the three arrow-shaped torpedoes satellites taking turns to indicate the time as they point to the track in a vertically arced line.
Those torpedoes continuously move around the dial in a circular path, like satellites orbiting, rotating through all the hours of the day. The dial is also home to a “Control Board” with indicators for “Day/Night” and “Oil Change” – a handy display that tells you when it’s time to send your watch in for a service. Finally, the small seconds indicator is nestled on the left side of the dial.
The UR-110 RG is the same Urwerk watch worn by Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark / Iron Man in the Spider-Man Homecoming movie (2017), and later auctioned to benefit a charitable cause.
Urwerk UR-120 “Spock”
The newest Urwerk watch on our top three picks list is the UR-120 “Spock,” which was introduced in 2022 as a slimmer, smoother, and more elegant iteration of the brand’s iconic UR-110 watch.
Related: Urwerk UR-120 Price Guide
The UR-120 includes a more compact asymmetrical case, measuring 44mm long, 47mm wide, and 15.8mm thick. To achieve the more restrained dimensions, Martin Frei cites Gerald Genta as an inspiration and borrowed Genta’s famous technique of using a lower case and an upper case to construct the watch — as seen in the Nautilus, for example. As a result, the UR-120 case includes two interlocking parts (essentially, a caseback and a bezel), connected via lateral screws. The upper portion is crafted from finely sandblasted steel whereas the lower portion is made of sandblasted titanium.
As with the preceding UR-110, the dial of the UR-120 includes a satellite carousel that moves along the minute track, positioned on the right-hand side, to indicate the time. So why is the Urwerk UR-120 nicknamed “Spock?” Well, if we look at the watch in action, the rotating satellites split open as they spin on their own axis — similar to Mr. Spock’s famed V-shaped open-hand Vulcan salute that would accompany the phrase “Live long and prosper.” This clever construction upgrade allowed Urwerk to significantly reduce the thickness of the case.
The back of the watch includes an arched window, providing a view of the star-shaped “Windfänger,” which regulates the intensity of the automatic winding. A surprising addition to the UR-120 is the inclusion of lugs, which is not something we often see on Urwerk watches. Attached to the lugs are ballistic pattern-embossed calf leather straps.
Collecting Urwerk Watches
In less than 30 years, Felix Baumgartner and Martin Frei have successfully grown their independent watch brand into a dominant force of contemporary high horology. Urwerk enjoys a loyal following of serious collectors that appreciate the visually captivating and mechanically advanced creations that come out of its factory.
As the rise of independents continues to forge ahead, Urwerk watches are some of the ones to keep an eye on as their collectibility and appeal in the market will no doubt continue to grow.