Urwerk, a rebel who breaks rules on watches, break their own rules and releases a watch in a round case, with a dial, and equipped with a pair of hands. We caught up with Felix Baumgartner and Martin Frei, and tried on the watch which (surprise!) is equipped with some fancy astronomical indications.
New with hands-on: Urwerk UR-10 SpaceMaster with astronomical indications
The Urwerk UR-10 SpaceMaster has a retail price of CHF 70,000 before taxes / SGD 123,000 with GST. Limited Edition of 25 pieces in titanium and 25 pieces black titanium.
The case, dial and hands
For the first time we have an Urwerk with a rather standard dial. The UR-10 is part of Urwerk’s “Special Projects”, a collection which Urwerk calls outliers. But being outliers themselves when compared to the mainstream watch maisons, Urwerk’s outliers are more conventional than being crazy. But trust me, the crazy is still there. Under the cloak of the conventional nominally round (I would say tonneau shaped) case, the actual dial and actual hands, is the outrageous astronomical indications. More on this below.
But back the visual design, the result is a watch which, though looking traditional…reminds us of some Omega Moonwatch with the Moon to Mars vibes, but it totally mind blowing in the way the mechanics are used to indicate. This is not a chronograph.
The case is in titanium and steel, and offered in either a natural grey colour, or PVD in black. At just 7.13mm thick, it is one of the thinnest watches made by Urwerk.
It comprise of an upper case in titanium, with a case back in steel. The construction is complicated. The titanium upper and steel lower fit over each other like a clamshell and sealed shut with a screw. It has only two parts, and no case band. Somehow another intrigue of being simple, but complex.
The inspiration is, of course taken from a vintage instrument that Felix’s father, Gérard discovered in 1996. This was a pendulum clock signed Gustave Sandoz, a 19th century clockmaker who was the Horogist-Mechanic of France, appointed to the King and Navy from 1874. This clock had three sub-dials, seeming unrelated to conventional time display, and a pendulum which beat far too quickly. Gérard eventually unraveled the secret of these indictors. The indications showed the distance travelled by Earth across three distinct time scales.
The UR-10 takes inspiration from this, but is far more complicated as it shows other indications. The displays reads the following:
- At 2 o’clock, the counter marked EARTH measures every ten kilometers the Earth travels in its daily rotation, in increments of 500 meters.
- At 4 o’clock, the counter marked SUN advances in 20 km steps, registering every 1’000 km the Earth travels on its solar orbit. This indication is now shown in the original Sandoz clock.
- At 9 o’clock, the counter marked ORBIT combines both trajectories, thus inscribing every 1,000 kilometers of rotation and 64,000 kilometers of solar orbit on two synchronized scales.
- On the back of the case, a peripheral hand traces the hours on a 24-hour scale, mirroring a full rotation of the Earth. The caseback is engraved with indications of both Rotation and Revolution: Rotation reads clockwise, while Revolution is read anticlockwise. This striking opposition reflects the Earth’s own anticlockwise revolution. A rather poetic reminder of the cosmic dance.
The movement
The movement is the UR-10.01, which is the same caliber number which debuted in one of the most extreme watches ever made: the Urwerk UR-1001. This was an outrageous watch. Huge…no, it was gigantic! But Felix assures me that this is not the same movement. The movement in the UR-10 is a collaboration with Vaucher who makes the movement for Urwerk according to their specifications.
There are two interesting components that are worked on by Urwerk after taking delivery of the Vaucher ebauche. First is the work for the complication module. This is tricky as the indicators for the distance travelled by the Earth’s rotation at the equator makes one full revolution every 22s, and the indicator for the distance travelled by the Earth’s orbit around the sun makes one revolution every 33s. Both are considerably faster than the fourth wheel which drives these indicators. As a result, the five additional wheels, five additional axes are needed. And these were fabricated using LIGA, with the wheels weighing 0.015g to 0.009g, about the weight of one single eyelash. This is to make the added wheels as light as possible to conserve as much energy as possible. And yet, strong enough to bear the transmission forces.
The second is the winding rotor. The base Vaucher movement only winds in one direction. Typically, this means that on the non-winding direction, the rotor spins freely. This causes some additional wear on the bearings. So to solve this, the UR-10.01 features a system of two stacked turbines rotating in opposite directions. This double turbine system acts like an air brake. Allowing full winding capability on the wind direction, and retarding the rotor in the other. The twin turbines are mesmerising when being observed through the sapphire case back.
Concluding thoughts
This is an amazing watch. It wears very nicely on the wrist. And feels very light and comfortable. The crown at 12 is large. And the bracelet pliable and comfortable.
Legibility is excellent, with the conventional hands to show the hours, minutes and seconds. Even the sub-dials showing the distance measurements are clean and clear. Are the additional indications essential or even useful? Probably not. But it is a cool reminder that as we stand still, we are actually moving very fast in space. We just don’t notice it. Poetic.
Urwerk UR-10 SpaceMaster Specifications
| MOVEMENT | |
| Caliber | UR-10.01 developped by URWERK, self-winding with double barrel |
| Rotor | Patented Dual Flow Turbines with two propellers in counter-rotation |
| Rubies | 44 |
| Escapement | Swiss lever |
| Frequency | 4 Hz, 28 800 a./h |
| Power reserve | 43 hours |
| Materials | Steel, brass, ARCAP, CuBe, Durnico, Nickel (LIGA) |
| Finishing | Perlage, horizontal graining, sandblasting, polished screw heads |
| INDICATIONS | Analog hours and minutes in the center. Earth distance counter at the equator / 10 km at 2 o’clockEarth rotation around the sun counter / 1’000 km at 4 o’clock. Double concentric distance counter at 9 o’clock. Hours on 24h-scale, caseback side: Rotation and Revolution on a 24h-scale, caseback side |
| CASE | |
| Dimensions | Width: 45.40 mm; length: 44mm; thickness (excl. crystals): 7.13 mm |
| Materials | Uppercase in sandblasted titanium, caseback in sandblasted steel |
| Crystal | Sapphire glass boxes, anti-reflective coating |
| Water-resistance | Pressure-tested at 3 ATM / 30 m |
| DIAL | |
| Finishings | Black or gray PVD, curved, circular graining. Thin sandblasting on 2 and 4 o’clock subdials Circular graining on 9 o’clock subdial |
| Hands | Black or gray PVDTime indications: syringe shape, filled with SuperLumiNovaDistance indications: Breguet shape |
| BRACELET | Sandblasted titanium, single link, on titanium deployant clasp |
PRICE | CHF 70’000.00 (Swiss francs / tax not included) |
