INTRODUCING: The Urwerk UR-100 SpaceTime
James RobinsonThe horological mavericks at Urwerk have just dropped their latest wristwatch and it is, pardon the pun, out of this world! The Urwerk UR-100 SpaceTime is a stratospherically cool and novel concept for a timepiece, and one that seems very, very complicated indeed. Essentially, the SpaceTime will not only tell its lucky owners the time, but the distance travelled on Earth and the distance travelled by Earth. Much like other watches in Urwerk’s back catalogue, their latest timepiece employs the use of the watchmaker’s famed orbital hour satellites and striking red-tipped arrow minute pointer, which makes its way across the bottom of the svelte case.
However, once the minute pointer has travelled past the 60-minute marker, it then makes its way underneath the first sub-dial and then resurfaces at the 10 o’clock position to display the distance that us humanoids have statically travelled on Earth. The SpaceTime can calculate this by portraying the Earth’s average speed of rotation around the equator in 20-minute intervals, in which time it will shift approximately 555 km. Once it reaches the end of this sub-dial, the red-tipped arrow makes its way underneath another sub-dial and then reappears at the two o’clock position on the dial to exhibit the Earth’s 20-minute trek around the orbit of the sun, an expedition that will see it travel 35,740 km. It’s an incredibly novel complication from Urwerk, and one that has never before been seen in a wristwatch.
Speaking about the new UR-100 SpaceTime, co-founder and chief designer of Urwerk, Martin Frei, says: “For me, watches have a philosophical dimension. They are a physical and abstract reproduction of our situation on Earth, with the dial representing the equator, simultaneously in constant motion while seemingly stationary for us.” Measuring in at 41mm, the extraterrestrial case is just 14mm thick and houses Urwerk’s self-winding calibre 12.01 movement, which ticks away at 28,800 vph (4Hz) and gives 48 hours of power reserve. Thanks to a sapphire crystal backing on the case, owners will also get an opportunity to view the wondrous calibre 12.01 in motion.
Just 50 of the SpaceTime UR-100s will be created, 25 in “Iron”, a combination of steel and titanium, and 25 in “Black”, which mixes steel and titanium with a black PVD coating. Unfortunately, even though the SpaceTime is at the more cost-effective end of the Urwerk collection, its price is still somewhat astronomical, with the RRP set at 48,000 Swiss franc, or roughly $70,550 AUD.