2024-02-12 23:00:01
Urwerk writes the fourth chapter of his UR-100 saga, but abandons Earth to measure the time taken by a ray of the Sun to reach the different planets of our solar system
Since its creation, almost 30 years ago, Urwerk has not simply measured conventional time, that of hours, minutes and seconds. The brand is also interested in astronomical time, the father of watchmaking time. There are other repositories up there. They are of no earthly use to us, but they greatly inspire Felix Baumgartner and Martin Frei, founders of Urwerk.
Five years of development
The saga of sidereal time began for Urwerk five years ago, in 2019. On this date the UR-100 appeared. It always displays the hours by three central carousels moving from right to left on a timer arc, that is to say following the same path as the sun, from east to west. But the piece goes further. In two upper openings, it allows you to instantly read two other pieces of information: on the one on the left, the distance traveled by the Earth, every 20 minutes, at the Equator; on the right, the distance traveled by the Earth in its revolution around the Sun, always in 20 minutes. Utility ? None. Except the merit of poetry, of science, and of placing our tiny planet in the cosmic ballet.
UR-100V – « LightSpeed » © Urwerk
Subsequently, in 2022 then 2023, Urwerk will decline its principle with the same measures, but no longer taken in Ecuador but in Mexico, then in ancient Mesopotamia (today mainly Iraq), in the city of Ur , which gave its name to the brand (complete with work, which means factory, factory, in German). These will be the two “Time and Culture” UR-100Vs. These were variations of the UR-100, equipped for the occasion with a slightly revised module, which at the same time gave it the name UR-100V.
Tome IV
Today, following the original UR-100, followed by the two UR-100Vs, the fourth iteration of this display is released: the UR-100V “LightSpeed”. The basic principle remains the same: measuring astronomical periods. But this time, the approach is no longer geocentric. The reference point is no longer Earth. What is now measured is the distance traveled by the light emitted by the sun to reach a given point. Which ? Each planet in the solar system successively.
UR-100V – « LightSpeed » © Urwerk
The UR-100V “LightSpeed” therefore makes it possible to read the time taken by the Sun’s light to first strike the surface of Mercury, then Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and finally Neptune. Mercury being the closest to the Sun, the light propagated from it reaches there in only 3.2 minutes. For Neptune, the furthest away, it will take 4.1 hours. Since all these durations are fixed, Urwerk was able to engrave them on the upper dome of its UR-100V “LightSpeed”. The starting point is furthest to the left. It is the Sun, “SUN”, represented by a point in a circle. Almost next to it, Mercury (3.2 mins), then Venus (6 mins), Earth (8.3 mins), and so on. On the background side, Urwerk was also inspired by solar radiation for its rotor.
The piece is made of carbon and titanium, 43 mm wide. Its movement guarantees 48 hours of power reserve. It is not strictly limited, even if Urwerk’s production always remains very limited. The UR-100V “LightSpeed” is priced at 65,000 CHF excluding tax.
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