When I saw the first photos of these watches, I was not convinced of the ONE collection. UJ emphasised the design, explaining also in a video on their website how they wanted to come away from the 70s designs still dominating the sports-bracelet-watch market. The goal was to replace square and straight lines with circles and curves.
I felt the result in a way “over-designed”. The oval bracelet links (which have a square shape on the back side) matched not my taste; I felt them too prominent, with an almost feminine touch.
Seeing the watch at Baselworld in metal changed my opinion. The bracelet links are much more restrained in real life. With the choice of type and how the numerals sit in the date window, I believe even this design challenge has been well resolved.
You only have to place a typical Urban Jürgensen of their traditional design besides a Voutilainen to realise that they likely needed urgently an additional, more modern line. Unlike Audemars Piguet, who try from time to time to establish additional model lines with a completely different design compared to the Royal Oak line (with dubious success), Urban Jürgensen has in my view managed to keep and modernise signature features of their classic/dress watches.
The "guilloché" engraving on the dial as well as the hands have got a modern form, but are still immediately recognisable as “Urban Jürgensen”. I always admire in architecture when a thoroughly modern building can be properly integrated into a protected environment. Picking up on successful proportion of historical buildings and integrating some “typical” features in a modern impression can lead to excellent contemporary designs. In the watch industry I miss such efforts. Usually just an old design is picked from their catalogue, the result often looking “cheap” compared with the replicated original.
But watch enthusiasts seem to be extremely conservative, making it obviously difficult for the manufacturers to present new ideas. With Urban Jürgensen I would have judged the price of the watches (compared, e.g., with similar Royal Oak models) to be the more important question than the one about the design.
Björn