his unique pocket watch encompasses all scales of time. It counts down the seconds, minutes, hours, days and nights, months, years, centuries and even millennia, thereby offering a mechanical vision of time magnified by a case engraved by the talented Florian Güllert.

The UR-1001 occupies a place of its own within Urwerk’s “Special Projects collection. It is not only one of the most complex creations ever produced, but also one of the most radical. Conceived as a true Zeit Device, it does not merely measure time but instead maps it. From fleeting seconds to the unattainable millennium, it gives tangible form to that which usually eludes us: Tempus fugit.

Martin Frei tells us the story of this collection’s birth: "When we understood that days and months could be displayed using the same satellite concept as our hours and minutes, I immediately dreamed of a wristwatch with this dual indication. But at the design stage, the two carousels were touching. Not enough space. It’s out of this dead end that the idea of the UR-1001 was born, an Urwerk pocket watch. Beyond this new format, the UR-1001 offers an unprecedented vision of time. Its millennium indicator, for example, is the antithesis of the seconds hand. Its progress is so slow that the eye can barely grasp it. Does it still indicate time? Certainly! It tells us a great deal about how we perceive the passage of time. As an analogy, the UR-1001 is an object of the same standing and almost the same dimensions as a mobile phone. While the cellphone imprisons us in immediacy, our UR-1001 projects you into another temporal dimension, one we might call liberating. “

Few timepieces have thus far spanned such a vast temporal scope. Beneath this spectacular architecture, satellites, carousels, a retrograde mechanism, springs and virtually all the components of its complications have been designed, developed and crafted in Urwerk’s workshops. It is nonetheless worth noting that this UR-1001 does not stack complications, instead building a veritable mechanism of time.

The flying hours satellite at 6 o’clock appears to defy gravity. Devoid of an upper bridge, it rests solely on a moving ring offering an unobstructed view of the spectacular retrograde mechanism.

At 12 o’clock, the satellite annual calendar showcases Urwerk’s ingenuity. Three orbital arms cycle through the 12 months of the year, automatically accounting for the specific duration of each: 28, 30 or 31 days.

A hand-painted day/night disc at 9 o’clock makes a striking contrast with a black sky treated with Super-LumiNova® standing out against a finely brushed white ruthenium-plated surface. Between the two, a few dainty lines depict dawn and dusk.

Finally, a dedicated indicator informs the wearer of the 39 remaining hours of power reserve.

The reverse side of the UR-1001 tells a story on a completely different scale. An “Oil Change” indicator records service intervals. During the first three years of operation of this exceptional timepiece, its display remains white. The fourth and fifth years appear in red, signalling that a service is recommended. Once this has been carried out, the counter resets to a new cycle.

Two further indicators extend this long-term perspective on time. The first counter advances in five-year increments and records up to 100 years of operation, much like a mechanical odometer. At the end of each century, it sends a pulse to the 1000-year counter.

A case worthy of such a mechanical masterpiece was required to do it justice. That of the UR-1001 Amadeus becomes a canvas for engraver Florian Güllert to express himself. Under his chisel, titanium loses its apparent rigidity, arabesques appear to emerge from the material itself and the timepiece becomes a sculpture.

The case of the UR-1001 Amadeus is a one-off creation. “We entrusted Florian with an UR-1001 featuring a raw titanium case, as we wanted the exterior to convey the same sense of extravaganve that embodied in the movement. We wanted the case to be as daring as the mechanics. The nickname ‘Amadeus’ came from the sheer lavishness of the timepiece once it was completed. Mozart was an avant-gardist, a brilliant madman. I hope our creation epitomises that spirit”, explains Urwerk co-founder Felix Baumgartner.

Florian Güllert reveals what lies hidden within the block of titanium: “First, I had to rough-cut the material using a laser. This was a new process for me. Titanium is particularly demanding and it was a matter of preparing the raw material for hand-finishing. It was only then that my task really began”, explains Florian Güllert. “The project took nearly three months or around 500 hours of work, including the design phase, yet the most demanding part was undoubtedly engraving the caseback of the UR-1001. I pushed Baroque inspiration to its absolute limit, playing with thick and thin strokes as well as voids. It was a wonderful challenge to tackle”, he concludes.

On this UR-1001 Amadeus, the design gradually sinks into the metal. The reliefs take shape beneath the pneumatic chisel. The backgrounds are textured, dotted, satin-brushed or matt, depending on the desired light effects. Every edge is honed with a file, every detail rebalanced until any boundary between the case and its decoration disappears.

The engraving no longer merely covers the watch, instead becoming its very skin.

This UR-1001 Amadeus represents the convergence of two artistic crafts. On the one hand, Urwerk’s visionary mechanics, capable of spanning a millennium. On the other, the infinite patience of Florian Güllert, who transforms several hundred hours of work into a design whose complexity nonetheless appears natural.

This UR-1001 is a unique and timeless timepiece: you may never quite be its owner but instead its custodian for a time, before proudly passing it on to the next generation.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Movement

• Calibre: UR-10.01
• Jewels 51
• Escapement Swiss lever escapement
• Balance wheel Monometallic
• Frequency 28,800 vph, 4 Hz
• Balance spring Flat
• Power source Single mainspring barrel
• Power reserve 39 hours
• Winding system Unidirectional rotor
• Movement Co-axial double star with aluminium ring and platinum counterweight. Shock-absorbing safety system
• Calendar mechanism 93-tooth wheel, 3 Maltese crosses
• Retrograde minutes spring 6.5-turn coil (174.4 mm x 0.1 mm x 0.3 mm) with movable balance-spring stud (adjustable pin). Its great length ensures a very flat torque curve
• Main plates and bridges ARCAP
• Screws Anti-oxidant titanium
• Finishes Frosted plates, adorned with Côtes de Genève motif and DLC-coated; chamfered and polished screw heads

Specifications

• Dial side Rotating satellite hours indicator. Retrograde minutes. Rotating satellite calendar displaying months and dates. Day/Night indicator: black Super-LumiNova for night, brushed white ruthenium for day, mixed stripes for twilight. 39-hour power-reserve indicator with a red zone indicating low reserve.
• Seconds: displayed by three hands showing 3 x 20 seconds across a 120° sector. Côtes de Genève motif on the Day/Night and power-reserve indicators

Caseback side:

• “Oil change” indicator (five years)
• 100-year time indicator
• Linear time indicator covering 1,000 years

Finishes:

• Sandblasted carousel
• Plates, dials and satellites treated with PE-CVD and DLC
• Satin-brushed and diamond-polished satellites
• Hour-markers treated with Super-LumiNova

Case

• Material Hand-engraved titanium by Florian Güllert
• Dimensions: 106 mm x 62 mm x 23 mm
• Crystals: Glare-proofed sapphire crystals
• Water resistance: Tested to 3ATM
• Finishes: Beadblasted