Engraver Florian Güllert gave nearly three months, around 500 hours including the design phase, to carving the titanium case of a single URWERK pocket watch.
URWERK today introduces the UR-1001 Amadeus, a unique piece that counts time from seconds to millennia. The brand calls it a Zeit Device, built to map time rather than measure it.
It exists as a pocket watch because the two carousels co-founder Martin Frei wanted for hours and months would not fit side by side in a wristwatch. On the front, satellite hours turn with no bridge above them, and a satellite calendar cycles the months. Beside it, a hand-painted disc slides from day into night.
Turn the watch over, and the scale changes. An “Oil Change” indicator tracks routine servicing, a second counter advances every five years toward a century, and a third is built to run for a thousand years.
“I pushed Baroque inspiration to its absolute limit,” says Güllert. He first rough-cut the titanium by laser, a new process for him, then shaped the reliefs by hand under a pneumatic chisel.
URWERK says its owner is less an owner than a custodian, keeping the watch for a while before passing it to the next generation.
The Basics
Brand: URWERK
Model: UR-1001 Amadeus
Dimensions: 106mm × 62mm × 23mm
Case material: Hand-engraved titanium by Florian Güllert; beadblasted
Dial: Hand-painted day/night disc; Super-LumiNova hour markers; Côtes de Genève on the day/night and power-reserve indicators
Water resistance: Tested to 3ATM
Limited edition: Unique piece
The Movement
Calibre: UR-10.01
Functions: Satellite hours, retrograde minutes, seconds, satellite annual calendar, day/night, power reserve; oil-change, 100-year and 1,000-year indicators on the caseback
Winding: Unidirectional rotor
Power reserve: 39 hours
Frequency: 4Hz (28,800 vph)
Jewels: 51
Images courtesy of URWERK.