Haute horlogerie marque URWERK has always produced watches that are stunning in their design and horology. In 2019, the brand is back with the new UR-111C Black and the AMC Project, which pushes the boundaries of haute horlogerie…
UR-111C Black
Deliberately designed to mesmerise, the fiery contrast of the orange markings against the dark case captures the imagination when first glancing at the UR-111C Black, a limited edition of 25.
The grooved case in black-coated steel and titanium curves along its ample length and width.
The curved sides are held by transversal screws in half pipes, with a roller in the middle and a lever that travels along the side of the case.
The case had to be built around the unprecedented construction of the UR-111C Black’s movement.
URWERK has arranged the time display in three zones shielded by curved sapphire glasses.
Reading from the left, the hours are marked in Arabic numerals on a rotating cone instead of by hands. The cone jumps forward to the next hour on the hour.
Opposite, on the right side of the watch, a matching graduated cone rotates once an hour to give an exact reading of the minutes.
Between the two, a wide window repeats the minutes in a stunning display that provides a new slant on the linear minutes of the CC1 King Cobra.
The AMC Project
A world first in the history of watchmaking, the URWERK AMC is a hybrid timekeeping construction that consists of two autonomous, but linked, systems.
The first part – the Atomolith – is a fixed base unit, a 35kg aluminium-housed atomic clock with roughly the same dimensions as a mid-sized computer tower.
The second part is a mobile unit, a purely mechanical watch that can be worn on the wrist or securely docked within the base unit.
When worn, the accuracy of the mobile unit is dictated by its 4Hz (28,800vph) mechanical oscillator and the conditions it is subjected to.
When docked, the mobile unit is synchronised with its base unit, via a complex and ingenious system that senses any timing discrepancy between the two and chronometrically aligns the mechanical movement of the wristwatch with the high-accuracy atomic clock.
