Urwerk UR-1001

The stunning (and no doubt stunningly expensive) Urwerk UR-1001 Zeit Device watch is described by Urwerk as an “Uber Complication” and with its futuristic looks it certainly has an uber cool appearance too.

Immediately recogniseable as an Urwerk, it is their first “pocket watch” or as they prefer to call it “Zeit Device”, its also their first model to feature a double satellite display. One indicating hours similar to the UR-203 model and one indicating the month. As each satellite revolves the individually numbered cubes rotate to indicate the time and date.

The UR-1001 took four years to develop and being a pocket watch meant that Urwerk were able to fit more into it mechanically than is possible with a wristwatch, so they were able to include an array of complications and show off their horological prowess.

Breguet Only Watch

For the Only Watch Auction Breguet has released this “piece unique” with a beautifully crafted guilloche dial decorated with a boy, arm oustretched to meet an adults hand. The dial rotates until the hands touch.

According to Breguet this symbolizes “inter-generational solidarity and support for research on Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy” the cause for which the Only Watch auction raises money .

It also features a patented music box type mechanism that plays the tune “Castle in the sky” .

This serves to not only entertain but also as an alarm function. It can be activated by use of the button at the 10 ‘Oclock position or enabled at a preset time, the small aperture between 9 and 10 O’clock indicates whether the alarm is on or off.


When the striking mechanism is activated the dial makes a complete turn (see video below).
Power reserve is shown by a gauge visible at the 3 O’clock position.

Issey Miyake O Watch:side

It is the 10th anniversary of the Issey Miyake Watch Project and to celebrate this occasion Japanese designer Tokujin Yoshioka in collaboration with Seiko instruments has created the “O” watch. The name is a play on the French word for water “eau” which is pronounced the same as the letter “o”.

Issey Miyake O Watch:top

Porsche Design P’6520 Compass Watch

Designer Professor Ferdinand Alexander Porsche created the first compass watch in 1978 and the P’6520 Compass Watch is a modified re-issue of that one, its been updated for the 21st Century by increasing the diameter to 42mm and this new version also now sports a titanium case. The watch is limited to 911 pieces.

The P’6520 consists of two sections. The three three hand watch that is the upper section is driven by an automatic SW300 Sellita movement and the lower section of the watch that is revealed by the watch opening up is a liquid compass and available in both Northern and Southern Hemisphere versions.

P’6520 Compass Watch Front

P’6520 Design Sketch

To help with navigation a scratch resistant mirror has been fitted to the top of the compass and rear of the watch which clicks into a 45 degree position once opened.

Romain Jerome Space Invaders

Romain Jerome have chosen to pay tribute to late 20th Century pop culture with their latest watch.

They are releasing two limited edition watches that are a nostalgic tribute to the late 1970`s videogame Space Invaders.

78 pieces of each will be made, one in colour and the other in monochrome, both feature 3.5mm pixelated space invaders that have been individually machined, hand applied and coated with superluminova.

The Space Invaders watch uses the same case as their Moon Invader series and is 46mm wide in black PVD steel. The rear of the watch features a dedication plate made from special “Moon Silver RJ” a silver alloy that incorporates moon rock.

Eva Leube Ari watch

Eva Leube is an independent watchmaker located in Manly, near Sydney in Australia and since 2004 has been building unique, handmade watches with complicated mechanisms.

She has just recently released her first timepiece “Ari” – named after her son, which was presented at Baselworld 2011.

Eva started studying watchmaking at 16 and has been a master watchmaker since 1995 having worked as a specialist at Rolex for 6 years and more recently for Thomas Prescher from 2004-7.

At Thomas Prescher she worked on his complex mechanisms, including double-retrograde time indication and multiple-axis flying tourbillons and received her introduction to the different world of independent watchmaking.

What first strikes you about “Ari” is its slender, dramatically curved case which gives it a dynamic look. The traditional mechanical aspects combined with its

Bell and Ross Casino Watch

For the `Only Watch` auction Bell and Ross have created this novel, limited edition watch as a homage to the Casino in Monaco where the auction will take place. Titled the BR01 its dial has been designed in the fashion of a miniature roulette wheel.

It uses a modified Swiss ETA 2892 automatic movement and has a pink gold case, a limited edition carbon finish version will be available for casinos in Monaco, Las Vegas and Macau.

The watch uses a disc display system based on the “radar” model B&R released in 2010.

Not the kind of watch you can just quickly glance at and read the time, the BR01 uses the roulette ball to indicate the minutes, the centre of the roulette wheel indicates the seconds and the hours are shown by the “0″ marker…

The Upside Down Watch by Ludovic Ballouard

An original concept and technically very interesting the Upside Down watch by Ludovic Ballouard is a watch that I’ve been wanting to write about for a while.

The Upside Down watch has a rather unique way of indicating time, but despite this is still easy to read. The dial features simple numbered hour markers but what makes it unusual is that only the current hour marker is displayed the correct way up, all 11 others are flipped upside down! A small dot also helps lead the eye to the current hour marker. Its a mixture of the traditional and whimsical.

Ludovic Ballouard decided to create his own brand after having worked at Franck Muller and more recently F.P Journe where he played an important role in the creation of the complex and technically challenging Sonnerie Souveraine. No doubt the creation of the Upside Down was also technically no easy task.

Neuhaus Janus Double Speed

Recently launched watch brand Neuhaus Inventing Timepieces have released this intriguing and innovative model called the “Janus Double Speed” it features a single hour hand that rotates round the dial once every 6 hours instead of the usual 12.

Noticeably different also are the two hour markers instead of the usual one, each separated by 6 hours. The sections inbetween are divided into half hours, quarters and five minute intervals. By having a double speed the distance between these hour markers is twice as large as normal which makes for much better legibility.

Since there is no sweeping seconds hand in order to determine whether the watch is running a small black and white disc is visible through a small aperture just above the 09/03 markers. This changes colours every 2 seconds so that a quick glance will tell you whether the watch is running or not. The crown at 3 o’clock feautures a silicon

Bell & Ross Twelve O’Clock

At first glance its not very clear how to read time on this recent creation by Bell & Ross. Titled “BR Twelve O’Clock” its closer to a performance art piece that probes the more philosophical notions of time rather than a practical timepiece.

The “BR Twelve O’Clock” consists of twelve individual automatic watches, each one representing just one hour and coming in a box with battery powered winder, thereby preventing the painful inconvenience of having to reset all 12 watches should one rundown.

Like B&R’s radar watch they use three concentric discs. Each watch has one hour imprinted on it and when the concentric discs rotate the hour becomes fragmented and once they realign again the time is told for that particular hour. For example the 12 o’clock