Time Well Spent: Urban Jürgensen and Ed Ruscha

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For the January chapter of Time Well Spent, we visit Ed Ruscha at his studio in Los Angeles, California. One of the most important living painters, Ed Ruscha has spent his career building a distinct and groundbreaking visual language. Drawing from the streets of Los Angeles, the charged nature of words, and the cool restraint of Pop and Conceptualism he has revolutionized painting. Time has granted Ruscha a lifetime of play and experimentation, noticing the magic in the mundane becomes a practice in itself. The longevity, curiosity, and consistency in Ruscha’s practice embody the very idea of Time Well Spent.

Raised in Oklahoma City, but captivated by California from a childhood visit, Ruscha arrived in Los Angeles with an infatuation that never left him. He attended art school at Chouinard Art Institute and found he was not pulled by the dominant tide of Abstract Expressionism. Rather, it was Jasper Johns’ assemblage “Target with Four Faces” that resonated. Art, he understood, could be premeditated and reflective of life. This realization, and his instinctive attraction to the aesthetics of words, sparked a body of work where everyday language becomes charged, playful, and strangely alive.

Since the 1960s in the burgeoning California contemporary art scene, Ruscha has greatly expanded his practice across mediums and moods: from paintings of crisp onomatopoeias to photographs documenting the changing face of the Sunset Strip to works made with material such as chocolate, gunpowder, caviar, grass stains, and aspirin. Play, experimentation, and an insatiable curiosity remain central throughout. His 2023-2024 MoMA and LACMA retrospective, ED RUSCHA / NOW THEN, captures the astonishing continuity and joyful evolution of Ruscha’s winding career and, through it, the way his work holds a mirror to American life.

For Ruscha, time well spent is not about chasing the spectacular; it’s about sourcing the spectacular in the everyday. Pursuing the small sparks of intrigue and gleefully following wherever they lead. A gas station. A word. The 20th Century Fox logo. An art museum on fire. A phrase that makes you smile for no particular reason. Noticing, and capturing, is time well spent.

“TIME WELL SPENT”

Urban Jürgensen helped build industry and prestige for Denmark, his country of origin. In the more than 250 years since he began this project, UJ has been keeping time for people of great achievement from kings to sailors, from industrialists to artists. Each has understood what Urban taught us, that when we lavish our time on the things that move us, we move ourselves and our culture in the process.

As UJ charts the path forward in its new generation, we want to share the joy of watchmaking and watch wearing. In our monthly photographic series, “Time Well Spent,” we show how passionate, innovative, curious and creative people spend their time. Iconic photographer Ellen von Unwerth captures pictures that show how creative people— each a leader in industry, artistry, sport, craft, innovation, and culture; some legends and some up and coming people who we think will shake their fields— engage in the unexpected activities that bring them joy: A painter in his garden. A chemist sailing on her racing boat. An athlete exploring his passion for cooking. An actress throwing pottery at a wheel. A designer doing humanitarian work. An architect playing catch with his kids. These are people who move us and culture, shown spending their time on the things they love. Because it is the UJ view that the people who represent their time understand better than anyone that time well-spent is the world’s greatest luxury. We share these stories with love and joy as we celebrate Time Kept and Spent Beautifully.

ABOUT URBAN JÜRGENSEN

Founded in 1773, Urban Jürgensen is one of the oldest and most revered names in horology. Bringing together Danish elegance, Swiss precision and an American mindset, the maison is renowned for its uncompromising dedication to craftsmanship, technical innovation, and timeless design. In 2025, Urban Jürgensen entered an exciting new chapter under the leadership of CEO, Alex Rosenfield, with a new collection designed by the legendary watchmaker Kari Voutilainen who is a Board Member and Senior Strategic Advisor to UJ. This next generation fuses over 250 years of legacy with a renewed focus on the intrinsic joy of watchmaking, creating watches that are not only exceptionally made but enduring companions in a life well lived. Every Urban Jürgensen watch is a tribute to time kept and spent beautifully: soulful, precise, and meticulously built by hand to be worn and enjoyed. As the house evolves, it remains committed to celebrating excellence for its own sake and preserving the traditions of haute horlogerie for future generations.