Urwerk - The New York Watch Auction: SEVEN New York Saturday, December 10, 2022 | Phillips

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  • Manufacturer: Urwerk
    Year: 2022
    Case No: No. 1
    Model Name: UR-102.02 “TimeForArt”
    Material: Titanium
    Calibre: Automatic, cal. UR-102
    Bracelet/Strap: Baltimora
    Clasp/Buckle: Titanium
    Dimensions: 41mm Diameter
    Signed: Case, dial, movement, and buckle signed. Case and dial additionally signed by the artist.

  • Catalogue Essay

    In this remarkable pièce unique, Cooper Jacoby reinterprets one of the most iconic and decisive URWERK timepieces: the UR-102 in its reloaded version. In his work as an artist, Jacoby calls attention to the functionality of systems that govern our lives. With innovative treatments of materials like nickel, copper, rubber and silicone, the artist fashions electrifying sculptures. Jacoby transforms what is often left unseen into arrestingly vibrant perceptions.

    This singular watch is the very first specimen of the coming UR-102 reloaded collection. It features an hour satellite wandering along a minute track displaying time in both analogue and digital formats. On the face of this unique timepiece, using thermochromic pigments, Jacoby visualizes one of the body's most essential regulatory systems: temperature. In eye-catching shades of blue, green, yellow and orange, the watch face chromatically corresponds to changes in body and atmosphere temperatures, ensuring that this piece is in a state of constant flux. In a permanent state of renewal, Jacoby and URWERK's creation marries systemic precision of timekeeping with the harmony of human biology.

    Founded in 1997 by Felix Baumgartner and Martin Frei, URWERK is the result of a strongly held belief that the history of Fine Watchmaking is a constantly changing discipline. Felix Baumgartner, a watchmaker like his father and grandfather, has time running through his veins. A graduate from the Schaffhausen watchmaking school, Felix learned the secret language of minute-repeaters, tourbillons and perpetual calendars at his father’s bench. Martin Frei is the creative counterweight to his partner’s technical expertise. Accepted into the Lucerne’s college of art and design in 1987, Martin delved into every form of visual expression from painting and sculpture to video.

    The two men met by chance and discovered a common fascination with the measurement of time, spending hours analyzing the gap between the watches they saw in the shops and the vision of their future creation: “Bringing out yet another version of an existing mechanical complication was not our aim,” the two explain. “Our watches are unique because each has been conceived as an original work. Above all, we want to explore beyond the traditional horizons of watchmaking.”

    Generously donated by Urwerk, the watch is being sold to benefit the missions of Swiss Institute.

    The buyer of this lot may be eligible to receive a charitable tax deduction for their purchase. Please see section 10 of this Auction’s Conditions of Sale.

  • Artist Biography

    Urwerk

    Swiss • 1997

    The Swiss firm's name "Urwerk" is a play on the German word meaning clockwork. "Ur" is an ancient Sumerian city in which the populace used sundials for timekeeping, while "werk" is German for creation. The company started by Felix Baumgartner and Martin Frei is known for their innovative avant-garde designs inspired by space travel. With their own take on time indication, like many of their contemporaries, their futuristic timepieces are rooted in high-end traditional watchmaking. Their signature floating method of time indication using rotating satellites traces back to a watch made in 1656. Producing only 150 watches per year, they have impressed connoisseurs with their innovativeness and cutting-edge technical prowess.

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Lot offered with No Reserve

A unique titanium wristwatch with satellite wandering hours, analog and digital minute track, and thermodynamic pigments, designed with Cooper Jacoby, sold to benefit Swiss Institute

2022
41mm Diameter
Case, dial, movement, and buckle signed. Case and dial additionally signed by the artist.

Estimate
$40,000 - 80,000 
CHF38,100-76,100
€38,600-77,200
HK$313,000-626,000
S$54,900-110,000

Sold for $403,200

Contact Specialist

Paul Boutros

Head of Watches, Americas

+1 (212) 940-1293

WatchesNY@Phillips.com

 

Isabella Proia

Head of Sale, New York

+1 (212) 940 1285

iproia@phillips.com

 

The New York Watch Auction: SEVEN

New York Auction 10 - 11 December 2022