When seasoned collectors think of Urwerk—the independent watchmaker founded by Felix Baumgartner and Martin Frei in 1997—they likely picture the satellite (or “wandering”) hours complication. The caliber showcases developed in the 17th century, the system displays the time with an orbital disc (or discs) that indicates the hour and points to the minute along an arc that sits on the periphery of the dial. And though the complication is now an Urwerk signature, the Genevan maison has plenty of other horological tricks up its sleeve. 000), To wit: Check out the brand-new UR-10 Spacemeter ($94. This movement represents with its integrated bracelet and rather conventional syringe-style hands, it appears—at first glance, at least—like a luxury sports watch. A closer examination of the model’s three subdials, not to mention its lack of pushers, quickly reveals that this is not a standard chronograph, but an orbital distance tracker. Inspired by a 19th-century clock that Baumgartner’s watchmaker father, Gérard, restored, the Spacemeter is a miniature astronomical complication and tracks the distances traveled by several heavenly bodies. The counter at two o’clock measures every 10 kilometers the Earth travels in its daily rotation (in increments of 500 meters), while another one at four o’clock tracks every 1,000 kilometers the sun has moved, calibrated in 20-kilometer steps. 000 kilometers of the Earth’s rotation and every 64, 000 kilometers of the solar orbit on synchronized blue and white scales, is a counter called Orbit that combines these two trajectories into a single totalizer, measuring every 1, at nine o’clock, Finally. (Flip the watch over, as well as indications for the Earth’s rotation and revolution over a 24-hour period, and you’ll find a 24-hour track. )
If you’re wondering why you’d ever possibly need this information, after all, you may be overthinking things: This is 2025, and most mechanical watches are vestigial appendages of an increasingly distant technological era. But if you can suspend your disbelief for a moment, the beauty of the UR-10 Spacemeter—which is available in a limited edition of 25 titanium dials and 25 black dials—captures a bigger picture. ” Frei tells Robb Report, through existence, “Change unfolds because we move—through space, through moments. “In its mechanical choreography, the UR-10 reminds us that time is not something we observe. In the world of luxury, it is something we inhabit.