BY HARLAN CHAPMAN-GREEN
2019 was apparently the last time we covered Urban Jürgensen, the luxury watchmaker founded in Copenhagen by the Danish man of the same name. It seems that between then and now the name had slipped beneath the surface without catching my attention. You can imagine my surprise, then, when the news broke that the Urban Jürgensen name returned to the watchmaking scene once more with master watchmaker Kari Voutilainen at the helm.
Voutilainen, from Finland, has a long legacy of the highest-tier watchmaking to his name. He’s created some of the most beautiful watches it’s possible to imagine, and he’s known for working with other watchmakers to create pieces that fuse their individual talents together. It seems fitting, then, that he be the one to revive the Urban Jürgensen name.
UJ-1
The brand returns with three new models in a variety of colours. The first is the UJ-1 flying tourbillon. Each piece has a 39.5mm x 12.2mm case made from either 18k rose gold or platinum. The dials feature hand-applied guilloché, a hallmark of Kari Voutilainen’s own watches. The majority of the dials are engraved with a pattern called grain d’orge, while the seconds subdial has a clous de Paris pattern engraved. The platinum watches come with either a light silver or dark grey dial, while the rose gold watch only comes with light silver.
All three models feature the new manually wound calibre UJ-1, which has a flying tourbillon and a remontoir system that restricts power delivery, thereby evening out the torque curve from the mainspring and increasing accuracy over the 47-hour power reserve. These watches are limited to 25 examples in each variant and cost a pretty penny at CHF368,000.
UJ-2
The next set of watches is a pair called the UJ-2; these watches are slightly smaller 39.0mm x 10.9mm and come in either 18k rose gold with a blue dial or a platinum case with a light silver dial. The off-centre seconds subdial is the main differentiator between these watches and the UJ-1 pieces, at least from the front. Around the back, it’s a different story, as the hand-wound calibre UJ-2 with a double-wheel natural escapement looks remarkably different. It’s good to see the natural escapement getting a new lease of life. It was designed by Abraham-Louis Breguet, but the watchmaking technology of the time meant he never quite perfected it. Now, we have the likes of Bernhard Lederer and Kari Voutilainen perfecting it and using it.
The art of reducing friction and thereby increasing accuracy and efficiency using this mechanism takes over 560 hours from the Urban Jürgensen team. The watches get a 52-hour power reserve, are part of the core collection, and are priced at CHF105,000.
The final watches are the UJ-3 watches, which feature an elegant moonphase display coupled with a perpetual calendar mechanism. These watches measure 39.0mm x 13.9mm and, like the others, are available in either platinum or 18k rose gold. However, these watches only come with a classy black dial once again starring grain d’orge and clous de Paris guilloché, a third technique called sauté-piqué is used around the minutes track. The dial layout isn’t the simplest display of the perpetual calendar we’ve seen this year, but it doesn’t need to be. It’s not overbearing, and the moonphase adds a touch of class. The calibre UJ-3 is on display around the back, and it’s where you’ll find the leap year indicator.
The calibre has been designed by Kari Voutilainen and master watchmaker Andreas Strehler whose most notable work is with super-accurate moonphase watches. Supposedly, the UJ-3’s moonphase will remain correct for the next 14,000 years,if only we were still here to enjoy it. Despite that, the power reserve is around 52 hours. These watches are part of the new core collection and will cost CHF168,000 each.
Under its previous directorship, Urban Jürgensen clearly struggled to fit in and find its voice in the lower end of the price bracket for luxury watches. Circa CHF30,000 offers lots of options, so you’d have had to be a dedicated fan to consider one over the many other watches on offer. Perhaps, then, Kari Voutilainen’s strategy of placing Urban Jürgensen at the highest end of the watch spectrum, alongside his own watches, will work better. We’ll be interested to see if it pays off and welcome their return.
