Urwerk

Since its beginnings, Urwerk has continued to develop the design of the wandering hour complication. The first watches UR-101 and UR-102, which were equipped with such a time display, came onto the market in 1997. The development of the next generation UR-103 took several years and the brand introduced this watch in 2003. In 2005, Urwerk significantly improved the traditional wandering hour display, which was essentially flat on the UR-101, UR-102 and UR-103, and transformed it into a 3D action display. This development was triggered by the Opus 5 project, that Urwerk carried out for Harry Winston Rare Watches in collaboration with its boss Maximilian Buesser. The Opus 5 was very well received by the market, which prompted Urwerk to introduce a similar 3D complication for the wandering hours in the UR-201 watch. The new display developed for the UR-201 based on the Opus 5 is an alternative realization of the same idea. It consists of three cubes with an hour numeral on each of the four side faces. The base caliber UR-7.01 for the UR-201, which was supplied by La Joux-Perret as a revised version of the Eta/Peseux caliber 7001, was discontinued by this factory, and so Urwerk found a new base caliber Girard-Perregaux GP3000, for which a 3D version of the wandering hour mechanism was adapted. In this way, Urwerk switched from hand-wound calibers to automatic calibers. The first UR-202 Turbine Automatic, equipped with the UR-7.02 caliber based on the GP3000, was released in 2008. This design was enthusiastically received by buyers and professionals, in particular Urwerk won the Design Watch Prize for the UR-110 at the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG) in November 2011, so the brand presented many versions. The full list of known versions includes the UR-110 ‘Torpedo’ (2011) with a titanium case and a stainless steel bezel; the UR-110 AlTiN (2011) with a black-coated titanium case and a smooth AlTiN-coated stainless steel bezel; the UR-110 ZrN ‘Champagne Supernova’ (2011) of the Rare Species Edition with a black-coated titanium case and a zirconium nitride-coated stainless steel bezel; the UR-110 RG (2012) with a black-coated titanium case and an 18k rose gold bezel; UR-110 TTH ‘Tantalum Hull’ (2012) with a case made of black-coated titanium and a bezel made of tantalum; UR-110 ST (2012) – with a case made of black-coated titanium and a grooved bezel made of AlTiN-coated stainless steel; UR-110 Pt (2013) with a case made of black-coated titanium and a bezel made of platinum; UR-110 PTH (2013) with black-coated titanium case, black dial with red accents and matt black-coated platinum bezel; and finally UR-110 ‘Eastwood’ (2015) with black-coated titanium case and Macassar wood or red ebony bezel. This is where the story of this watch begins, because we do not find this version in the list. Such a version was not officially announced, but there is an unofficial interpretation that the watch received its black-coated stainless steel bezel after the brand got the UR-110 ZrN ‘Champagne Supernova’ watch for refurbishment. It is said that the beige-colored ZrN coating did not prove to be wear-resistant enough. When the customer contacted the service department with this problem, the original bezel was replaced with a new one made of stainless steel with a black coating and a smooth surface. We are not prepared to say that this story is completely true until we receive confirmation or refutation from the brand (the request has been sent), but it is confirmed by the execution of the caseback, which has the words ‘Ed. Speciale’ engraved on it, and the red number 2 on the cube of the 3D wandering hour mechanism are exactly the options of the UR-110 ZrN ‘Champagne Supernova’ edition that were not seen in other editions of the UR-110. For this reason, we refer to this example as the UR-110 ‘Black Supernova’.

The Urwerk UR-110 ‘Black Supernova’ is a very rare watch, as the original UR-110 ZrN ‘Champagne Supernova’ was limited to only 12 pieces and we are not sure if all of them received a service upgrade, which makes the present example an extremely rare and therefore attractive acquisition for the collector. The Urwerk UR-110 is one of Urwerk’s most imposing designs, yet practical. It features an automatic caliber with a branded wandering hour complication and Control Panel displays for small seconds, day/night and oil change indicator – a unique Urwerk invention. The charismatic, eye-catching and futuristic design, the rare wandering hour display in the updated 3D version and the innovative self-winding caliber with aerodynamic regulation definitely make this watch an exceptional everyday companion.