The UR-202 Baguettes

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The UR-202 Baguettes - Urwerk
3 minutes read
First launched in 2008, the UR-202, Urwerk's legendary piece takes its curtain call graced with diamonds.

It came into this world under the glare of the spotlights and will bow out in the glitter of a myriad sparkles – such is the fabulous destiny of the UR-202.  Meet the UR-202 Baguettes, the perfect marriage of haute horlogerie and high-end jewelry. This unique watch will be the UR-202's swansong – a spectacle that promises to be dazzling.

 

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“When it comes to design, Martin Frei and I have always been the sole authors of our pieces,” explains Felix Baumgartner, master watchmaker and the co-founder of Urwerk. “From first draft to final production, we never let external influences send us off course.... but this time we made an exception. A solitary stone happened to roll across our path and inspired us to create this unique timepiece.” And what a stone! A superb Briolette-cut 1.09 ct, Top Wesselton diamond, now nestling in the heart of the crown. This exceptional jewel is complemented by the scintillating pavé bezel with 220 invisibly-set, baguette-cut diamonds.


Gem-set pieces are rare in the Urwerk universe, which is dominated by gear trains, bridges, cams and conveyors forming complex mechanisms. But here, in a rare departure from the norm, this timepiece's sumptuous external appearance vies for glory with the horological complexity inside. In a unique duet, the central diamond draws the viewer's gaze towards the satellite complication, the nerve center of the UR-202. It reveals the architectural lines – the brand's hallmark – in a new light.

 

“I was particularly demanding when it came to this unique piece," explains Martin Frei, co-founder of Urwerk and in charge of the brand's entire artistic vision. “I wanted the diamonds to match the curves and cambers of the UR-202. It was essential that the jewels became an integral part of the case, that they blended seamlessly into the design. This is not a timepiece onto which gems have been added. The diamonds are the case itself.”

 

 

 

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For the diamond-setting, Urwerk turned to the Atelier Lancelin, led by Vincent Perego. “The very special contours of the UR-202 turned this adventure into a beautiful, long story,” he says. “It took us a year to develop this piece. Because the bezel of the UR-202 is all curves and angles, we had to immerse ourselves in Urwerk's creative process before setting the diamonds ‘invisibly', one of our specialties. It was a long-term process, which meant going back to the initial sketches and designing individual niches for every jewel, then calculating the position of each of the baguette-cut diamonds so that they could be correctly set.

Beyond its esthetic value, the UR-202 Baguettes remains a timepiece, with time is displayed using telescopic minute hands operating through the middle of three orbiting and revolving hour satellites. These hands precisely adjust their length to follow the three vectors marking the minutes: 0-14, 15-44, 45-60. Extended, they enable the UR-202 to display the time across a large, easy-to-read dial. Retracted they allow the rotation of the central satellite complication in a smaller case. A moon phase and a day/night indication round off the indications on the dial.

The patented carousel is crucial in the revolving satellite complication. It is responsible for both the rotation of the hour satellites and the integral telescopic minute hands. This rotating central hub is a highly complex component to manufacture due to the extreme precision and tight tolerances required. Many of the carousel's intricacies have to be machined to tolerances of just 3 microns. After machining, the carousel – including the hour guide – is adjusted manually. A surface treatment of PE-CVD “blacktop” is applied, which provides the final color and hardens the surfaces to reduce friction.

High-precision 'transporters' are used to control the variable length of the minute hands as they traverse the dial. One end of each transporter follows a cam – its shape calculated from 380 reference points – plotting the path of the minute indication, while the other controls the precise length of the minute hand.

Each transporter has an exact thickness of 0.895mm before being coated in a 0.005mm MOVIC lubricating treatment, making a total height of 0.900mm. As the height of the carousel is 0.905mm, the margin of error in the mechanism is less than 0.005mm.

 

 

 

Technical data

UR-202 Baguettes


   

Unique piece


Case  

White gold; blackened titanium base

Diamond-set case: 220 Top Wesselton baguettes (15.06cts)

Diamond-set crown: 8 Top Wesselton baguettes (1.41cts) and 1 Top Wesselton briolette (1.09cts)

Dial 

Circular grained ARCAP P40

Diamond-set carrousel: 9 Top Wesselton baguettes (0.23cts) and Top Wesselton center jewel (0.35cts)

Minute scale: 12 baguettes diamonds (0.59cts)

Indications   

Revolving satellite complication – patented – with wandering hours and telescopic minute hands; Day/Night indicator; Moon phase

Calibre   

UR 7.02; automatic winding system regulated by twin air-compression turbines

Movement  

Features: Bridge and hour satellites in ARCAP P40 with hour indices in Super-LumiNova; transporters in beryllium bronze treated with MOVIC; telescopic minute hands in titanium.

Balance    

28'800 bph/4Hz

Power reserve

39 hours

 

 

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