Urwerk’s ‘T-Rex’ Watch Is Inspired By The Ultimate Prehistoric Predator
A wildly distinctive limited-edition timepiece that channels the apex predator of the dinosaur world.
No source of inspiration is too obscure, and seemingly no complication or design too grand, for the boundary-pushing haute horology masters at Urwerk. Its new watch pairs daring looks with astounding inspiration: The legendary T-Rex takes center stage with the incredibly distinctive UR 101 T-REX.
The watch is unlike any other timepiece on the market, less a watch and more a work of art. That’s certainly a compliment of the highest order considering bold wrist candy like the ceramic polar white UR-230 and the scorpion-inspired UR-250, to name but two exceptional launches from the Swiss company. Textured T-Rex like scales make up a bronze form that gets a guilloche treatment before being oxidized and brushed, a new twist on the best bronze watches on the marketplace (and one unique to Urwerk).
The textured geometric engraving pattern first made its appearance in a Urwerk T-Rex model in 2016, with an additional launch (the UR-100 T-Rex) following thereafter. Urwerk trumpeted the release of the limited-edition $45,000 watch, noting that the latest T-Rex timepiece “is making a big entrance,” further adding that the watch, and its bronze carapace, is “not content to be seen, this new arrival demands to be touched.” Unlike other bronze watches however, the timepiece won’t develop a green patina over time.
Its movement defies convention among more Earthbound watchmakers, but for Urwerk, the company says it’s a return to form, featuring two satellites and a solid snailed carousel design. The 180-degree display further pushes the boundaries of the horologist’s “wandering hours” signature movement, calling back to co-founder and master watchmaker Felix Baumgartner’s initial Urwerk movements.
“Our original idea was a satellite time display,” he said, detailing the challenges of the approach. “Making a carousel almost 150 times heavier than two hands move isochronically was our first challenge,” he noted, adding that “in conjunction with Svend Andersen, my first watchmaking mentor… we realized a Maltese cross was required to manage such a mechanism. And that was just the start of the challenges we have set ourselves ever since.”
The decision to use bronze in such a striking manner was an easy one for the gamechanging Swiss watchmaker, said co-founder and artistic director Martin Frei. “Bronze is a fabulous metal,” Frei said, noting that the metal “oxidizes as soon as it is scratched and this oxidation protects it and erases the traces of time. It is fascinating, as if reacting like the skin’s natural regenerating process.” It all comes together in a vivid, imaginative timepiece, one with a price tag reflecting its rarity: Just 100 units of the already-legendary UR 101 T-REX are available for a limited time.