Independents

For me, it's always a big pleasure to meet the Urwerk team. First of all because I know that we are always warmly welcome and secondly because it's a surprise at each visit !

The SIHH period gives to several brands the opportunity to organize such presentations in Geneva and of course, Urwerk is one of the hot spots at the Four Seasons, Hotel des Bergues.

So let's enter the Urwerk presentation !

The 103T wears this nice nickname due to the specific satellites cross. The 103T is not a "classic" 103 with a new saphire. The way the satellites move is changed: they move simultaneously doing a 480 degrees rotation. When you turn the crown, you can see the ballet of the 4 satellites: a very impressive visual effect.

The cross is not the same: it looks like Tarantula feet covering the satellites. In order to avoid confusion, only a part of them is visible. The material used for the cross is no longer titanum but dark ARCAP, a copper/nickel alloy.

The caliber used has the same basis than the classic 103: the reliable Peseux 7001.

The case is made of stainless steel treated with AlTiN (Aluminium, Titanium, Nitride).

This watch is another masterpiece from Urwerk. It may look similar to other 103 at the beginning but once you wear it, you feel the difference.

 If you find a more original watch display, please call me !

Sadly, the spider didn't want to move when I was there... I would have loved to take a picture of the spider over the watch...

The 103T : a very difficult watch to shoot... in fact, a true nighmare !

The control-board :

The wristshots : is this one my fav 103 ? Maybe !

Martin Frei was wearing his 103 famous for its cone-shaped satellites. This watch has an unique design in the Urwerk history due to  its very specific case.

 

This 103 gave us the opportunity to browse the different versions of this iconic watch :

And with a 202 :

Same time display, different interpretations...
This message has been edited by foversta on 2009-01-24 14:22:10

Jean-Vincent Huguenin is a Master-Engraver who has been working with Urwerk for a very long time. He knows perfectly the story of the brand, its spirit, Martin and Felix's way of thinking.

He engraved some watches in order to reply to specific requests from clients or several ones which became a part of the collection.

Urwerk case, thanks to its shape, its size is a fabulous playground for such gifted artist. I would like to present you some of his achievements :

 Jean-Vincent :

Some patterns which will be used on cases :

The engraved version is very different from the original one. Let's take the 202 for exemple. Even if it's an art-deco style engraving, it enhances the "spaceship" design of the watch.

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foversta thanks for these beautiful photos, do you have by any change some official photo of that "phoenix" engraved model? i also sent you a PM, i don`t know if you got it.

The Urwerk team is starting to unveil its next garde-temps. The big surprise is that it will radically change from the previous models. Forget the satellites, you will get a new time display !

Expect the unexpected !

The following pictures of the current version of the caliber may give you some clues... of course, the caliber is not finished. Look at the big wheel with the double digit figures around. It will be the second display.

I can't wait to discover the final version  of the watch now !

Unfortunately I could not import the picture borrowed from watchismo.blogspot.com /

Found at this link:
watchismo.blogspot.com

bp3.blogger.com patek+cobra+case+hi+res+copy.jpg

I guess this has been the inspiration...


Regards Arild
This message has been edited by arild on 2009-01-26 05:37:26 This message has been edited by arild on 2009-01-26 05:39:40

Like it was the case last April, the decoration of the suite was original and brilliant.

It's the reason why I love Urwerk : each detail is coherent with the spirit of the brand.

When we browsed with Martin the different versions of the 103, I realised that each watch had a strong identity. That's maybe the biggest success from Urwerk : an Urwerk watch is recognizable at first glance. The coherence between the time display and the design of the watch makes them so attractive.

The next steps of Urwerk history will bring us a lot of surprises so stay tuned, you won't be disappointed !

I would like to thank a lot Yacine, Martin, Dominique, Felix, Jean-Vincent for their availability and their warm welcome.

 

Fr.Xavier

great pics and great report.

I am interested personally in whats NEXT, that looks wild!

New time display?

I cant wait.

great post my friend, thank you!

These are wonderful pieces and many years from now, I will look back at this post with fondness.
My personal fav is still the old 103 series. The new 103T case design seems a bit abrupt to me.
The 201 /202 are still extremely yummy to me
As for the coming new watch, I think it will be a winner. It looks like one that makes total sense being an automatic.
It has date too, might replace my Rolex Milgauss as a daily 'beater'....I hope it is not way too pricey and I hope it is smaller than 103
Cheers,
CL

Thanks, Xavier! I am constantly blown away by what Frei and Baumgartner would do next and quite sure your tease-piece at the end would be no exception. Can't wait!

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NT

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for such a well written review!

 

 

thanks for sharing updates about this young brand who seem destined at this time to be going places in the near future. A potential candidate for the Horology's Hall of Fame for the REALLY innovative ways of telling time that they have introduced to a new generation of watch enthusiasts. The resulting timepieces that come from their ode to pop and other sources of inspiration seem destined to outlast some of the other brands out there. Am hoping they maintain their way and not bow to commercial interests in their future products. Thanks again for sharing. Definitely looking forward to their new stuff.

The Tarantula is amazing, a totally new watch, new design, and new operation!! WOW!!
I can't wait to to discover the new case of the new caliber and see how its work!!