Urwerk Perfects Ceramic with Its UR-230 Polaris

Imbuing every of its wild timepieces with meticulous consideration to element and normally an idea that’s by no means been tried in horology earlier than, Urwerk has develop into a poster little one for the unconventional watch class. Since 1997, the Swiss brand has come out with some really insane watches from its flagship “Spock” wandering hours satellite tv for pc show references from the latest UR-100V which lets you understand how lengthy it takes for the Solar’s gentle to succeed in every of the planets. Final yr, we even lined their one-off Area Time Blade “clock” — a nixon tube-like machine that stood over 5ft tall.

However with the model’s newest UR-230 Polaris, Urwerk performs most of its magic on the case of the watch quite than what’s ticking away within it. 

Ceramic in Watches 

First popping up within the watch world within the ‘60s because of Rado, ceramic as a watch case materials has solely seen a rise in recognition through the years. The latest rise of coloured ceramic and even lumed ceramic has confirmed the fabric’s case as the most effective canvases for innovation. 

Ceramic is also subsequent to excellent as a cloth. Not solely is it exceptionally light-weight but it surely’s additionally scratch-resistant — 10x greater than 316L stainless-steel by comparability. It additionally has distinctive resistance to oxidation, corrosion, and color-fading, permitting your watches to look nice for many years, so long as they don’t chip or crack. You see, ceramic remains to be ceramic. That means, it’s not essentially probably the most sturdy materials on the earth. However because of Urwerk’s newest innovation, it could be…sometime at the very least.

Urwerk UR-230 Polaris Fundamentals

A follow-up to the UR-230 Eagle, the Polaris options the model’s signature wandering hours complication, with a trio of rotating blocks that shows the present hour because it strikes alongside the 0-to-60 minute monitor on the backside of the dial. The Eagle launched generators to the in-house Caliber UR-7.30 motion, which incorporates a knob that may disengage the rotor totally for extra excessive conditions for higher shock resistance. There’s a second knob that allows you to management the airflow going inside. These two options compound with a brand new ceramic materials that can make this a superb sports watch for each day actions.

Making Ceramic the Good Case Materials

The motion is housed in a 44.8mm x 53.55mm case and is skeletonized by means of the entrance dial. Sporting a hanging white color, the case swaps the everyday carbon TPT case with a brand new kind of ceramic that opts for woven ceramic sheets which have been fortified with fiberglass. 

Typical ceramic is made with a powder however the layering technique manages to retain the sunshine weight (fiberglass could be very gentle) whereas enhancing the sturdiness of the fabric. If something, this can be a excellent step in the appropriate route to creating ceramic probably the most versatile watch materials round. With a titanium caseback nonetheless intact like earlier fashions, the Polaris is paired with an identical white rubber strap as effectively.

Spec Sheet

Pricing & Availability

Like all Urwerk watches, the UR-230 Polaris is each costly and extremely restricted. With simply 35 items being made, the watch is priced at CHF 150,000 (~$167,744). Head over to Urwerk’s web site to study extra.

Urwerk UR-230 Polaris

Urwerk’s UR-230 Polaris is a basic wandering hours watch from the model however improves upon the fragility of ceramic circumstances with fiberglass fortification.