Last year in my article ‘Coloured Dials! The World Between Black & White‘ I ended my post in saying something that I would not be surprised if the watch industry in general, would bring us more colour at Baselworld 2015.
And indeed Baselworld presented some color this year, but the brand where I did not expected a move like this from, is URWERK that took the lead in presenting a very colourful upgrade of their most iconic watch the UR-105M, that was presented in 2014.
The UR-105M is URWERK’s most affordable model and it featured a mechanical hand wound caliber that has some cool features like the famous oil meter on the back and the power reserve window on the back and on the side of the case. (pictured underneath)
The now presented more sporty Urwerk UR-105 TA “Turbine Automatic has a completely new automatic caliber with a power reserve of 48 hours. The face of the new UR-105 TA and that of the UR-105M are besides the colour scheme, identical, the side of the case of the new UR-105 TA however is now completely closed, since it does not have the power reserve meter, but when the models are turned around, the backs look completely different.
The looks of the 105M with the different windows is replaced with the two impressive turbines of the automatic UR 5.02 caliber. The winding efficiency meter, with the indication Full, Reduced and Stop is a cool instrument that adjusts the amount of power that winds the watch. When the watch is not moving for some hours, during the night for instance, the meter could be set to Full. But during the day for instance, when you’re busy and running around, the Reduced stop is fine. During heavy sports or transport it can be set to STOP, to protect the movement. An ingenious system we know from the URWERK 210, that I reviewed earlier HERE.
The new and the previous 105 models, share the same case dimensions of 39.50 x 53mm and as I mentioned in my review of the UR105M, the watch wears very comfortable, even on an average wrist size of 18cm. It wears in fact almost identical to the classic 103 series.
Let’s go back to the looks of the watch, since besides the new automatic caliber, that is probably what you see first. URWERK presented the watch in four different versions. The Black/Orange and the Black/Yellow,
both featuring a titanium case non-coated, black PVD steel bezel, with a bright yellow or orange minute track and satellites with black inscriptions. As most models in the collection both have lume dials. To me these two look extremely cool and also quite sporty. But when it comes to making a decision, URWERK made it even harder by also launching two more discrete models, that are for some people maybe easier to wear. The all black version
a variation that will probably appeal to many and the über cool Red Gold and Titanium model. Since the gold was satin finished is gives the top of the watch case a copper kinda look. The watch does not look flashy at all and is almost as discrete as the black version. It is paired here with a black alligator strap, but I can imagine that a brown alligator will make it even more stunning. For me this is the winner of the four variations while my colleague Martin Green finds it the most beautiful Urwewrk since the 103 series!
Pricing for these new Urwerk’s is quite aggressive. The Urwerk UR-105 TA in Yellow or Orange is CHF 58,000. The All Black model will set you back a CHF 64,000, while the black titanium with red gold will cost you CHF 66,000. More information: URWERK
