Every origin sets the tone for what’s to come. That’s especially true for Urwerk. What started as avant-garde, stays avant-garde even after 25+ years. It is a remarkable feat that so much of Urwerk at the very beginning, namely in the UR-101 and UR-102, is retained throughout the catalog. To do so without losing the feeling of creativity and novelty with the arrival of every new timepiece is an even greater feat.
We’ve explored some of the evolving themes that have helped Urwerk stay true to their origins. One is that the brand’s designs were always and continue to be an extension of Martin and Felix’s aesthetic taste, the co-founders of Urwerk.
Today, we’re examining Urwerk’s origins and evolution under a microscope. There are four timepieces in the UR-200s collection – the UR-202, UR-210, UR-220, and UR-230 “Eagle.” This collection spans across the last seventeen years, beginning with the UR-202 in 2008 while the UR-230 “Eagle” is the latest arrival in 2023. We will not dive into every existing model from each of these four timepieces (there are many). For the purpose of today’s article, we’re looking at the more high-level design and mechanics of the UR-200s and how things have progressed over time.
The UR-202
First there was the UR-101, UR-102, UR-103, and then came the jump to the UR-202. This was the first timepiece by Urwerk that exposed the inner workings of the revolving satellite time display to the world. Interestingly, the mechanism first made its appearance in the Harry Winston Opus V a few years prior to the UR-202’s arrival.
One of the fascinating things about this timepiece is that it helped break down what we may consider “essential” definitions in watchmaking. That complexity means complication, and time-only means simplicity, the UR-202 squashes the historical convention. Though the UR-202 isn’t technically “time-only” (there is a moonphase and day/night indicators under the minute track), the most highly technical, complicated element of the timepiece is simply how time is told. The revolving satellite time display is the UR-202’s major contribution to the history of complicated watchmaking.
The revolving satellite time display features three, four-sided cubes – one with 1-4, one with 5-8, one with 9-12. Each cube rotates to show the correct hour as it approaches the 0 mark on the linear minute track. If that wasn’t enough, the minute hand telescopes so that it travels perfectly along the minute track, even as it angles at the 15- and 45-minute mark.
While the revolving satellite time display takes center stage, there’s another part of the UR-202 that is now considered a core design fixture in Urwerk timepieces: the turbine rotors. In our retrospective of the UR-105, we covered that one of the main themes pursued throughout Urwerk’s catalog is novel interactivity. The turbine rotor system allows collectors to adjust the rate at which the automatic movement is wound. A three-position selector switch sits on the caseback, offering three modes: (1) “Free” where the turbines spin without resistance, ideal for collectors with a more sedentary lifestyle; (2) “Sport” where winding rate is reduced if the collector is very active; and (3) “Stop” where the UR-202’s rotors are fully deactivated and the timepiece operates as a manual wind watch.
For the subsequent three timepieces to come in the UR-200s, the UR-202 is the foundation on which much of our understanding of “Urwerk,” the visionary designers of modern watches.
The UR-210
Four years after the arrival of the UR-202, Martin and Felix pushed the established form and mechanics to another level with the UR-210. The telescoping minute hand is notably absent in this timepiece, replaced by a flyback minute hand. There’s a level of industrial “aggressiveness” in the flyback that is missing the UR-202. Something akin to a predator striking its prey, the flyback mechanism on the UR-210 is explosive. Time moves slowly across the minute track until the revolving satellite complication reaches the 60-mark. At this moment, the hour cube is released and the retrograde minute hand flies back in 0.1s to grab the next hour cube at the 0-minute mark.
Where the UR-202 provided interactive options for the automatic turbine rotor system, Felix and Martin created a new complication around this novel, interactive idea – a winding efficiency indicator on the dial. A world first complication, this is a visualization of whether the automatic winding system matches the level of activity in the owner’s life. The complication calculates the difference between energy consumed and energy restored to the mainspring through movement over the previous two hours. When in the green, the mainspring is receiving more energy from the rotors than is required to power the movement. While in red, it’s the opposite – there’s an energy deficit in the mainspring that is draining the power reserve. Ultimately, the owner of the UR-210 can adjust the three-position selector switch (the same as the UR-202) with the aim of keeping the winding efficiency indicator between the green and red zones of the complication.
From an aesthetics perspective, the UR-210 is much more pronounced with its blown-up, larger scale revolving satellite time indicator. This is much more future-forward design for the revolving satellite complication. The case is also much more refined relative to the early “hammerhead” case shape of the UR-202. Ultimately, this general case shape in the UR-210 is later revisited with the UR-220 and UR-230 “Eagle.”
The UR-220
First arriving some eight years after the UR-210, the UR-220 burst onto the scene in 2020. Another significant step forward for the series, the UR-220 is the brand’s first dive into carbon cases and rubber straps. While the case shape is retained from the UR-210, its composition is a radical departure from steel, titanium, and precious metals. Here, 81 ultra-thin layers of high-resistance 150g CTP (Carbon Thin Ply) are stacked, one on top of the other, and pressed into a hard resin. The overall impact of this innovative material is that it makes the UR-220, combined with the ultra-soft rubber strap, much lighter and more sporty than previous timepieces in the UR-200 series. The case is somewhat more
Where the revolving satellite time and power reserve indicators remain, there is one significant addition to the interactivity collectors have with the UR-220. This timepiece features an oil change service indicator on the caseback. Long a staple in the UR-110, it’s upgraded significantly in the UR-220 with a pin for activation. When the owner receives the timepiece, the oil change service indicator starts counting months once the pin is pulled. After 39 months, the timepiece should be sent back for a service and will be returned with a new pin for the owner to activate the countdown clock once more.
There’s really only so much interactivity a collector can have with an object that fits in one’s palm. With each Urwerk timepiece though, we constantly see new ways of thinking about what a watch can tell us, how we interact with timepieces, and it’s not always exclusively about the time.
The UR-230
The UR-200s has come as far as the UR-230, the last and latest timepiece in the series. Released in 2023, the UR-230 “Eagle” is another representation of the creative duo, Martin and Felix, and their fixation on providing collectors with different ways to view a timepiece. Urwerk often provides options for things many didn’t conceive of as “optional” – the ability to switch from automatic to manual movement, the option to change the resistance of the turbine rotors, the option to track time against the next required service.
With the UR-230 “Eagle,” we observe the first latched cover in the UR-200s series. It gives the timepiece a completely different look than its predecessors. As with all Urwerk engineering, the details matter. A specially developed braking system for the latched cover ensures that it closes smoothly, never slamming shut on the sapphire crystal. While the latched cover provides an overall more sleek timepiece, concealing the revolving satellite complication’s mechanics, we see a further evolution of the brand’s turbine rotors. Caliber UR-7.30 adds a new shock-absorbing system to ensure that the timepiece is protected from the wear and tear of everyday life. The dual set of turbines used to create a much more robust movement – one set of turbines on the outside of the movement handles shocks while a second set, underneath, controls the flow of air that feeds the power reserve. Aesthetically, this system is a huge step up for Urwerk – there’s more for the eye to take in than previous models.
When tracking the (sometimes subtle) evolutionary steps of the UR-200s series, one of the things that stands out is how cohesive and focused the brand is. It’s a nontrivial task to stay true to oneself, one’s interests and aesthetics, especially over 30+ years. While others may wander away from their origins, Martin and Felix exhibit an ultra-focused intensity in their pursuit of their own established complications, forms, and aesthetics.
The French philosopher, Gilles Deleuze, commented that even after having written 20+ books that he “always felt like [he] wrote only one book.” That Deleuze’s thoughts were so densely interconnected, the lines separating ideas and books are blurred. With Urwerk, we have a similar situation. There is such a consistent design language and approach that the “most” Urwerk timepiece is always the next one.