New works by avant-garde masters
Happy Wednesday, guys! I am very excited today because one of my favorite brands of all time is releasing a brand new model for its series. No, not a new change, but a brand new profile. Joining the brand’s “Special Projects” series, UR-112 Aggregat is a brand new product from avant-garde masters. At a glance, in terms of design, UR-112 Aggregat is the successor to the brand’s now discontinued UR-111C. Now, we are looking at a masterpiece that has been in production for three years!
UR-112 Aggregat is a brand new adventure by Martin Frei and Felix Baumgartner. The co-founder hopes to accept a new mechanical challenge starting from a blank canvas and a sketchbook full of ideas. A work that expands their creativity and technical capabilities, unlike anything they have made before. All of this is while designing a product full of the essence of the brand. Even achieving only 50% of this goal would be great, so let’s see URWERK continue their Mission Impossible.
Brand new UR-112 aggregate
URWERK is known for its avant-garde watchmaking methods. It effortlessly blends impressive futuristic mechanical engineering with subtle and sometimes whimsical inspiration. Despite a subtle nod to some of the other watches in the brand’s incredible repertoire, its development took an incredible three years. Considering that it took URWERK about two years to develop a new model, this is enough to illustrate the difficulty and technical challenges of the UR-112 Aggregat project.
The natural beauty of UR-112 Aggregat lies in the hidden complexity of its hiding mechanism. The digital display uses jumping hours and jumping minutes (in 5-minute increments) to provide a more relaxed view of time that we may be used to. Even the seconds display is hidden behind the watch’s grid-like titanium “case” (perhaps a tribute to the brand’s iconic UR-105?). After opening the hull, you may wish to see the core and soul of the UR-112 complex movement at a glance. Instead, all non-essential mechanical devices are hidden, only showing the second hand and power reserve.
Deepen my love
Now I have reason to believe that I may be looking for many meanings that other people may not have. When you establish a connection with a brand in this way, it is easier to express lyricism and find art in its design. So bear with me here! Remind people that time is a man-made structure that controls all aspects of our lives. Although it is very necessary, UR-112 Aggregat reminds us that time does not have to completely define and rule us. Instead, we should take time to appreciate the present. Enjoy and absorb the things around us. In this case, we should enjoy the look of the watch, not what it can do for us.
Abstraction in design
The case of UR-112 Aggregat is somewhat vivid and thought-provoking. It is not gorgeous and has a highly polished surface. Instead, it has an anthracite body with matte black sides, supplemented by a functional titanium “hull” of the same color. Soft beauty is how I describe it. The deep and moody color scheme has a certain elegance. It is easy to describe black as a lazy choice, but darkness paves the way to appreciate the shape and form of UR-112.
Take a look at Ad Reinhardt’s famous 1963 painting “Abstract Painting”. At first glance, the entire canvas seems to be a flat black surface. However, upon closer inspection, one will notice that the artist used more than one black shade to create the underlying geometric structure. Looking at the past colors can make you appreciate the following forms. It may be said that Reinhardt’s abstract paintings inspired Martin Frey’s creative vision to a certain extent, but it is not impossible to know that he is an art lover.
When asked about his inspiration for the UR-112, he said: “The inspiration for this UR-112 is many and scattered. The grille of the Bugatti Atlantique is the most obvious. A great car with a contrasting spine. Emphasis on absolute symmetry. Some Middle Eastern influences are clearly visible in my mind. The memories, smells and experiences of travel nourish my imagination and are present in all my creations. Discovered through subtle touch.” Consider this. , Then the reason why URWERK chose the Aggregat nickname may be self-explanatory. Aggregate is the German translation of “aggregate”, which means “a whole composed of several individual elements.” This project is undoubtedly a collection of various travel inspirations and reflections on mechanical technology.
UR-112 — Three years of production
As mentioned earlier, the UR-112 Aggregat movement took more than three years to develop. Although it has an obvious futuristic and industrial form, it is almost like a bug and a bit organic in structure. It is easy to break down the case into head and abdomen. An elongated rod connects the two parts together. This is the cardan shaft, the central component that is vital to the mechanical device. A complex set of gears and a series of gears enable the shaft to transmit all the energy required by the mainspring of the abdomen to show the head. fake watches
Starting from the head, we find the hours and minutes here. Both use a rotating triangular prism attached to the flying turntable to display the time digitally through “jumping” increments. The numbers on the eight triangular prisms are engraved and filled with Super-LumiNova luminous material. Interestingly, the operation of the time-jumping display is driven by the progress of the minutes. At the 60th minute, release the force accumulated in the last 3600 seconds and change the time to the next hour.
The mechanically impressive movement is located
The movement of the UR-112 Aggregat is housed in a Hunter’s case with the aforementioned hinged titanium case. Press the buttons on both sides of the lower case to unlock the hull and make it pop open, revealing the exquisite digital seconds display. The tiny numbers etched on the hair-thin silicon wafer disk slide in or out of the field of view under the magnifying glass. Next to it is the only analog display of the UR-112, which is a 48-hour power reserve indicator.
Felix Baumgartner explained: “We use a single energy source to power all the displays and mechanical devices of the UR-112. This force is carefully distributed, and some are even “recovered”, so from the digital seconds on the top of the dial to the dragged minutes and On the contrary, when the jump is extremely small, each display accurately receives the energy dose it needs, and there is no waste.”
UR-112 is very popular in my book
As a non-watchmaker, I realized that I couldn’t really appreciate the level of micromechanical engineering required to realize such a complex and beautifully functioning movement. In other words, the mystery of finer details will only increase the attractiveness and awe of UR-112 Aggregat. It is difficult to describe this watch as an excellent example of Avante-Garde high-end timepieces. With UR-112 Aggregat, URWERK will only enhance my love and appreciation for independent watchmaking.
Watch specifications
Card
URWERK
Model
UR-112 Aggregate
Case material
Titanium, black and bronze PVD
Shell size
42 mm x 51 mm x 16 mm
crystal
sapphire
move
UR-13.01 self-winding movement, power reserve 48 hours
Water resistance
Pressure test reaches 3ATM / 100ft / 30m
tape
Baltimore
Function
Digital jumping hours, minutes, seconds, analog power reserve