URWERK has spent just under three decades telling time with orbits. Since Felix Baumgartner and Martin Frei set up shop in 1997, virtually every flagship from the Geneva independent has mounted its hours on a rotating satellite carousel. It’s essentially a 17th-century wandering hours complication but completely rebuilt as sci-fi hardware. That carousel has gone on to become the brand itself, which makes its newest release seem almost borderline heretical. For the first time, the orbit is nowhere in sight, and in its place jumps the UR-300 Time Quantum.
Killing the Carousel
Where the carousel once spun now sits a T-shaped frame built from two bar-shaped hour modules, and each ones carries a three-sided prism. The active hour rides the base of the T, and it drags across a 108-degree minute arc the way any wandering hours watch would.
Then the 60th minute hits, and the thing goes wild. The whole frame lunges forward 72 degrees, the two bars pivot to trade places, and all four prisms rotate to their next faces at the same instant.
Older URWERKs only ever turned the incoming hour into position. Here, the entire display changes over in a fraction of a second, and from an engineering perspectie, it’s nothing short of impressive.
Fed by Twin Turbines
Baumgartner says the idea came from the atomic world rather than the brand’s usual deep-space fixation, the hourly jump standing in for a particle flipping states.
A jump this violent also demands real torque. So the automatic UR-30.01V caliber, built on a Vaucher base, feeds a double mainspring barrel through URWERK’s patented Dual Flow Turbine winding system, twin counter-rotating turbines visible through the caseback.
Even then, the 4Hz movement musters just 44 hours of reserve. But that’s the price you pay for this much hardware around every 60 minutes.
Three Quarters of an Inch of Titanium
Containing the show is a Grade 5 titanium case measuring 45.2mm across, 58.8mm lug to lug, and 18.25mm tall. The crown relocates to 12 o’clock beneath its own protective bridge, while hinged lugs carry a nylon strap, and one of them conceals a plaque marking the 25-piece run.
There two different version available including a satin-finished natural titanium, or an AlTiN coating applied via PE-CVD for full stealth mode.
Spec Sheet
Model: URWERK UR-300 Time Quantum
Case Size: 45.2mm x 58.8mm (lug-to-lug)
Thickness: 18.25mm
Case Material: Grade 5 titanium (satin-finished or AlTiN PE-CVD coating)
Movement: Caliber UR-30.01V, automatic (Vaucher base)
Winding System: Dual Flow Turbine, double mainspring barrel
Frequency: 4Hz (28,800 vph)
Power Reserve: 44 hours
Water Resistance: 30m
Strap: Nylon with hinged articulated lugs
Limited Edition: 25 pieces per finish (50 total)
Pricing & Availability
Each finish is capped at 25 pieces, 50 watches in total, priced at CHF 168,000 (~$202,500) before taxes. Head over to URWERK’s website to inquire.
Recap
URWERK UR-300 Time Quantum
URWERK retires its signature satellite carousel for a T-frame display that leaps to each new hour, limited to 50 titanium pieces at CHF 168,000.
