The UR-100V P.02 is a love letter to the Space Shuttle Enterprise. If ever the SpaceX Dragon crew are looking for an alternative to the Moonwatch, this would certainly fit the job. The project came about not as a two way collaboration, but three, between Urwerk, Collective, and the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, where the Enterprise resides. It is a wildly experimental retrospective on the optimistic era of space shuttles, seen through the lens of independent watchmaking.
Urwerk founders Felix Baumgartner and Martin Frei first bonded over creating a new way to perceive time. Ur for the city where time was first measured 60 centuries ago, and Werk meaning 'to create' in German. Urwerk began in '97, an independent manufacture with advanced material science and a futurist-interpretation of the wandering hours complication on their side. The pair have, since, never shied away from a challenge or a good time. This project was both.
Those who know Urwerk will notice this dial is a little different. There are two apertures situated at 10 and 2. Both are precisely timed, luminous stages that accurately time the Enterprise's launch and landing stages with a slot-pointer configuration that sweeps through the stages via the central rotating time element. Urwerk's wandering hours display was already perfectly positioned to take advantage of clear timing intervals and naturally fit this project perfectly.
Inside you will find Urwerk's automatic calibre UR 12.02. And yes, automatic rotors do work just fine in space; inertia and acceleration from wrist movement still are adequate. It is a 28800 vph Zenith ébauche, heavily built upon with Urwerk's time display. Uniquely, its rotor incorporates a Windfänger fan which 'walks' on a peripheral track to prevent the rotor from spinning too quickly and causing undue stress, as long as there's air in the case. Outside, the 41mm case is comprised of titanium and steel in various elements, but all media blasted and finished in a cohesive GunMetal PVD. The UR-100V P.02 was made in 20 examples, engraved on a case plaque fixed near 10.
The UR-100V P.02 may have never timed an actual launch and re-entry, but it does exceptional job of making you imagine what might have been. The shuttle era is no longer, reusable rockets have taken their place. But the sense of optimism which that era kindled lives on and this project has captured it, thanks to the creativity of all involved.
