Urwerk watches

Urwerk was launched in 1997 by the watchmaker Felix Baumgartner and the designer Martin Frei, with Felix's brother Thomas Baumgartner involved from the start. Its first watches, the UR-101 and UR-102, used a wandering-hour display; the brand first exhibited with the AHCI at Baselworld in April 1997. Felix Baumgartner had moved to Geneva in 1995, and in 1998 the first Urwerk atelier opened there on rue de Cornavin.

The UR-103 of 2003 introduced the satellite display of orbiting hour satellites, the basis for many later references, and led to a collaboration with Harry Winston on the Opus V of 2005. Later models include the UR-202 'Hammerhead', with a revolving satellite complication and telescopic minute hands, the UR-105 CT 'Streamliner' of 2017 and the UR-T8 'Transformer'. The EMC (Electro-Mechanical Control) lets the wearer monitor and adjust the movement's accuracy; its successor, the AMC (Atomic Mechanical Control), pairs a watch with an atomic clock base.