The Urwerk UR-120 Has A Message For You: Live Long And Prosper

What’s better than the UR-110, the award-winning Urwerk that clinched a forever-loyal fan base for the brand when it launched in 2011? It’s direct descendent, the Urwerk UR-120, of course. It’s a more refined version of the 2011 classic – minus the visible case screws and with the addition of articulated lugs – and it’s a Trekky tribute: the numerals on the hour satellites now split in two at the point of rotation, taking a form that mimics the V-shaped Vulcan salute. As Urwerk explains it: “Hand up, palm forward, fingers parted in the middle, and then the greeting: Live long and prosper!”

The UR-120 case is made of two interlocking parts: a caseback and a bezel section connected by side screws, a departure from the top screws on the UR-110. The upper part is made of sandblasted steel, and the lower, of sandblasted titanium. The sleeker construction is enhanced by articulated lugs, a rarity on Planet Urwerk, but a welcome feature on a watch that is still fairly big – the case is 44 mm long, 47 mm wide and 15.8 mm thick. “The idea was to go in a thinner, smoother, more elegant direction,” says Martin Frei, co-founder and artistic director of the brand. “To do that, we redesigned the entire satellite system. Each satellite is now made of two sub-elements to make it thinner, easier to read and to give it unprecedented fluidity.”

It contains the automatic caliber UR-20.01 which, like the movement in the UR-110, tells time via a planetary gearing system that drives the parallel rotation of three hour satellites that rotate to take their turn lining up on the minute track to the right. As the upcoming hour moves into place, it counter-rotates to reveal the current hour. On the UR-120, the digit splits in two, with each half rotating on its axis, and in the process imitating Dr. Spock’s signature greeting. At the moment of the salute, a lyre-shaped spring opens and then closes the satellite. According to Felix Baumgartner, Urwerk’s co-founder and master watchmaker, “managing energy at that point is complex and very subtle, because we needed to manage the opening and the stud rotation. We ended up manufacturing the spring ourselves, in-house, because we had to go through so many trials while defining its geometry and thickness. The hour markers these opening studs allowed have grown bigger by 35% compared to the UR-110.”

A small window opens a direct view onto the movement’s “windfänger,” a star-shaped component that regulates the automatic winding. You can also see the Maltese crosses and lyre-shaped springs, which are 24k gold PVD treated, “not unlike the Bussard ramjets at the front of the Enterprise’s warp engines,” says Frei. The UR-120 will be made in limited numbers, all destined to live long and prosper. It is priced at $108,000, and comes on a black calf leather strap with embossed cordura pattern.