META METAL

Urwerk’s new UR-100 V Iron hurtles through time and space in metallic chic

- Alvin Wong

People who encounter Urwerk’s watches for the first time inadvertently react in a familiar pattern. First, shock and awe. Followed either by extreme confusion, or an Eureka moment, as they wade into the world of avant-garde horology. Whether they like the watches or not, there’s no unseeing how far-out mechanical watchmaking can be. As bona fide disruptors of modern watchmaking, the co-founders of Urwerk - third-generation watchmaker, Felix Baumgartner, and watch designer, Martin Frei - delight in making us think about time, as much as they challenge us with new ways to tell the time. And they’ve made it a mission since the brand’s launch in 1997, with sci-fi looking timepieces that eschew typical hour and minute hands, for a unique rotary satellite display system that employs anything from rotating cubes and telescopic hands to display the time.