Hands-On: The Urwerk UR-100V Magic T In Hunter Green
The words “Urwerk” and “subtle” usually don’t belong in the same sentence. The brand’s watches are often big, bold, and uniquely identifiable from a mile away. Since 1997, co-founders Felix Baumgartner and Martin Frei have stuck to their roots in creating highly stylized machines for the wrist, mostly through the use of the wandering hours complication to create new ways to approach the display and progress of time in their machines.
When the UR-100V Magic T launched in 2023, it took the 100 series and design language, added a full titanium bracelet, and toned down everything by a few degrees. The brand ended up with one of the most “minimalist” Urwerks in the whole collection, relatively speaking, of course. With the play between a very maximalist dial-side complication — the sculptural wandering hour module sits prominently underneath the sloped sapphire crystal — and the cool grey tones of the matte surfaces, the UR-100V immediately rose to the top of my guilty-pleasure shopping list. If there were ever an opportunity to commit to a crazy Urwerk, this would for sure be the one. But, as the green dial guy in the office, I’d always joke that it would be so cool if we saw a verdant colorway for this model on a bracelet. After all, there were already the Ultraviolet and Blue Planet editions, so why not complete the trifecta of cool colors, in the literal color-wheel sense?
Well, it seemed like my prayers were answered in January, when Urwerk finally announced the UR-100V Magic T ‘Hunter Green’ Edition. Now, it’s not a particularly large run, with only 35 pieces in this limited edition and priced at $66,000, but the new color here makes it something very refreshing. The metallic shade of dark, earthy green is quite a looker. The metal time scale on the bottom of the dial, as well as certain parts of the wandering hour module, gets a circularly brushed metallic green coloring, and it’s contrasted by other parts on the front that get a matte, sandblasted texture to complement the hour disks. It’s a subtle difference, but it makes for a surprisingly dynamic and layered look despite the same shade across the front in the light.
Don’t let the complex dial construction fool you, however. Despite all the moving parts and varying layers, the time on the UR-100V is surprisingly easy to read. As the wandering hour complication rotates clockwise, a neon green arrow points to the minutes on the bottom track of the dial, while the number of the corresponding hour is framed right above that minute hand on a disk centrally mounted to that individual satellite. As the hour reaches its completion and the minutes pass sixty, that neon green arrow disappears behind the rest of the dial while the next hour’s numeral and minutes hand emerge from the right again. As the now “inactive” satellite travels around, the hour disk rotates and the numeral of the hour to come rotates into frame, ready for its moment in the spotlight. The hour numerals, minutes track, and minutes arrow are all infilled with Super-LumiNova to be legible in the dark.
The wandering hour module has three total satellites, meaning the module has three hours disks and neon green arrow-tipped minute indicators. When one of the satellites points to the time, the two not currently on display keep rotating, and the arrows are visible through a few cutouts on the rest of the dial. These cutouts are astronomical “complications,” one of them with a scale to show the progress of the rotation of the Earth in a twenty-minute period, while the other scale shows the revolution of the Earth around the Sun in the same period of time. It’s a clever use of what would otherwise have been negative space on the dial, though the practical application of these two indications is somewhat limited (if cool).
Setting the time on the UR-100V is just as straightforward as reading the time — an oversized crown at 12 o’clock (well, on a normal dial, anyway) acts as the way to wind the watch and change the time. It’s just like how you would on a regular watch, but this time you get to watch all the satellites and hour disks rotate around as you point to the right time. The crown is set into a modern take on a torneau case, measuring 41mm wide with a length (and lug-to-lug) of 49.7mm. The case seems tall at 14mm, but proportionally it works well, and the measurement includes the height of the very prominent crystal. A tiny little plaque screwed in on one of the sides indicates the limited nature of the production run.
Looking at the UR-100V from the back, you see even more hunter green. This time, it’s on the rotor, decorated with circular brushing and lots of perlage. It’s part of the self-winding UR 12.02 movement, containing a base movement from Vaucher and Urwerk’s proprietary wandering hours module. Those with a keen eye will notice markings of “Planetary Turbine Automatic System,” which hints at the fan-like part in the center of the rotor. This fan is actually the brand’s Windfänger airscrew, which essentially acts as a turbine to regulate the winding speed of the caliber through air resistance, while also protecting the caliber from sudden shocks. It’s a cool detail to spot on many of Urwerk’s watches.
The bracelet is very, very nice in hand. The shorter links make the overall bracelet feel much more supple, and adjustments are easier since every link feels like a half link on a normal bracelet. While the finishing is purposefully industrial and continues with the heavily sandblasted finish, the facets of each bracelet still catch light to give the watch plenty of presence.
On the wrist, it’s certainly a unique experience. On one hand, it’s a surprisingly better fit than the dimensions would suggest, mostly because the bracelet endlinks drop immediately down. But at the same time, the endlinks are actually not identical on the top and bottom. The bottom of the case has a more traditional lug and endlink design. However, the top endlink is shaped to accommodate the oversized crown, while that lug is essentially shrouded. While the case technically fit even my smaller wrist, the feeling of the top of the case protruding out since it covers the top of the bracelet needed some time to get used to. As a result, it looks much more normal on a larger wrist — I photographed it for this article on my colleague Matt’s wrist, and it looked way more conventional.
Aside from that, the UR-100V Magic T Hunter Green Edition was just such a pleasure to wear. As I eventually came around to the mismatched endlink design, the industrial design language of Baumgartner and Frei felt so wonderful on the wrist. In the case of the 100 series, it manages to be industrial without being necessarily brutalist, with the complex workings of the dial in full display while remaining quite legible. In fact, though it feels funny to say this, this watch is quite suitable for subtly checking the time, as a sideways glance towards the dial allows you to see the time on the sloped minutes display. The green plays so well with the cool tones of the titanium, and I love when Urwerk leaves out the touches of red that grace many of its watches.
While the wandering hours concept is very much not new or particularly unique to Urwerk, I appreciate how the brand has taken it to the next level on so many of its watches, like the retrograde pointer of the UR-150 ‘Scorpion’ or the bisecting satellites of the UR-120. The UR100V Magic T, however, feels like a great continuation of the foundation of what makes the complication such a visual spectacle. Add green as the cherry on top, and you’ve got my attention.
For more information, visit Urwerk online.
Hodinkee
