We don't mean to play favorites, but we love Urwerk’s watch designs. They’re unexpected, non-traditional and totally badass, the only problem is they’re made for men. At least they were until the brand released their new UR-106 Lotus. Bringing their mechanical beauty to a slimmer, more feminine palette, the new watch collection combines the engineering feats of the company’s iconic designs to a more fashionable structure. Intended to show “the sensitive side of Urwek’s nature” this timepiece is one we’ll finally want to purchase for our own collections.
The UR-106 Lotus was made with women in mind, so they may have skimped on bulk, but they did not skimp on craftsmanship. Encased in titanium and steel and set with diamonds, the watch face has three satellite hours that glide around the dial as if in constant bloom. In true Urwerk fashion, the watch is not traditional, as each of the satellites feature four, four-hour numerals that slide along the minutes scale to indicate the time. A moon phase indicator along the bottom adds to the romantic and feminine design of the watch face.
“We never made watches for men and watches for women because we never thought in those terms when we put our ideas down on paper. We thus embarked on a stylistic exercise that was unprecedented for us,” explains Martin Frei, the company’s chief designer and co-founder. “We have of course long considered what we regard as the ultimate challenge, because creating for women is indeed a perilous undertaking. With its glittering gemstones and soft curves we created the UR-106 with one image in mind; that of the lotus flower, which in my imagination represents the beauty of women in all their complexity.”
While comparing women to a flower may not be the forward thinking we expect from the brand (at least it wasn’t a rose), we have to give them credit for creating such an awesome and wearable piece. It’s a little delicate, a little sparkly and has a lot more attitude and staying power than some of the other’s women’s watches we’ve worn. While it comes in both black and white, we like to think of it as the little black dress of our timepiece collection. We can dress it up or down and take it with us almost everywhere.
