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Urban Jürgensen: genesis of a watch

A NEW VISION OF THE GMT FUNCTION (PART 3/5)

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June 2019


Urban Jürgensen: genesis of a watch

In this new episode about the birth of the Jürgensen One range of watches, we explore the calibre of the new timepiece, the Automatic P5 Movement.

F

or its Jürgensen One collection, the brand developed the first-ever automatic movement in its 246-year history. It is based on key elements of its P4 in-house movement. “Adding automatic in-house movements to Urban Jürgensen’s portfolio is a landmark for the brand. The trickier part of the development process had obviously been the integration of the GMT function in the calibre”, says Urban Jürgensen President & CEO, Søren Jenry Petersen.

Urban Jürgensen: genesis of a watch
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The P5 movement comes in two versions:

P5 Automatic – 3 hands with sweep second and date window at 3, on the Reference 5241

P5 Automatic GMT – 4 hands with sweep seconds, date window at 3 and a 24-hour Home Time subdial at 6, on the Reference 5541 GMT

The movement is driven by an openworked rotor with gold-inlaid Urban Jürgensen shield and a 22 karat solid gold oscillating weight. “Importantly, the Automatic P5 Movement is hand-finished and robust. We decided not to go through the challenges of slimmer movements, while still achieving a decent size”, explains Søren Jenry Petersen. "An important feature of the movement is the skeletonisation of the balance wheel, which allows for a better view of the whole structure."

Both references are crafted entirely from medical grade 1.4441 steel, including the integrated steel bracelet with butterfly double secure locking clasp, and are waterproof to 120 metres.

Søren Jenry Petersen gives more details about the underlying thinking behind the development of the movement: “The key of the GMT model is its simplicity of use. When you press the top pusher you advance the local time on the main dial by one hour, and when you press the lower pusher you reverse by one hour. A subdial shows the home time: the 24-hour dial means you do not need a day/night indicator, and you don’t need one for your local time either – because you already know if it’s day or night! This creates a watch you can simply reach down and correct by counting pushes when the plane lands – and you do not even have to look at the watch when you do this.”

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

• Urban Jürgensen Automatic P5 movement in two versions:

• P5 Automatic, 3 hands with sweep seconds and date window at 3

• P5 Automatic, GMT, 4 hands with sweep seconds, date window at 3 and 24-hour Home Time subdial at 6. Adjustable by +/- pushers at 10 and 8 for the central hour hand, including date change.

• Swiss Lever Escapement

• Adjusted to temperature, isochronism in five positions

• Stop seconds

• Openworked rotor with gold-inlaid UJ Shield and 22 karat solid gold oscillating weight.

• Traversing Balance Bridge secured by double screws

• Twin barrels

• Autonomy 72 hours

• Frequency 21,600 V/h – 3 Hz

• Thirty-four (34) jewels

• Diameter 32 mm

• Thickness 6.1 mm for 3-hands, and 6.6 mm for the GMT version

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