URWERK’s horological Skunk Works launches a series of 25 time – and space – measuring instruments into orbit. URWERK UR-100V “Blue Planet” tracks the earth and our solar system: it’s a 24-hour invitation to interstellar travel and the pleasure of savoring time.
With interplanetary imagination, science-fiction iconography and limitless creative freedom, URWERK has its roots in spatial horology. Using out-of-this-world graphic traits inherent to all URWERK timepieces, the UR-100V collection adds an astrophysical dimension.
The astronomical action takes place under a large observation dome, where, upon finishing indicating the minutes in the 0-to-60 arc along the bottom of the dial, the vivid green and yellow arrowhead hand (one of three) disappears – only to reappear at 9 o’clock to track the 555.55 kilometres the earth rotates at the equator every 20 minutes. The hand then reappears again at 3 o’clock to display a kilometre counter tracking 20 minutes of the earth’s revolution around the sun (35,742 kilometres).
Nearby
Blending form and function, calculation and imagery, and theory and actuality, the UR-100V is adorned in blue: blue for the steel case, blue for the atypical movement, blue for the orbital carousel. A blue recalling our planet earth.
The blue hue of the UR-100V “Blue Planet” is deep, dense, and matte. As URWERK’s designer Martin Frei explains: “When I create and when I paint, all colours resonate in me, but particularly blue. During my education at the Academy of Arts and Design in Lucerne, I had the chance to study the great Florentine artist Giotto. He was the first who, at the end of the Middle Ages, painted the sky blue — dethroning Byzantine gold — and launching the ‘realistic’ style of painting is normal today. I love the colour of Giotto’s blue sky; it’s the same sky as ours. Blue is a colour that surrounds us, that encompasses us. ”
Almost all of the elements of the movement, including the automatic rotor regulated by its Windfänger turbine and the entire satellite hour display system, are also blue – as are the technical canvas strap and buckle. The most visible screws are in flame-blued titanium using a technique unique to the Baumgartner family. “My father was cult-like in his devotion to the technique of blueing hands. His search for the perfect blue was his search for the Holy Grail. He tested countless types of sand and found his grail in Corsican sand, which we religiously brought back in our suitcases from vacations,” says watchmaker Felix Baumgartner.
Against this uniform blue background, the fluorescent yellow and green arrowhead hand is a shooting star.
Metaphorical
The colour of the UR-100V “Blue Planet” tells the story of a trajectory transitioning between earth and space. “We have miniaturized and reinterpreted our solar system. We get lost in the depths of the rotating carousel of the UR-100V. It is a plunge into space, a fall into nothingness. It’s a new horological odyssey with our head in the stars and feet on the ground. It’s a reverie in blue,” concludes Felix Baumgartner.
URWERK UR-100V “Blue Planet” Technical Specifications and Price
Limited edition of 25 pieces
Movement
- Calibre: UR 12.02 self-winding mechanical movement regulated by Windfänger Planetary Turbine Automatic System
- Jewels: 39
- Frequency: 28,800 vph – 4Hz
- Power reserve: 48 hours
- Materials: aluminum satellite hour carousel driven on Geneva crosses aluminum carousel
- Finishes: Plate, rotor, turbine, planet carrier, hand with blue PVD treatment
- Sandblasting, micro-beading, perlage
- Chamfered screw heads
- Hour and minute index painted with Super-LumiNova
- Indications: Satellite hour and minute indicator, rotation of the earth in 20 minutes, revolution of the earth around the sun in 20 minutes
Case
- Materials: blue PVD steel case, titanium backcase; blue PVD sandblasted steel crown
- Dimensions: Width 41 mm; length: 49.7 mm; thickness: 14 mm
- Crystal domed transparent sapphire crystal
- Water resistance: 3 ATM (30 m – 3 bar)
Price
- 48,000.00 CHF (Swiss francs / excluding tax)
