Not all images were able to load for printing. Please close the print window and try again. The new Urwerk UR-101 T-Rex Edition
A bronze carapace and raw presence for the most essential take on the wandering hours.
As indicated by its name, the UR-101 was – together with its sister piece, the UR-102 – the watch that started it all at Urwerk. The foundation, the watch that defined a style, a display, and that made an impact on almost 30 years of unleashed creativity after. The inaugural UR-101 and 102 featured distinctive wandering hours displays, inspired by a clock made for the Pope in 1652 by the Campani brothers. A few years ago, Urwerk relaunched the UR-102 concept with the Reloaded models. Now it’s time for the UR-101 to be resurrected… But the normally quite sleek watch has undergone the transmutation into a boosted creation, becoming the latest addition to the bold, expressive T-Rex lineage.
Together with the 102, the Urwerk UR-101 was the watch that started it all, as well as being one of the founding watches of what would become the new independent watchmaking scene – Urwerk, De Bethune, MB&F and more. The UR-101 had it all already: the sci-fi, unprecedented design, shaped like a Sputnik satellite or a Millennium Falcon (choose your favourite inspiration) by Martin Frei, mechanically conceptualized by Felix Baumgartner with a display based on the Campanis’ clock, with wandering hours and minutes on an arch. The inaugural UR-101 was launched at the AHCI space at Baselworld in 1997, with an asymmetrical 38mm yellow gold case with top lugs hidden under the case, while the bottom featured two conventional lugs, and back then, a conventional crown at 3 o’clock.
After the re-edition of the UR-102 a couple of years ago, it’s now time for the brand to resurrect the UR-101… But not just a one-to-one recreation, but in a revisited version, modernized and mostly, now part of the T-Rex lineage – meaning patinated bronze case and guilloché texture recalling the scales of the angry dinosaur. The T-Rex concept at Urwerk has been seen twice in the past, with the UR-105 T-Rex in 2016, and the UR-100V T-Rex in 2021.
For its return, the UR-101 becomes bolder and more expressive than ever before, with its “bronze carapace, raw presence and primal contact,” to quote the founders. But it’s not just about the T-Rex side of things here. There’s more to this new version. Surely, the most eye-catching element is the bronze, hand-painted case covered with a textured skin, a scaly armour covering its bezel, as well as its sides, as well as its lugs. This guilloché pattern, a technique normally used for dials, it is here exposed to the touch, revealing the raw nature of the watch. The engraved grooves start at the crown running along the entire case in a low-gradient climb, up to the steep, curved slope leading to the back.
Indeed, one of the main evolution for this reloaded version of the Urwerk UR-101 is the repositioning of the crown at 3 o’clock, a feature found on most watches by the brand. Another evolution concerns the proportions, as the case has grown a bit to now measure 41mm in diameter and 11.86mm in thickness – but due to the highly curved element on the back and the short lugs, it should remain a pretty compact watch. The back is black PVD-coated steel and water-resistance is rated at 30m. There’s also a new puller system on the back that facilitates handling the crown.
Just like its ancestor, the new UR-101 T-Rex Edition relies on a classic wandering hour complication, featuring two satellites – each with 6 hour markers – a 180-degree display for the minutes, and a solid, snailed carrousel transporting the current hour on the minute track, before next one appears on the left side. It’s here discreetly revealed under an arched sapphire crystal, with a black background and bright luminous numerals.
Under the solid back is the new UR-1.01V calibre, which relies on a modern Vaucher base automatic movement, with the classic wandering hour mechanism on top being produced in-house. The watch comes worn on a black rubber strap with textile effect and black calfskin lining, closed by a black DLC-treated steel pin buckle.
Available as a limited edition of 100 pieces, the new Urwerk UR-101 T-Rex Edition is priced at CHF 38,000 (excl. taxes). For more details, please visit www.urwerk.com.
