URWERK’s UR-101 T-Rex watch hearkens back to the brand’s beginnings.
First established in 1997, URWERK is relatively young in the world of high watchmaking, where many brands’ histories go back a century or more. Its youth notwithstanding, the brand has produced some of the most imaginative and pioneering timepieces in the industry today—and has grown an almost cultlike following. “Bringing out yet another version of an existing mechanical complication was not our aim,” Felix Baumgartner, master watchmaker and co-founder of URWERK, said. The brand produces just 150 watches per year, each one entirely handcrafted in its workshops in Geneva and Zurich.
Dinosaur Scales
The UR-101 T-Rex has a blackened bronze case with engraved grooves to evoke a dinosaur’s scaled skin. This scaly, tactile engraving covers the watch’s bezel, sides and lugs. The mystery surrounding the Tyrannosaurus rex, whose name means the “king of the tyrant lizards,” has fascinated people for centuries. And for a person who is new to the unique time displays that are an URWERK signature, reading the time on the UR-101 T-Rex may be a mystery as well.
Satellite Display
Unlike traditional timepieces, the T-Rex has no hands and no dial. It displays the time via an 180-degree aperture, through which the minute and the hours can be read. The hour indicator is a single numeral that travels along the minute arc, starting at zero minutes and ending at 60, like a satellite above the earth. This “satellite” display of the hours marks a strong contrast to standard watches and requires a tremendous amount of energy to make its way across the minutes.
Limited Edition
At the end of the hour and the beginning of the next, the hour indicator instantaneously flies back to zero minutes. At the same time, the new satellite hour appears. The T-Rex’s self-winding movement has two satellite hour discs, one for the even hour numerals and the other for the odd numerals. It has a power reserve of 48 hours, is water-resistant to 30 meters and will be produced in a limited edition of 100 individually numbered, entirely handmade pieces.
URWERK’s co-founders Baumgartner and Martin Frei, who is also the brand’s artistic director, first conceived of this unique, groundbreaking movement when they formed their partnership. This first movement, aptly named the 101, was a prototype, and was soon followed by the UR-102, the brand’s first production watch. “We had the deep and intimate conviction that focusing on the wandering hour was our path,” said Frei. “In my sketchbook, I started to draft a few designs. These served as a basis for our work. We were more than just enthusiastic, we were euphoric.
“Our watches are unique because each has been conceived as an original work. That is what makes them valuable and rare. Above all, we want to explore beyond the traditional horizons of watchmaking.”