Urban Jürgensen Wristwatch References 1 to 10 and the Oval Tourbillon Pocket Watch
These wristwatches and the Oval Tourbillon Pocket Watch were produced by Urban Jürgensen & Sonner under the leadership of Peter Baumberger, who acquired the brand in 1979. Made by a small team of skilled master watchmakers in Switzerland, these complicated mechanical timepieces were limited to small quantities, ranging from 50 to 300 examples.
Wristwatch References 1 to 10
Urban Jürgensen Copenhagen Reference 1: Calendar Chronograph
The Reference 1 is an automatic winding wrist chronograph in a heavy gold waterproof case with a screwed back. The engine-turned silver dial is signed Urban Jürgensen Copenhagen.
Fine blued-steel hands indicate the time and the chronograph records seconds, minutes and hours. In addition, the watch shows the date, day of the week, the month and phases of the moon. The Reference 1 was produced as a limited series of 186 watches between 1982 and 1986. In 2001 a small series (15 pieces) of platinum-cased Reference 1 watches was produced.
The harmonious and elegant appearance of the silver dial is completed by the diamond finished gold hands, which require many hours of hand work to finish them to perfection. The moon display alone requires over twenty operations to produce the blued-steel background with inserted gold moon discs and the stars punched in one by one.
The effort required to produce the elegantly curved springs and levers of the perpetual calendar mechanism is practically unlimited. Each steel surface is carefully grained and the edges angled and polished to perfection.
Urban Jürgensen Copenhagen Reference 2: Perpetual Calendar with Moon phase
Following the release of Reference 1, Urban Jürgensen introduced the Reference 2 wristwatch in 1990. This Perpetual Calendar with Moon phase watch features teardrop shaped lugs, round case, and other design features emblematic to the brand.
A traditionally hand-finished collector’s watch with extremely thin automatic movement (2.4 mm), moonphase and perpetual calendar. Limited series of 50 watches in platinum (Pt 950), each numbered on the dial and movement.
Urban Jürgensen Copenhagen Reference 3: Perpetual Calendar with Power Reserve Indication
The Reference 3 was introduced as the natural successor to the Reference 2. As before, the basis is an extremely thin 35-jewelled automatic movement with perpetual calendar which is only 2.4 mm thick. The difference is the addition of the state-of wind indicator.
Many precision watches, and particularly marine chronometers, have the important addition of another hand which shows the state-of wind of the mainspring. This is commonly known as the “up and down” indicator. When the watch is worn continuously the mainspring will normally be kept fully wound and the hand will indicate “up”.
However, if the watch is not worn for any reason it will gradually run down and the hand will show exactly how long it has to run at any time.
The company has incorporated this useful complication in the Reference 3 without increasing the thickness of the thin movement. This involved nearly 2 years development work and many drawings to design a tiny mechanism with some 3 dozen parts running in an additional 10 jewels. Strictly limited, this model was proposed in rose gold, yellow gold and platinum versions.
Urban Jürgensen Copenhagen Reference 4: Perpetual Calendar with Second Time Zone
The Reference 4 features the same specification as the Reference 2 but it has an additional hand to indicate the time in a second time zone on a 24-hour chapter ring. The Reference 4 was produced as a limited edition of 300 examples in 1984.
Urban Jürgensen Copenhagen Reference 5
The Reference 5 is a platinum or gold cased ultra-thin wrist watch with an engine-turned silver dial and individually-finished gold hands protected by a domed sapphire crystal.
Urban Jürgensen Copenhagen Reference 6
The Reference 6 is a tonneau shaped wristwatch with an elegant domed sapphire crystal and curved back to suit the wrist, engine-turned silver dial and gold Dauphine hands. Two versions, either with or without a small seconds hand at 6, are available.
Urban Jürgensen Copenhagen Reference 7
The Reference 7 was only produced as a prototype. The cased watch is suspended in a case ring and can thus be turned completely over.
Urban Jürgensen Copenhagen Reference 8
The classical Reference 8 gold wrist watch has an engine-turned silver dial, individually finished gold and blued steel hands, with small seconds at 6 and a domed sapphire crystal.
The self- winding movement, with over 60 hours autonomy, is adjusted in 5 positions and certified by the official Swiss chronometer control body. It is protected by a water-resistant case. Available with or without date, in yellow gold, rose gold or platinum, also on request with a sapphire back.
Urban Jürgensen Copenhagen Reference 9
The Reference 9 evolved from a customer’s special request. Joachim Bondo, a young computer software designer, wanted a variation of the Reference 2 perpetual calendar wrist watch with hands to indicate the day of the week and the month instead of the usual twin apertures on the standard watch.
Urban Jürgensen Copenhagen Reference 10: Perpetual Calendar with Small Seconds
The Reference 10 is yet another variation of the Reference 2. This watch has a small seconds hand, concentric with the date hand.
Other Models
Urban Jürgensen Copenhagen Minute Repeater
This platinum-cased wristwatch is equipped with a classical slide-operated minute repeating mechanism. The manually-wound movement, with 30 jewels, has a 46-hour running time, a monometallic balance with screws and a swan’s neck regulator.
The platinum case with sapphire crystal and snap-on back is complemented by a hand-sewn black crocodile leather strap with platinum buckle. The silver engine turned dial with fine barley-corn pattern is enhanced by the newly-developed blued-steel and gold hands which revive an old Jürgensen tradition.
Urban Jürgensen & Sonner Copenhagen Minute Repeater and Tourbillon
The twin complications of minute repeating and one-minute tourbillon are elegantly combined in this platinum-cased wrist watch. The manually-wound movement, with 36 jewels, has a 46-hour running time, a monometallic balance with screws, a balance spring with Breguet overcoil and a swan’s-neck regulator.
The platinum case, with a sapphire crystal, has a hand-sewn black crocodile-leather strap with a platinum buckle. The movement, decorated with Geneva stripes, is visible through the sapphire back, retained by 6 screws.
The silver engine-turned dial is available in two versions; closed, with a fully engine-turned surface, or with a large opening to partially reveal the minute-repeating mechanism. The Jürgensen hands are made from blued-steel and gold.
Urban Jürgensen Copenhagen Minute Repeater and Minute-recording Chronograph
This unique watch, with an extremely thin (4.80 mm) movement, was in the Jürgensen workshops from February 1998 until its completion in December 2005. The manually-wound movement, with 35 jewels, has a 44-hour running time, and a bimetallic compensation-balance with screws, minute repeating, single-button chronograph mechanism with central seconds and 30-minute recording.
The 40 mm diameter platinum case has sapphire crystals at the front and back. The latter offers an unrestricted view of the exquisitely finished movement. The hand-sewn crocodile leather strap has a platinum buckle. The silver engine-turned dial, with gold individually-applied Arabic numerals, is decorated with a fine “barley-corn” pattern.
The centres of the subsidiary chapter rings for the running seconds and recorded minutes are decorated with “basket” pattern. The hands are the newly-developed Urban Jürgensen combination of blued-steel and gold.
Urban Jürgensen & Sønner Copenhagen Oval Tourbillon Pocket Watch
Made by Derek Pratt, this Platinum-cased oval tourbillon pocket watch features a silver engine-turned dial and gold hands. The dial is signed Urban Jürgensen & Sønner, Copenhagen, Oval No. 1 and has sectors for the state of wind indication on the left and temperature on the right. The unique key-wound movement has all major elements visible and particular attention has been given to symmetry.
A large one-minute flying tourbillon with Earnshaw type spring-detent escapement and one-second remontoire is balanced by an equally large flying spring barrel of unusual design to ensure perfect stability.
