Independents

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