Late last year, Urwerk teamed up with artist Cooper Jacoby to create a special one-off version of their original 102 watch from 1997. We brought you live coverage of that watch prior to its auctioning, and wondered if we might see this form return in a fully fledged redesign of the 102, given the full redesign of the case. Today, we receive an answer to that question in the form of this UR102 Reloaded set of watches. The latest 102 gets the same case we saw featured in the one-off that fetched over $400,000 at auction, but misses out on that trick color-changing element that made that one so special. A fair trade off in my book, as I?m just happy to see this case make it into a production reference.

The original 102 is an important part of Urwerk history, serving as their first platform and an ultimate proof of concept that?s since evolved in a variety of ways. There are no hands at work here, heck there?s barely even a dial, just a long wandering hour aperture tracing the time across a display arc at the top of the case. It?s simple, elegant, and looks just as fresh today as it did 25 years ago (though the inspiration for this design is much, much older).
Indeed, the 102 represents many firsts for the brand, and these are represented within the rotating element of the dial itself, written above the broader celestial themed components. It provides a personal touch to the theme of the watch, without compromising the core themes at work. The disc elements themselve...