Introducing – URWERK UR-105 CT Streamliner, The NYC-Inspired Targa Watch (Hands-On)
As some of you might know (and we told you here, on Mono’), independent brand URWERK is celebrating this year its 20th anniversary. Hard to believe, but the baby has grown up to become an adult… Will that means becoming serious and void of creativity? Certainly not. This year, the brand presents the URWERK UR-105 CT Streamliner, a modern watch inspired by the earliy years of the creators, Martin and Felix. A look back over the shoulder, but not with nostalgia or regret.
Editor’s Note: We don’t want to blow Sam’s cover, because My Watch Story subjects are guaranteed a high degree of anonymity. But let’s just say, Sam might not have ever seen you, but if you’re partial to a wide, wide range of clothing brands – most recently UNIQLO – you will probably have seen him. However, it’s not his photogenic features in the frame today, it’s his no less photo-friendly wrist – which at our recent whiskey and watches weekday lock-in, sported the Montblanc Felix and I got a little woozy about at SIHH 2017, the Montblanc 1858 Automatic Dual Time. How and why did you choose this piece? What do you like about it? I have been working with Montblanc lately and have been looking to enter the big boy watch arena for a while and it seemed like the perfect start! I was drawn to the dual tones, the bronze is a really unique selling point and will age gracefully once worn a bit more. The bezel is perfectly paired with a cognac-coloured calfskin strap, which adds to the vintage aesthetic. Since grabbing this watch, has anything surprised you about it? To be honest, I didn’t realise it…
Earlier this week The New York Times published an interview with Omega CEO Raynald Aeschlimann, in which he gives an interesting overview as to how the Swatch Group’s crown jewel is faring, and what the plans are for the future. Aeschlimann points to China as a star performing market at the moment, saying that half of the brand’s business is coming from Asia, where the Constellation is the model of choice. He also speaks about the new factory, the impressive ‘Building O’: “At the center of Building O is a giant glass-enclosed atrium three floors deep, an inventory area called ‘the heart’, with 30,000 stacked boxes of watch parts that are retrieved as needed by a roving automated arm.” Omega projects that this massive 175,225-square-foot building will be big enough for another 30-50 years of growth. Read the full story here.
It’s hard to overstate the importance of Cartier’s Tank. Not just in the rarefied world of watch design, but in the much broader fields of fashion and design. In a crowded scene full of pretenders it stands out, like an enduring style icon in a room full of so-called influencers. This year the Tank celebrates its centenary, and Cartier has released a brace of new Tanks to mark the occasion, in the Française, Américaine, Cintrée and Louis Cartier collections. We’re going to look at the new steel Américaine shortly, but today we’re spending time with the most classical iteration, the large Tank Louis Cartier in pink gold. What you immediately notice about this Louis Cartier is just how little the design has changed since the Tank Louis Cartier was first introduced in 1922. Sure, little details such as the hands and Cartier text have changed, and the case construction is a little more sophisticated these days, but the fundamentals – the rectangular shape, softly curved case elements, Roman numerals and conical crown – are all the same. The second thing you will notice is the size. Under no circumstances could you accuse this Tank of wearing large, even though it’s the large-sized model,…