Baselworld day three – URWERK

One of the most interesting places at Baselworld was The Dream Factory. Located in the Palace pavillon, URWERK, MB&F, Peter Speake-Marin and Christophe Claret displayed their incredibly beautiful horological machines.

URWERK celebrates the 7th anniversary of its 103 collection the two new 103T models and at the same time says farewell, since the production of the collection will end at the end 2010. After last year’s 103T Tarantula and 103T in grey and red gold it’s time to present the 103T Mexican Fireleg and Shiny-T.

The 103 T Mexican Fireleg will be limited to 60 pieces and the Shiny T to only 33 pieces. And from 2011 on… no 103 models anymore. The Mexican Fireleg is quite a funky design with it’s orange hour and minute markers. The Shiny-T stands out because of it’s sapphire hour disks, a nice detail… or actually more than just a nice detail. It reveals more of the satellite turning inside the orbital cross.

The new Urwerk UR-103T models have the manually wound calibre 3.03 movement, which operates at a frequency of 21,600 vibrations per hour and offers a 43-hour power reserve. The front side indicates hours and minutes. The back side features a control panel with the power reserve display, a 15-minute and seconds setting dial, as well as an hour adjustment screw.

Both models are available in AITiN-treated steel or 18K gold and are 50mm x 36mm and 13.5mm thick. And i must add, it wears very comfortable and looks very elegant/design/funky/different/cool.

Conversation with Martin Frei

During the meeting Martin Frei, co-founder of URWERK joined us and talked about the different ways to display time. He says that on a watch with hour and minute hands, it’s easy to see know the hand’s position for the next meeting. This way you will have a visual picture of ‘the future’. URWERK’s watches display time in a linear way which makes the experience of past and future completely different.

Martin tells about a conversation he once had about the way the ancient Greeks looks at time. They didn’t have the same consciousness of time like we do. We have a reasonably clear picture of the past and many plans for the future. The ancient Greeks much more lived in the present. This is way of experiencing time has more similarities with the way URWERK displays time.

I never thought of it this way, but since the fascinating conversation, it’s on my mind every time i look at my wrist. So now i will have to buy an URWERK? If that only was possible. To me these timepieces are the summum of futuristic looks, daring design and technical apogee.

If you’re considering buying a URWERK 103 T model, than make up your mind fast. The limited production stop at the end of this year.

Next year URWERK will come with something new… but what? All i can say is that it might have a date function.