“The first technicolor UR-105 TA watches are ready,” declares Felix Baumgartner, URWERK’s co-founder and master watchmaker. “For years black has been URWERK’s signature colour. Now we’re overturning our principles. We want you to take a fresh look at our watches, beyond the engineering and the finish. We want to trigger that primal impulse, love at first sight with colours that hit you in the eye.” So which one will be yours? The UR-105 TA “Black Lemon” or “Black Orange”?

The UR-105 TA revisits URWERK's iconic satellite indication, which has been an emblematic and instantly recognizable signature element of the brand for 18 years. Four satellites, each bearing three hour numerals, successively reveal themselves from under a sublime guilloche black cover in PEEK (polyetheretherketone) as they parade past the minute rail to display the time. Everything exudes precision and refinement, from the carrousel chassis to the dial, from the touches that are invisible to those on full display through the large sapphire crystal. For example, the hidden ARCAP satellite carrousel has been treated with ruthenium then micro bead blasted to a finish meeting the very highest standards of haute horlogerie.

The UR-105 TA also embodies all the years of research invested into URWERK’s wandering hour satellites. Here, the ingenuity of this mechanism lies in the invisible carousel responsible for the operation of the satellite hours. The carousel operates precisely, silently, subtly and in harmony with the rest of the timepiece. “With our previous timepieces, our satellites were supported by an orbital cross at the top. We rethought this concept and made some refinements. The fruits of this can now be felt when setting the time on the UR-105 TA: There is virtually no friction, no jerking movement, just the ballet of satellites. It is the fluidity of the gears that quietly reveals all our hard work,” continues Felix Baumgartner. 

The “TA” of the UR-105 TA stands for “Turbine Automatic”. That is because the movement’s automatic winding is optimally regulated by dual air turbines on full show on the back. These turbines are bead-blasted, satin-finished and treated with black PVD for perfect aesthetics. The winding mode is selected by a small lever: In the “FULL” position, only the slightest movement is needed to wind up the mainspring. "RED." (for “REDUCED”) moderates the winding so as to minimize excessive tension on the mainspring. On "STOP" mode, the winding system is disabled and the UR-105 TA can then be hand-wound if necessary by the crown.

“The UR-105 TA is our URWERK Knight,” says Martin Frei, artistic director and co-founder of URWERK.  “The bezel evokes the breastplate of a knight’s armor, protecting the mechanism from the ravages of time. The UR-105 TA is an haute horlogerie creation, with all high-end codes respected, but in the Black Orange or Black Lemon versions, it's their zesty appeal that really arouses the senses.”