THE PAST, THE PRESENT AND THE FUTURE COEXIST IN THREE EXQUISITE NEW MODELS FROM URBAN JÜRGENSEN

The time that has been and the time to come – to borrow from one and predict what the other might bring makes sense of the present.

Our past begins in 1745 when Jurgen Jürgensen was born in Copenhagen and became the founder of a world renowned watchmaking Dynasty.
In time, he was outdone by his first born son – Urban Jürgensen: craftsman, inventor, visionary and horological genius extraordinaire.

Urban Jürgensen overturned centuries of staid tradition among the makers of clocks and watches of his day and inaugurated a new era of technological and theoretical advancement with standards of ingenuity hitherto unseen in the watch business, manifested by his landmark book from 1804 “General principles concerning exact timekeeping by clocks and watches”.

In honour and spirit of his heritage, and the work of his grandson Jules Jürgensen we announce three new models which take inspiration from the past, set a benchmark for the future and create a standard of excellence for the present.

THE JULES COLLECTION: REFERENCE 2240 & 2340

Urban Jürgensen is also pleased to present the new Jules Collection with two new models, Reference 2240 and 2340. Both models launch our new contemporary tapered lugs in a classic design on a convex and concave curved case with a diameter of 40 mm. The top bezel houses domed sapphire crystal, and the screw back is equipped with flat sapphire crystal. The dials of the two models also come with a Grenage dial base and are finished with hand lacquered engraved Urban Jürgensen Arabic numerals. Reference 2240 comes in rose gold and has central seconds and date indication. Reference 2340 comes in white gold and has small seconds, date, power reserve and moon phase indication. Both these new references come with movements based on our in-house P4 movement.

Jules Collection

URBAN JÜRGENSEN GRENAGE DIAL

Grenage dials originated in the late 1800s. It is a dial making technique that is rarely used these days – and it’s easy to understand why. It requires such a delicate balance of skill, patience, and hours of concentration that most have abandoned grenage without a backward look – but we believe the end result is worth it.

It is a distinctively handmade process dial by dial. It is said the dial represents 80% of the watch, and we believe that makes it worthy of a hand-made approach. Each dial begins with a plate of solid fine silver given ultra-fine engravings of numbers and markings. The engravings are hand filled with lacquer, and after hardening is diamond-paper-polished to leave its residue in the grooves. The grenage layer is then built step by step as a secret mix of silver, salts and other ingredients is hand-brushed onto the individual dial. By electrochemical reaction, the surface emerges as a beautiful pearled finish; a silvery frosty surface with unique depth and granularity.

Reference 2240

URBAN JÜRGENSEN HANDS

Urban Jürgensen hands are handmade. The arms of the hands are cut from selected steel and hand finished to perfect shape and fit. Gold hands are made from solid gold. After careful polishing with increasingly fine grain diamond paper, and mirror polishing by use of shape fitted secret types of dried wood, the arms are thermally blued to arrive at the specified Urban Jürgensen blue colour. The eye of the hour hand is a concentrically diamond polished solid gold insert, held in place by the sheer accuracy of the fit. The arms are carefully riveted to the diamond polished solid gold centre canons.

At Urban Jürgensen it is a distinct expression of what we mean by Honouring Timeless Traditions.

Reference 2340

URBAN JÜRGENSEN MOON DISC

Each disc is made by hand from carefully-selected and treated steel – thermally-blued and mirror-polished. Recesses for inlays are punched or etched into the steel, then pure gold (in powder form) is carefully placed into the cavities, and melted to create solid gold stars. The entire surface is re-polished and heat treated to create the famous Urban blue colour before two solid gold moon discs are press fitted. The moon disc – more than twenty operations from start to finish.

URBAN JÜRGENSEN TEARDROP LUGS

The teardrop lugs on Urban Jürgensen’s Ref 1140 time pieces have been individually forged, heat treated, hand polished and individually soldered on to the watch case in a way which makes the soldering line invisible for the naked eye. The forging process requires between 5 and 8 cycles where little by little the final form of a paired tear drop set is forged into shape under the pressure of 50 tons. To prevent the lugs becoming brittle, it is necessary after each forging cycle to release the tension in the metal through a slow heat treatment at around 800 degrees with a cool off period. The heat levels needed to solder the lugs to the case is close to the melting point of the used metal, and as such it is an extremely delicate process only mastered by experienced craftsmen. The entire process takes several days, and is rarely used nowadays due to the high costs of handcrafting.

At Urban Jürgensen it remains a treasured and iconic hallmark of distinction. Visit Urban Jürgensen on-line for more information.

Reference 2340