URWERK UR-150 Scorpion: Satellite Hours Redefined in 50 Pieces

The Collector’s View

• The URWERK UR-150 Scorpion is a limited-edition satellite-hours complication watch featuring a 240-degree retrograde minutes arc that snaps back to zero in one hundredth of a second, while three hour satellites simultaneously rotate 270 degrees on their axes, in a mechanical sequence the Geneva manufacture describes as “fast and fearsome.”
• First URWERK to use a flying carousel construction, replacing the Maltese cross mechanism across the entire prior catalogue.
• Three variants — Titan, Dark, Blue Scorpion — each limited to 50 pieces, priced from CHF 88,000 to CHF 90,000.
• Powered by Calibre UR-50.01: Vaucher automatic base with URWERK’s proprietary display module, 43-hour power reserve, double turbine winding.

Design & Mechanics

The Scorpion’s name derives from a precise geometric fact: the 240-degree minutes track curves around the dial in a long, arching trajectory that mirrors a scorpion’s tail raised to strike. Previous URWERK satellite watches used a 120-degree arc. Doubling it to 240 degrees is not a stylistic decision in isolation — it distributes the same 60 minutes across twice the physical space, producing a minute display that is genuinely easier to read at a glance.

At the hour transition, a specially developed URWERK spring triggers the retrograde mechanism. The hand snaps 240 degrees back to zero. As Martin Frei, co-founder and artistic director, has described it: “The dial transforms before our eyes — so fast that it is barely perceptible to the naked eye.” To prevent that force from damaging the mechanism, URWERK integrated a speed governor based on a rack and cam configuration, which dampens the return without softening the visual drama.

The case measures 42.49mm wide, 52.31mm long, and 14.79mm thick. For a house that has historically favoured larger, more architectural proportions, these are deliberately restrained dimensions. Sapphire crystals front and back expose the movement from both sides. The Titan version pairs sandblasted titanium with steel and a green-tipped retrograde hand; the Dark substitutes anthracite PVD-treated steel and a red tip; the Blue Scorpion, launched at Geneva Watch Days 2025, uses blue aluminium satellites and a yellow-tipped hand against a grooved blue minutes track.

Movement & Materials

Calibre UR-50.01 is a hybrid architecture: a Vaucher automatic base beating at 28,800 vph provides the timekeeping foundation, while URWERK’s proprietary in-house display module, mounted on top, handles the satellite carousel and retrograde system. The combination yields 43 hours of power reserve across 38 jewels.

Winding is managed by a double turbine, a twin-rotor system that protects the mechanism from shocks while maintaining efficient energy transfer. Movement finishing follows URWERK’s industrial vocabulary: circular graining, sandblasting, shot-blasting, circular satin finishing, and chamfered screw heads. Felix Baumgartner, master watchmaker and co-founder, has framed the central engineering challenge with characteristic economy: “The challenge was to synchronise the retrograde jump and the rotation of the satellites while maintaining absolute precision.”

The flying carousel itself — mounted on a flying wheel and pinion positioned between the satellites and the base movement — is the structural innovation that makes the expanded arc possible. It replaces the Maltese cross mechanism that governed satellite rotation across every previous URWERK, delivering smoother transitions and enabling the synchronised 270-degree satellite rotation that occurs in the same hundredth of a second as the retrograde snap. Collectors following URWERK’s trajectory from the UR-101 Diamond Sky to this point will recognise the scale of that engineering step.

Market Position

Fifty pieces per variant places the UR-150 Scorpion firmly in the upper tier of URWERK’s limited output. At CHF 88,000 to CHF 90,000 depending on configuration, it occupies the space where independent watchmaking and collector investment converge — a price point that reflects both the mechanical complexity and the scarcity of the edition.

All three variants ship on hybrid rubber straps with folding clasps. All indices carry Super-LumiNova for low-light legibility, and water resistance is rated to 50 metres. The Scorpion joins what URWERK describes as a “dangerous menagerie” — the T-Rex, the Cobra, the Hammerhead — each representing a specific mechanical behaviour translated into zoological metaphor. Among that group, the Scorpion is the fastest, and the one whose visual identity most directly mirrors its namesake.

For a manufacture whose stated purpose is to interpret time “in a radical, futuristic key,” the UR-150 is one of its most fully realised arguments: a watch that does not merely display the hour but performs it, with mechanical force, on demand, every sixty minutes.

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Full technical details and authorised retailer information are available directly at URWERK.