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L4P Review, URWERK 103.09 Rose

11K views 15 replies 13 participants last post by  blairtolar 
#1 ·
URWERK 103.09 in Rose Gold

The Brand:

URWERK was born in 1995 as the work between two brothers/gifted watchmakers Felix and Thomas Baumgartner, and a talented designer Martin Frei. many dicussions and MANY sketches later they decided to create a watch that told time using satellites rather than conventional hands. The name URWERK comes from the joint of two much older words UR: he city of Ur was the very place where our perception of time was molded over 6000 years ago by the moving shadows cast by the obelisks of Ur, and WERK: In the German language, 'werk' means to work, create, evolve,shape, forge and to arouse emotions. With this inspirational name decided and some sketches drawn out URWERK officially started in 1997. URWERK started with the carousel 101's and 102's but their design came to be noted on a grand scale with the launch of the current 103.

The Watch:



Designed around the basis of rotating satellites the 103.09 is the newest design of the 103, differences to note versus older models are the amount of lines on the top of case, the position of the lines, and the dial. the watch might seem directly comparible to 103.05 or 103.03 or even the 103.07 but there are numerous differences that one will notice after holding it. the 103.09 shares is case shape and dial with the 103.08 but the difference being all 103.08 are TiAlN coated steel and 103.09's are precious metal Rose and White Gold.



One tells time by matching the current hour shown in the bottom of the window with the minute scale across from it. (time shown above is 12:37:30.



Each satellite you might notice has 3 hours on it... (total of 4 satellitesx3 on each=12 hours of the day) the satellites rotate at the top of the watch when hidden by the Golden Guard. Thus when it comes around again the correct hour is displayed. this means that the watch makes a full rotation every 4 hours, meaning 6 rotations per day.



One might think the URWERK seems boring, but then you flip it over and discover what i like to call the "personal side" the side that only the wearer ever gets to see. the "control panel" as URWERK calls it displays seconds, power reserve (43hours), a larger scale of minuted broken down into 1/4th of an hour, and a little knob to self regulate the watch!. (shown below..)




Self Regulation!? yes, the watch can be adjusted as much as +/- 30 seconds per day. Why is this neccesary?, because of each person wearing the watch a different way with different amounts of activities going on.. the watch will gain or lose time... the owner can average his loss or gain per day over a certain amount of time and regulate his watch to be accurate based on his wearing style.



The watch is manually wound by use of the giant crown at the top, i believe 30 rotations are needed for a full wind and since the watch does not have a clutch mechanism you must then wind the crown in the opposite direction to prevent any stress on the barrel. setting of the watch is done via same crown pulled out one click and it can be set either direction, using the control panel you can view exactly which minute you are pointing to, to allow for ore precise setting.



the watch does NOT have a "hacking seconds" meaning when crown pulled the seconds hand still moves so setting to the exact second means one must set the watch slightly back to hault the seconds hand and then wind slightly forward to get it to move again, most automatic watches without hacking seconds can do the same..



The clasp consists of a simple tang, and strap a crocodile strap designed ONLY to fit the 103 series watch.



My Thoughts:
the watch is an iconic piece of horological history, ignored by most but when you find someone familiar with the piece their eyes light up like a kid in a candy store. The brand makes each piece by hand and the process is very tedious so usually no more than 150 pieces of each model is produced. Usually only producing 2 different watches at the same time the company still manages to produce a new design each year which is amazing given the amount of work needed to design said watch and build prototypes while still building the current "quota" of pieces. URWERK watches i consider the most beautiful watches made because they are simply wearable ART.
 
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#4 ·
Excellent review of e superb watch.
 
#15 ·
That truly is an awesome timepiece !
 
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