New Watch! • 24 Aug 2023
URWERK UR-100V Stardust Shines and Sparkles
Twinkle, twinkle: for Geneva Watch Days 2023, URWERK’s new UR-100V Stardust simply radiates with a diamond-set steel case.
Looking to the Skies and Beyond
Evoking tales of stars and distant constellations, nascent beauty and flamboyance, flashes of lightning and transparent reflections, the new UR-100V Stardust is the most eye-catching iteration in this iconic URWERK collection. Four hundred diamonds of extraordinary quality (colour D, VVS1) meticulously selected from eight different formats adorn the steel case of the UR-100V Stardust, with only the very edges left bare. Beneath the UR-100V Stardust’s crystal globe, the minutes scale – located on the upper part of the railway-type track – is studded with 36 diamonds, while another 24 adorn the watch crown. The smooth and near-fluid case structure is the result of meticulous and complex jewellery craftsmanship, having overcome the challenge of using steel, which is harder and less malleable than gold.
“The entire universe is composed of stellar particles, making their presence inevitable in all the forms of matter that surround us. Whether in their raw or transformed state, from carbon to cut diamonds, from iron mineral to steel alloy, this stardust is omnipresent. It’s crazy to think that we, as human beings, are also made of this celestial substance. So, the nickname Stardust, logically associated with the setting of this UR-100V, also extends to the watch itself and to its future owner”, says URWERK’s Artistic Director and co-founder, Martin Frei.
A Brilliant Exploration of Space and Time
In addition to its aesthetics and its wandering hour movement, the UR-100V Stardust is spatial by nature. Like all watches in the 100 collection, it features two recesses on the flanks of its satellite carrier. The first is a kilometre counter representing the distance travelled by the Earth on its own axis in 20 minutes (555 km). The second is another kilometre counter showing the distance travelled by the Earth around the Sun during the same period – 35,740 km. In this way, the UR-100V Stardust bears witness to the Earth’s journey across the void of space, passing millions of suns and reflecting their light.
Inside, the watch is powered by the self-winding UR 12.02 movement, governed by a Windfänger airscrew, beating at 28,800vph with a power reserve of 48 hours. The UR-100V Stardust comes on a Baltimore blue fabric strap, with a matching pin buckle in shotblasted steel, set with 22 brilliant-cut white diamonds. Limited production of 10 pieces per year.