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"Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without." - Confucius

For the Geneva Watch Days, URWERK set up in a beautiful suite with a lakeside view at the Beau-Rivage to introduce their latest novelties. We saw the unique UR-T8 Raptor piece and the EMC Time Hunter Desert Sage. 

It was great to see the niche fine-watchmaking brands among the founders of the Geneva Watch Days. An event such as this gives them not only good visibility but also a more relaxed milieu to meet their collectors, retailers or the press. The last sun rays of the 2020 summer saw watch nerds browsing the suites of cool watch manufactures in the Beau-Rivage Genève.

In the salon of URWERK, we sat down with Martin Frei to chat about their new models and how the current situation has impacted URWERK. ‘This is far from ideal, of course. But, we’ve built up the company we envisaged, we live from our work and we’re backed by an outstanding team. We’re doing good. We will probably not embark on such resource-intensive projects such as the AMC.’ – he says. The AMC is a mechanical timepiece controlled by an atomic clock, which took 8 years to realise – learn more in our dedicated article. Last year the AMC was sold for USD 2,900,000 at the Game Changers auction of Phillips in New York. 

Novelties included the UR-T8 Raptor, the next collaboration with the engraver King Nerd and a new camouflage version of the EMC, called Time Hunter Desert Sage.

UR-T8 Raptor 

The UR-T8 Raptor is a unique piece created especially for the Art in Time boutique in Monaco. This relatively new watchmaking gallery opened in Monaco’s ‘One Monte Carlo’ complex in 2019 – as an the initiative of Karl-Friedrich Scheufele (Co-President of Chopard, President of La Chronométrie Ferdinand Berthoud). The aim is to ‘bring together niche brands, united by their shared values of independence, originality, and craftsmanship’ and offer them an exclusive place to showcase their creations to the collectors. 

The UR-T8 is the 20th anniversary piece of URWERK, presented in 2017. It celebrates the experience and innovation of Felix Baumgartner and Martin Frei and the great team they pulled together. The model has a reversible case, their signature ‘satellite complication’, 60-minute track on the right side and the characteristic URWERK design elements. 

For the Raptor timepiece they teamed up yet again with Johnny ‘King Nerd’ Dowell. He is a British designer and master engraver – who already worked with URWERK for example on the UR-T8 Skull piece or the Bronze UR-105. This time he imagined two Raptor heads in the lush jungle grass. 

For the benefit of the Monaco Red Cross, URWERK and Art in Time are presenting the one-of-a-kind watch for sale.

EMC Time Hunter Desert Sage

The EMC watches belong to the UR Chronometry Collection first launched in 2013. It is a mechanical watch equipped with a special electronic module (hence the name Electro Mechanical Control) that acts as a rate measuring tool (it captures the precise rate of oscillation – see more here). 

The EMC Time Hunter released in 2016 showed the hours, the minutes in the central dial and the seconds in the right corner, with the power reserve indicator at 7 o’clock and in the left corner you will find the indicator of the electronic module whose function is to measure the rate of the mechanical part.

The latest Desert Sage is even more hip in design than it is predecessor, in my opinion. The colour scheme is in harmony with the sand and dunes and completed with a three-colour (green, taupe and beige) camouflage pattern strap. The case (43mm x 51mm and 15,8mm thick) is titanium and micro-blasted stainless steel with a ceramic-type lacquer treatment – the grainy finish is reminiscent of military or explorer equipment. 

It is of course powered by the UR-EMC2 movement – designed, developed and produced by URWERK. 

Despite the military mood, the five-piece limited edition watch fits perfectly on the wrist on any urban nomad. 

Photo credits: Loupiosity.com
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