Urwerk was founded in 1997 by Felix Baumgartner, a watchmaker who started his career doing restorations on antique timepieces, along with Martin Frei, an artist passionate about architecture and design. At the time in their early 20s, their inspiration came from pop culture such as Sci-Fi, comics and design, which brought a completely fresh and out of the box approach to watches and watchmaking.

The brand is known for its wandering hour time indication via rotating satellites. The UR100 launched in 2019 takes its inspiration from a clock made by French clockmaker Gustave Sandoz and gifted to Felix Baumgartner by his father. Interestingly, the clock doesn’t indicate time but shows the number of kilometers the Earth has rotated each day at the equator.

The UR 100 Spacetime does indicate time however, via the signature rotating discs.

Time is read via 4 three-dimensional orbiting and revolving hour-display satellites, a red hand above the discs indicates the minutes. The same hand disappears into the case and indicates – via two apertures on each side of the case - the number of kilometers the Earth has rotated at the equator over a 20-minute period, up to a total of 555 kilometers and how many kilometers the Earth has traveled along its orbit, for a total of 35,740 kilometers in every 20-minute period.

The UR100 Spacetime is a limited edition of 25 pieces in steel and 25 pieces in black DLC coated titanium like the present example and is offered in almost unworn condition with its box and papers.