Urwerk measures Earth’s cosmic journey – and it’s just one of five groundbreaking watchmaking firsts this year

If you thought watchmaking had run out of fresh ideas, 2025 would like a word.

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When a brand like Urwerk – whose watches all look like they were either built for or come from outer space – launches something called the “Spacemeter”, you’d think you know what’s coming. But here’s the twist: this is probably the first Urwerk that even flirts with looking like a normal watch. And beneath that deceptive normalcy lies a world-first: the ability to track Earth’s movement through space in real time. Sub-counters on a watch face are often used for chronograph, calendar, or basic time in regulator-style watches, but the UR-10 Spacemeter is none of those. At 2 o’clock, a register tracks every 10 metres Earth spins through space, jumping in neat 500-metre increments. Down at 4 o’clock, another keeps tabs on our planet’s annual road trip around the Sun, ticking forward 20km at a time and logging each 1,000km covered. Finally, the subdial at 9 o’clock is a combination of the previous two: 1,000km for Earth’s rotation and a whopping 64,000km for its solar orbit, with the hand advancing on two synchronised scales.

On the back of the watch, a peripheral hand sweeps around a 24-hour scale, offering two readings depending on the direction you follow. Clockwise, under the “Rotation” engraving, it charts Earth’s daily spin on its axis; trace it anti-clockwise beneath “Revolution” and you’re watching our annual voyage around the Sun. Just a little poetic flourish to really drive the cosmic theme home.

While the base movement was made in partnership with Vaucher, the complication module was developed by Urwerk, whose main challenge for the Spacemeter was to feed it enough power to drive all those celestial readouts. To minimise friction, the team relied on five wheels, five axes, and a generous scattering of rubies. “We used skeletonised LIGA wheels, some of which weigh 0.015g and down to 0.009g, the same as an eyelash, in order to save as much energy as possible,” explained co-founder and Master Watchmaker Felix Baumgartner. “This preserves the concept's inherent poetry along with its resistance and accuracy.”

Urwerk’s patented Double Flow Turbine system protects the winding mechanism with two stacked “turbines” that spin in opposing directions whenever the rotor turns with wrist movement. The result is a controlled air brake: air flow and resistance slow the rotor if it accelerates too quickly, shielding the movement from shocks and wear while still delivering steady, reliable winding.

Futuristic as all that sounds, it was actually inspired by a 19th century pendulum clock made by Gustave Sandoz, France's Horologist-Mechanic by appointment to the King and the navy from 1874. “My father, a custodian of horological tradition, gave me a classic clock, with regular hands… that do not tell time,” Baumgartner recalled. It looked like a traditional regulator, but its quick-beating pendulum tracked Earth’s travel across three distinct scales. For Baumgartner – a watchmaker devoted to crafting unconventional, often handless watches with co-founder Martin Frei – it was the perfect spark.

Frei, the other half of Urwerk and its creative mind, drew inspiration from Gerald Genta’s belief in the power of a single, sculptural form. That’s why the Spacemeter has no traditional case band: just a titanium upper case anchored to a steel caseback by side-mounted longitudinal screws. And on the black or grey PVD dial you’ll find what the brand jokingly calls “an almost sacrilegious pair of hands” – a rare concession to traditional legibility, and a reminder that even a watch obsessed with cosmic motion should still tell the time.

And now, a brief tour of watchmaking’s other boundary pushers of 2025. Here are some of the world’s firsts.

THE FIRST FOUR-AXIS TOURBILLON

What better time than the 10th anniversary of the Jacob & Co Astronomia to bring even more drama to a collection that actively repels subtlety? To recap, the Astronomia line began with a movement that would travel around the dial in 20 minutes, gaining in speed over subsequent iterations with one that moved in 10 minutes (Astronomia Maestro) and, eventually, a lightning 60 seconds (Astronomia Revolution).

Its latest iteration, the Astronomia Four-Axis Tourbillon, retains the one-minute planetary system but adds a fourth axis to the Revolution’s triple-axis tourbillon, making it the first-ever four-axis tourbillon. The concept debuted as a one-off – the Astronomia Revolution 4th Dimension – at the 2023 OnlyWatch auction, but this edition marks a production model with a comparatively pared-back aesthetic (and yes, “pared-back” is very much relative). Each axis completes a rotation at 60 seconds, 18 seconds, 15 seconds, and 60 seconds respectively, with a high-frequency constant-force mechanism ensuring the entire dizzying system remains under control. This 47mm spectacle is crafted in 18k rose gold and limited to just 18 pieces.

THE FIRST 3D-PRINTED BRACELET-STRAP HYBRID

Malaysian watch brand Ming is not afraid to question the status quo, especially if that status quo has existed for the better part of 500 years. That fearless approach has led to delights like watches weighing just 8.8g (sans strap), laser-etched sapphire dials, and proprietary lume that glows without a hint of tint.

Their latest madcap experiment is a strap that marries the flexibility of fabric with the tactile presence of a metal bracelet. Traditional wire mesh Milanese straps have tried, but they just don’t have fabric’s suppleness. Enter the Polymesh. In numbers, it’s a marvel: an entirely new topology, two production partners, seven full redesigns, minimum clearances of 70 microns in some areas, and 1,693 individually moving pieces linked in a closed loop – with not a single pin or screw in sight.

Every piece was created through additive manufacturing and 3D printing, with only the quick-release springbars requiring assembly. But it’s hardly as straightforward as it sounds. With gaps as narrow as 70 microns, links could fuse during production, and finely powdered titanium is highly explosive if mishandled. To navigate these hazards, Ming teamed up with Sisma S.p.A. in Italy and ProMotion SA in Switzerland for the trickier engineering feats.

The Polymesh fits all Ming watches with a 20mm lug width. While the prototype is currently offered in titanium, the team is already exploring a stainless steel version and 22mm options. Attendees of Dubai Watch Week in November will have the chance to experience it firsthand.

THE FIRST 180° HEXA-PRISM 3D WANDERING HOUR SYSTEM

In a spectacular display of horological overachievement, Hong Kong’s Atowak has actually packed three world firsts into the Manta-X. Its wandering hour system swaps the usual four-sided wheel for a six-sided hexa-prism that rotates 60 degrees per hour with a lightning-fast 0.3-second flip to reveal the current hour. Then there’s the involute Gear System, replacing the standard Maltese cross to reduce friction, improve stability, and boost long-term reliability. Finally, the Tidal Gravitas Minute Wheel System features 13 interconnected satellites that cascade in a domino-style flip every five minutes – a kinetic ballet inspired by ocean currents and the sweep of a manta’s wings, living up to the mechanism’s rather bombastic name.

Under the hood, a Sellita SW200 powers Atowak’s AK‑07BA module, and somehow the watch still manages to earn COSC certification despite all the energy-sucking gyrations. To truly appreciate the spectacle, it wears big – 49.5mm by 42mm, 13mm of Grade 5 titanium – so every flip, spin, and cascade is on full display.

THE FIRST 3D-PRINTED WATCH

If Ming relied on additive manufacturing to reinvent a strap, British microbrand Apiar has taken 3D printing to the next level by crafting an entire watch, the Gen1.0, from it. While Dutch independent Holthinrichs was first to experiment with 3D-printed metal cases, Apiar has gone further, producing the case middle and dial the same way. Designer Max Resnick envisioned the web-like structure, and generative design software refined it within human-set boundaries, creating an aesthetic that looks like it was plucked straight from the set of Alien.

The entire watch chassis is built from Grade 23 and Grade 5 titanium, with the bezel as the sole CNC-machined exception. Beyond showing off clever engineering, additive manufacturing also trims waste: material is only used where it’s needed, rather than carved away and discarded.

At 39mm by a slim 9.2mm, the Gen1.0 comes with a blue-grey “Dusk” dial or a gold-hued “Dawn,” and is powered by a La Joux-Perret G101 automatic movement boasting 68 hours of power reserve.

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