We can all point to various watches which claim automobile or racing heritage. Most of the time, the result is practically indistinguishable from any other watch, employing only minor design cues such as an automaker’s logo on the dial or case. But what about those few manufacturers that have decided to go that extra mile […]

Urwerk, like the legendary Black Bird after which they’ve named their latest watch, is a true rara avis –not only is it one of the very few watchmaking firms that’s creating unusual designs that are really successful, and not just exercises in shock or novelty, it’s also one of the few independent watchmaking houses to […]

To say that the ZR012 is complex is an understatement. This experimental piece, of which only 12 will be produced, is made with nitroglycerin (read: the active ingredient in dynamite). It took Urwerk’s Felix Baumgartner and Martin Frei (the men who created the movement); MB&F’s Max Büsser and Serge Kriknoff; and Eric Giroud to create […]

  Haute Time: Tell us some of the most exciting developments at Urwerk today? Martin Frei: I am proud about the response that we get on our most recent model UR-110, and I am thrilled about the fact that we are going to introduce a new watch to you in the autumn 2012, one that takes […]

Check out the exclusive video above to get an inside look at my meeting with Martin Frei of Urwerk Watches at Basel World.

My next meeting after Zenith was with the creator of Urwerk watch, Martin Frei. He builds watches that are next level and range from $95 to 110K Swiss Francs, along with a special tourbillon pocket piece that is over $350k Swiss Francs. Only eight of these were made and all are sold out. The UR-1001 […]

The watches of Urwerk are a very new twist on a very old idea.  In Urwerk watches, a “time satellite” carrying the hour indication crosses a sector of the dial marked with the minutes; as the satellite carrier reaches the 60 minute mark  a new hour marker appears at 0 and the whole process starts over.  […]