ASTOUNDING ASTRONOMY

These big, bold watches from URWERK and ULYSSE NARDIN exemplify the technical wonders of astronomical complications

Rather than simply tell the time, the UR-100V C52 by Urwerk – an artisan brand renowned for its “nouvelle horlogerie” – additionally offers information on the distance travelled on Earth’s equator and the distance Earth travels around the sun. This explains the presence of not just one but three minute hands on its impressively edgy dial.

One of the minute hands disappears after crossing the 60-minute mark and reappears as a kilometre counter, illustrating the 555 kilometres (with 555 kilometers/hr being the average speed of rotation of the Earth at the Equator) travelled every 20 minutes on the surface of the earth. Yet another, situated opposite this indication, displays the speed of the Earth’s revolution around the sun: 35,740 kilometers in 20 minutes. With orbital satellites powering the display of hours and minutes, and a highly legible incandescent green tint illuminating the hour and minute numerals indications, the reading of time is guaranteed to be facile and precise.

It is revealed by Felix Baumgartner, master watchmaker and cofounder of Urwerk, that the watch’s uniqueness is inspired by a clock made by Gustave Sandoz for the 1893 Universal Exhibition. The watch, later gifted to Baumgartner’s father Geri who was a famed antique clock restorer, indicated not time but the distance traveled by the Earth at the Equator.