Reference 2340 unique piece for WorldTempus

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Reference 2340 unique piece for WorldTempus - Urban Jürgensen
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A watch that is already very rare becomes unique with this one-off version replacing the 12 with a 16 on the dial

While other brands like to boast of their ancestry and traditional craftsmanship as their watches leave the factory in volumes of tens of thousands per year, Urban Jürgensen timepieces trickle out of the company workshops at a rate that is not that dissimilar to the one that probably prevailed some 240 years ago when the Danish Jürgensen dynasty first started producing timepieces. Under the stewardship of its Danish CEO, Søren Jenry Petersen, Urban Jürgensen is destined to lavish on its products the very thing that they are intended to measure: time.

Three elements in particular of the reference 2340 are proof of this attention to detail. The dial uses the rare technique of grenage, which involves treating the base with a carefully balanced mixture of aggressive acids to give it a barely perceptible surface structure. Originally developed by Abraham-Louis Breguet, this “finition en grenaillage” was designed to prevent corrosion on the dial, mainplate and bridges of a watch. Urban Jürgensen’s use of this rare technique, however, takes a more modern, less toxic approach and a higher quality solid silver dial. First, the dial is engraved with recesses for the hour markers and numerals. These are then filled with lacquer and the excess material is polished off once it has dried. The layer of grenage is then built up using brushes with metal bristles and a secret mixture of silver powder, various salts and other ingredients. The result differs considerably from industrial dial treatments and the craftsman’s individual touch means that no two grenage dials from Urban Jürgensen will ever be the same.

The hour hand on an Urban Jürgensen timepiece is another example of attention to detail. With its distinctive eye, each hand requires meticulous hand finishing, from mirror polishing to flame bluing. The eye itself, whose solid-gold base contrasts with the hand-blued stem of the hands, is held in place purely by the precision of the craftsman’s press-fitting expertise.

Reference 2340 unique piece for WorldTempus

The third element, and the one that makes this particular watch unique, is the hand-applied solid white-gold 16 numeral at 12 o’clock. Such Breguet-style Arabic numerals are very rare in the Urban Jürgensen collection, found only on the 1140 references. On the unique piece for WorldTempus, the solitary 16 in solid white gold is applied on to the grenage dial, whereas all the other numerals are in black lacquer painted into recesses in the grenage base.

This unique reference 2340 also has a moon phase indication that requires 20 different operations to produce. It is hand made from mirror polished flame-blued stainless steel and the stars are applied by hand in gold before two solid 18-carat gold mirror polished moons are added. A retrograde power reserve indication can be read around the bottom of the moon phase scale, with a separate date window at 3 o’clock and a small seconds sub-dial at 6 o’clock. Timekeeping is provided by the Urban Jürgensen P4 movement, which operates at 21,600 vibrations per hour and offers a respectable 60 hours of power reserve from two mainspring barrels. It is housed inside a 40mm three-piece case in white gold with a convex bezel and scratch-resistant sapphire crystal. 

Anyone interested in purchasing this unique watch should send an email to WorldTempus’s director, Brice Lechevalier (brice.lechevalier@worldtempus.com), co-creator of this one-of-a-kind model and your personal contact for all requests.

Exclusive offer for members of the Fine Watch Club 

Featured brand
Urban Jürgensen