Today I welcome URWERK Co-founder and head of design at URWERK, Martin Frei as my guest on Forward Momentum.

Martin is a wealth of knowledge on the philosophical thinking and design at the root of URWERK. He has created and amazing design language at URWERK that puts the humans and collectors at the center of their design.

We begin our discussion with the UR-230, URWERK’s latest release from Dubai Watch Week and the evolution of the 200 series. We talk about one of my biggest questions about the watch: why is there no power reserve indication of any kind on a watch that can be made fully manual?

We then discuss the future of the 200 series, and the deeply philosophical side of watchmaking, and Martin’s belief that the power reserve indication is an indication of how much you love your watch. We spoke about how URWERK has a current focus on chronometry and how that focus may change in the future. We finished our conversation with a deep dive into what independent watchmaking means to Martin.

This was a great discussion and I hope you enjoy it!

1:57 - the UR-230

2:30 - The evolution of the UR-200 Series

9:38 - Urwerk Watches are Evolution

14:00 - The UR-230 Winding System and protection Mechanism

18:54 - The Turbine and airflow controls on the UR-200 series

27:18 - Why there is no power reserve indication on the UR-230

31:10 - Where is the 200 Series Going

35:20 - The Power Reserve Indication is the indication of how much you love an object

38:30 - The future of URWERK

40:00 - Focused on the chronometry side of watchmaking

43:00 - What does independent watchmaking mean to you?

46:00 - Independence is a Luxury

46:30 - Do you feel a need to protect watchmaking?

48:14 - What’s one thing you wish people knew about the watch industry?

51:52 - Where can people find you