An Urban Jürgensen timepiece has always been an example of uncompromising craftsmanship – a tradition that the current owners of the company feel honour-bound to continue. The maison’s timepieces are not mass-produced in an anonymous building, but carefully honed in a traditional atelier. An Urban Jürgensen watch is not the product of expedience, but the patient pursuit of excellence, deploying traditional, highly specialised forms of craftsmanship that reflect the timeless traditions of the company.
At Urban Jürgensen there is a belief that perfection cannot be the product of haste. Machinery may offer capacity, but hand-craftsmanship provides individuality and a lasting joy. Traditional materials ensure longevity, and skill and experience is required to deftly utilise tools to create objects of horological beauty.
Authenticity and substance
Authenticity is at the heart of the Urban Jürgensen paradigm and defines everything the company does. The design, craftsmanship and detail deliver their own clear message: Urban Jürgensen is about real substance, placing the emphasis firmly on fine workmanship and technical prowess.
At first glance, an Urban Jürgensen exhibits a simplicity that conceals the complexity of its creation. The construction method and craftsmanship are intended to demonstrate the execution of fine watchmaking. While some design elements and finishing are clear to see, others are virtually hidden from view.
One example is the skilled production of the watch hands. Most watch hands these days are industrially designed and manufactured, many in a simple stamped-out shape with perhaps a fold in the centre line to reinforce the construction. Blueing is most often performed chemically.
Urban Jürgensen hands, by contrast, are hand-made. They comprise a number of components that are individually honed, assembled and finished. This naturally implies numerous hours of highly skilled workmanship and is a key feature of Urban Jürgensen timepieces not found in any other watches today. The making of the hands is in itself a distinct expression of what the brand means when it refers to honouring timeless traditions.
Revel in the detail
The steel arms of Urban Jürgensen hands are cut from selected steel and manually finished to ensure the perfect shape and fit, while the gold arms are made from solid gold. Many hours of diligent polishing with increasingly fine-grained diamond paper are followed by mirror polishing with secret types of polishing paste applied using a variety of wooden pegs specially shaped for the task. The final touch is then set by meticulous thermal blueing, patiently performed by highly experienced artisans until they meet the inimitable Urban Jürgensen shade of navy blue.
When the noble art of watchmaking is exercised at such an exquisite level, the importance of the human hand is of course matched by that of a trained and expert eye. Symbolically, the eye of the hour hand on an Urban Jürgensen is a hand-crafted wonder in its own right: a concentrically diamond-polished solid gold insert that is precision-fitted and therefore free of any gluing or soldering. Its asymmetrical design, gently tapered towards the tip, ensures a unique elegance. This unwavering commitment to excellence is further exemplified at the very centre of the dial, in the precision-turned and mirror-polished solid gold hand pipes (also known as bushes), around which the arms are riveted to ensure a perfect fit.
The Urban Jürgensen collection reflects the company’s devotion to honouring timeless traditions in handcrafted elegant timepieces, where the aura of restrained excellence and quiet confidence is appreciated by collectors and connoisseurs worldwide.
The Urban Jürgensen collection embodies an unswerving commitment to quality and achieves perfection with their ground-breaking UJ-P8 movement, the world’s first to use a chronometer escapement. The result connects the marine chronometers and clocks made by Urban Jürgensen in the 18th and 19th centuries to watchmaking in the 21st.
An Urban Jürgensen timepiece has that elusive, indefinable essence that separates the superlative from the merely exceptional. In an industry where money and machinery can solve most production problems, including the challenges posed by miniaturisation, Urban Jürgensen have chosen to deploy traditional methods for the simple reason that no automated process can match the integrity of true craftsmanship. This reflects the brand’s core philosophy that a fundamental measure of any enterprise is the quality of the choices it makes. Urban Jürgensen have chosen heritage and tradition because they believe there is no automated shortcut to excellence. This attitude gives every Urban Jürgensen wristwatch a unique aura – invisible to many but appreciated by true watch connoisseurs worldwide.
The company headquarters in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland
Further information
www.urbanjurgensen.com