SpotlightWhen Time Stands Tall, Emits Amber And Oozes Vintage: Urwerk SpaceTime Blade Clock With Nixie Tubes

Urwerk first disrupted the horological world at Baselworld 1997 with their UR-101 and UR-102 iterations. Their watchmaking vocabulary since then, has expanded to include pathbreaking concepts like the satellite/wandering hours display, fluid dynamics, solar distances, and sci-fi influences. Their pride of place, however, is the Urwerk SpaceTime Blade Clock with Nixie tubes, first unveiled at the 2023 Only Watch auction. Now a year later, this vertical timepiece, reminiscent to a Jedi’s Lightsaber, has been relaunched around the ongoing Watches and Wonders 2024, in a 33-piece limited edition deal.

Urwerk SpaceTime Blade Clock: Handiwork Of Master Artisans

The Urwerk SpaceTime Blade Clock falls under the brand’s UR-Special Projects category, which includes other stellar timekeeping innovations such as the UR-111C and the UR-112 that have upended the conventional ways of viewing mechanical watches. Master artisans Mr Lukuvka, whose expertise lies in lost-wax casting, Mr Votrubec who creates astounding art from glasswork, and a Czech Republican company Dalibor Farny that produces handcrafted Nixie tubes, were roped in by Urwerk to create this exceptional timepiece.

The Urwerk SpaceTime Blade Clock features eight vertically stacked Nixie tubes fashioned from hand-blown glass, each one comprising 88 parts and hand assembled one by one

The Nixie tubes showcase eight different display modes when switched on, namely hours, minutes, seconds, split seconds, day, month, year, and even the Earth’s rotation in kilometres

A Salute To Vintage Nixie Tubes

The Urwerk Blade Clock stands 5.5ft tall and weighs approximately 20kgs. It involves eight vertically stacked Nixie tubes that emit a fiery orange glow. These tubes—based on the original innovation during the 1950s, later used by Soviet Union’s military and industrial infrastructure—are fashioned from hand-blown glass, each one comprising 88 parts and hand assembled one by one. When switched on, the tubes showcase eight different display modes, namely hours, minutes, seconds, split seconds, day, month, year, and even the Earth’s rotation in kilometres. It also includes ‘shuffle’ and ‘pause’ modes. These tubes feature cathodes that form Arabic numerals to tell accurate time. Atop this tube construction sits the Urwerk plaque like a crown. A protective glass tube with a pedestal made from the wax-casted bronze technique—used earlier in making traditional jewellery and sculptures—encloses the Nixie tubes for protection, longevity, and aesthetic appeal.

Master artisans Mr Lukuvka, whose expertise lies in lost-wax casting, Mr Votrubec who creates astounding art from glasswork, and a Czech Republican company Dalibor Farny that produces handcrafted Nixie tubes, were roped in by Urwerk to create this exceptional timepiece

The Urwerk SpaceTime Blade Clock qualifies as a collector’s item that pushes the boundaries of conventional watchmaking, showcases the brand’s futuristic vision and utmost precision towards horological engineering, craftsmanship and accuracy in time-telling.