SpotlightThe Spatial Realm: Presenting The Sparkling Urwerk UR-100V Stardust
The UR-100V Stardust is probably Urwerk’s most glittering watch produced till date, adorned with 400 diamonds—making it a fine embodiment of high jewellery craftsmanship propelled by next-level technical innovation
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Time, space, and the third-dimension…these terms often come to mind when one talks about Urwerk’s watches because this brand is anything but conventional. Their new launch for Geneva Watch Days, the sparkling Urwerk UR-100V Stardust perfectly balances high horology and the art of gem-setting in a futuristic design. This will be produced in a limited number (only 10 pieces per year), and looks like a watch that is inspired from an intergalactic star.
“The entire universe is composed of stellar particles, making their presence inevitable in all the forms of matter that surround us. Whether in their raw or transformed state, from carbon to cut diamonds, from iron mineral to steel alloy, this stardust is omnipresent. It’s crazy to think that we, as human beings, are also made of this celestial substance. So, the nickname Stardust, logically associated with the setting of this UR-100V, also extends to the watch itself and to its future owner”, explains Urwerk’s Artistic Director and co-founder, Martin Frei in an official statement.
This 41mm timekeeper has a case middle forged in stainless-steel whereas the caseback is in shot-blasted titanium and sapphire. It is set with 400 diamonds, totalling almost 1.90 carats, arranged using snow-setting technique and only the edges of the watch have been left bare. The dial is also grey and features the minutes scale—located on the upper part of the railway-type track, and is studded with 36 diamonds, while another 24 adorn the crown, positioned at 12 o’clock. “We wanted a setting reminiscent of the starry heavens, with nothing at all uniform, more like ordered chaos. It wasn’t so much the size of the stones that was important to us as their arrangement in this almost random design”, says Felix Baumgartner, master watchmaker and co-founder, Urwerk.
And while the entire surface is covered with these brilliant diamonds, one would assume that this would make for a rough exterior. However, the structure is soft to the touch, smooth and fluid. But this wasn’t an easy task to accomplish because of the stainless steel used here, which is harder and less malleable than precious metals such as gold, and requires more complex and meticulous jewellery craftsmanship, and Urwerk have done a stupendous job here.
The watch scores high on not just design but also the technology involved in creating its wandering hour movement. Like all watches in the 100 collection, it features two recesses on the flanks of its satellite carrier. The first is a kilometre counter representing the distance travelled by the Earth on its own axis in 20 minutes, ie 555 km. The second is another kilometre counter, indicating the distance travelled by the Earth around the Sun during the same period, ie 35,740 km.
It is powered by the self-winding UR 12.02 movement, which beats at 28,800vph to provide an energy supply of 48 hours approximately. Water-resistant to 30m, the UR-100V Stardust is presented on a blue fabric strap with a steel pin buckle, which features two rows comprising 11 diamonds each.
