Urban Jürgensen, the Danish-founded, Swiss-made brand, led by Kari Voutilainen, is aiming for independent quality level watchmaking, but to scale.

Urban Jürgensen launched its rebirth, along three new models, at a gala event in Los Angeles over two days, demonstrating it is a brand for this moment in time. If we (collectors, journalists, lovers of luxury) agree that the best brands combine heritage, an intense dedication to craft, and the execution of a modern marketing plan designed to reach a new generation of watch aficionados, then the new Urban Jürgensen has got it nailed.

It’s a winning formula, and it is supported by a substantial investor.

Urban Jürgensen was founded in Copenhagen in 1773 by Jürgen Jürgensen, a Danish watchmaker who apprenticed with Breguet in France and John Arnold in England, and made marine chronometers for the Danish navy.  It is now helmed by co-CEO Kari Voutilainen, the Finnish-born Swiss-based watchmaker, a master of the independents, and renowned stickler for exceptional finishing, along with the perfect execution of traditional watchmaking.

The brand is now owned by an American family: co-CEO Alex Rosenfield and his father, Andy Rosenfield, who is an accomplished collector, based in Los Angeles. The COO is watchmaker Venla Voutilainen, who is Kari’s daughter. It is thus a family company, with a solid heritage in watchmaking and, as everyone at the relaunch was breathlessly predicting, a bright future.

UJ-1: The 250th anniversary watch

There are three relaunch models, one of which is a limited edition, and aside from the new dream team, they are what the buzz is all about. The UJ-1 celebrates the miniaturization of Derek Pratt’s Oval Tourbillon pocket watch with cage-mounted remontoir d’égalité in a series-production wristwatch. (British watchmaker Derek Pratt was the technical director of Urban Jürgensen from 1982 to 2005).

Urban Jürgensen oval tourbillon pocket watch from 1991 by Derek Pratt in its original silver case; Pratt engine-turned the dial made from a single piece of silver by hand himself

The back of the Urban Jürgensen oval tourbillon pocket watch from 1991 by Derek Pratt reveals the remontoir tourbillon with spring detent escapement; this movement is wound by key

The pocket watch that launched the movement sold at a Phillips auction last year for more than $4 million. Voutilainen has since adapted the concept to a wristwatch. This system offers a smoother energy transfer and up to 30% greater power efficiency than a traditional Swiss lever escapement.

Urban Jürgensen UJ-1 collection

Technically the idea is to eliminate variations in torque from the weight of the tourbillon carriage by dedicating a remontoir to the balance wheel. It’s a stunning piece, with a solid silver dial – silver not just because it’s easy to engrave with the grain d’orge guilloché pattern but because silver takes the highest polish, explains Voutilainen.

Urban Jürgensen UJ-1 in platinum

The tourbillon appears on the back, under a spectacular black polished steel bridge.

Urban Jürgensen UJ-1 movement

UJ-1 is 39.5mm in diameter and 12.2mm in thickness, with rotated teardrop lugs.

Price: CHF 368,000 (excluding VAT)

For more information, please visit https://urbanjurgensen.com/products/uj-1

The team will make 75 of these pieces and they will be sold directly to collectors, which are naturally lined up for them. Demand already exceeds current production, which presently stands at no more than 100 watches in total, but the brand’s ambition is to ramp up production to a point well beyond what typical independent watch brands aim for.

“We’re going to grow as quickly as we humanly can, hoping that the demand is there,” says Alex Rosenfield. “But we want to be a brand, and we want to reach a certain scale. We know that what we’re making is expensive and rare, but we want to feel like a brand and not like a watchmaker-led independent …. even though we are a watchmaker led independent. We don’t want to have an eight year wait list. There are ways we think we can create some scale. Our goal, and this is very much a goal, would be to reach the scale of about 1,000 watches a year within five years.”

UJ-2: Three-hand watch with double wheel natural escapement

The time-only UJ2 contains a manual-wound movement, the brand’s signature caliber, with an architecture inspired by the pocket watch movements made by Urban Jürgensen’s son, Jules. It has a double-wheel natural escapement, which eliminates friction, and an oversized balance wheel that beats at 2.5 Hz/18,000 vph.

Urban Jürgensen UJ-2 with blue dials in red gold and platinum

There are two versions: one in platinum and the other in rose gold, with a choice of silver or blue dial for both models.

Urban Jürgensen UJ-2 movement

Urban Jürgensen UJ-2 collection

The large seconds hand dial is offset at 5 o’clock, and the power reserve indicator is positioned on an arc at 12 o’clock. It measures 39mm x 10.9mm.

Price: CHF 105,000 (excluding VAT)

For more information, please visit https://urbanjurgensen.com/products/uj-2

UJ-3 The double wheel natural escapement perpetual calendar instantaneous moon phase

The UJ3 is a perpetual calendar, a collaboration between Voutilainen and noted Swiss watchmaker Andreas Strehler. The movement also features the double-wheel natural escapement, along with an instantaneous moon phase indicator accurate to an astounding one day variation every 14,000 years.

Urban Jürgensen UJ-3

It’s a bit thicker, at 39mm x 13.9mm, and is being made in platinum or rose gold, with 75 pieces altogether.

Price: CHF 168,000 (excluding VAT)

For more information, please visit https://urbanjurgensen.com/products/uj-3

Both the UJ-2  and the UJ-3 are part of the regular catalog but will naturally be limited by production capacity. “We will take orders for those watches that will include all of the UJ-1s, a lot of UJ-2s and a handful of UJ-3s,” says Rosenfield. “And we will do pre-orders on those. And then if there’s additional interest, which we’d be humbled and grateful if there is, we will have a wait list.”

The dials say Copenhagen, rather than Swiss, despite the fact that the watches are made in Switzerland. “The Danish identity is just so important and unique to Urban Jürgensen,” explains Rosenfield. “And we wanted to celebrate that. But they are Swiss made. We say it’s Swiss engineering and a Danish Spirit.”

Rosenfield, whose background is in fashion and media, was responsible for crafting the visual identity and branding of the reborn Urban Jürgensen, which includes the development of a portrait series, “Time Well Spent,” created in collaboration with celebrated fashion photographer and Urban Jürgensen’s photography director, Ellen von Unwerth.

The series breaks the traditional format of watch imagery, creating a monthly series of expressive portraits that show a swath of creative individuals deeply immersed in their passions, underscoring the brand’s core belief in “time kept and spent beautifully.”

In the first installment, James Turrell, the light sculptor, is shown at his monumental installation, Roden Crater.

“We’re spending a lot of time and a lot of energy on building out a social identity that I think feels fresh and fun and feels like this brand universe that we hope to invite people into,” says Rosenfield. “With the portrait series, we’re bringing in a different person each month from hugely different walks of life, different ages, different levels of celebrity, people who can connect with different audiences.

Our motto is ‘Time Kept and Spent Beautifully.’ Time spent beautifully, to us, is crafting watches with the sole objective of perfection for the joy of doing so, and the pleasure that comes from wearing a watch built this way.”

For more information, please visit https://urbanjurgensen.com/

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