The History of Urban Jürgensen, The Legendary Danish Watchmaker Set To Relaunch

Wanting again on the historical past of watchmaking, there are some inevitable names to be talked about: Abraham-Louis Breguet, John Harrison, Thomas Mudge, John Arnold, Antide Janvier, Jean-Marc Vacheron and Christiaan Huygens, simply to call a couple of. Transferring up North, within the metropolis of Copenhagen, to be exact, we now have to speak about one of the vital essential dynasties of watchmaking, one which had nice affect each prior to now and in recent times, the Jürgensen household. The story began in 1745 with the beginning of Jørgen Jørgensen, and in current days, it concerned among the most essential people for impartial watchmaking. In 2025, this nice title is about to return with none aside from Kari Voutilainen because the co-CEO of what is going to be one of the vital essential relaunches in recent times. However earlier than we’re capable of speak about the way forward for City Jürgensen, which is able to occur in a couple of days, let’s have a look at its previous. 

As with most of the names above that survived, the story of City Jürgensen is each fascinating, filled with heritage and improvements, lovely moments and tragedies and, finally, advanced. It includes among the best names in previous and trendy watchmaking – Baumgartner, Pratt, Crott and Voutilainen, as an illustration – and has had its ups and downs, its moments of glory and its intervals of doubts.

The early days and the Jürgensen household

The Jürgensen dynasty, or ought to I say the Jørgensen dynasty, begins in Copenhagen, Denmark, on December 24, 1745, with the beginning of Jørgen Jørgensen, the forefather of the Jürgensen heritage. The son of a servant to the royal courtroom, Jørgen was the primary in a narrative that spans over 4 generations. At 14, he secures an apprenticeship with Copenhagen watchmakers Johan and Ephraim Lincke. In spring 1766, Jørgen units out on the compulsory journey of non-public {and professional} discovery that, since time immemorial, is the obligation of a guild apprentice. His first cease can be Germany, the place he pursued an apprenticeship as a watchmaker for six years. There, he would grasp new instruments, strategies, and methods. He even adopts the German spelling for his title, turning into Jürgen Jürgensen.

Jürgen then ultimately travelled to Switzerland, within the metropolis of Le Locle, to be exact, to work alongside Jacques-Frédéric Houriet. The latter, an essential man on the time and a famend watchmaker, was on the vanguard of industrialising what was nonetheless an artisanal craft. From this lifelong friendship with Houriet, Jürgen Jürgensen would additionally be taught new manufacturing strategies and better requirements of high quality. Certainly, on the time, most watches present in Denmark have been imported from Germany, France or Switzerland, with a comparatively low stage of high quality.

Jürgen Jürgensen went again to his native nation in 1772, with the concept of establishing a correct watchmaking business within the nation, one thing that was non-existent on the time. On April twenty ninth, 1773, he utilized to the guild for permission to make his Grasp Watchmaker’s qualifying piece, a repeating pocket watch of his personal design. As a prerequisite, he went to see a longtime guildsman and grasp watchmaker, Isaac Larpent, who was assigned to help and supervise. Whereas the 2 males already knew one another, this joint creation led them to share concepts a few greater challenge, that of founding a watchmaking business in Denmark. This, over the following years, grew right into a watchmaking firm, “Larpent & Jürgensen.” It was solely a number of years later, in 1781, that Jürgen Jürgensen lastly obtained the authorisation to determine a watch manufacturing unit. Throughout the Larpent & Jürgensen period (1773-1814), round 4,000 watches can be produced.

5 youngsters might be born from his union with Anne Leth Bruun, the daughter of a rich Copenhagen businessman, together with City, on August 5, 1776. A number of years later, Jürgensen was additionally appointed Royal Clockmaker to the Danish Court docket. Youthful brother Frederik, born 19 August 1787, additionally adopted his father’s profession as a watchmaker. That stated, eldest brother City will undoubtedly grow to be essentially the most well-known of the 4 generations of the Jürgensen household, giving his title to the model we all know at the moment, and being an important Danish watchmaker of all time.

City might be skilled in Denmark by his father Jürgen, up till the age of 21, when he realised that he had given his son all the things he might in his native nation. In 1797, City launched into his personal journey. With a grant from the Danish authorities, he units out on a studying mission to the workshops of Europe’s foremost watchmakers of the time in Geneva, Paris, and London. His first cease can be Le Locle, to work and be taught alongside his father’s good friend Jacques-Frédéric Houriet. In 1799, City leaves for Paris to obtain coaching from the best watchmakers of the time, each shut pals of Houriet, Abraham-Louis Breguet and Ferdinand Berthoud, in addition to spending a while in London within the ateliers of John Arnold and of John Brockbank.

In 1801, City Jürgensen went again to Le Locle to marry Houriet’s daughter Sophie Henriette, earlier than travelling again to Copenhagen after 4 years of worldwide journey and studying. Simply after his return, City instantly went to work, importing machines and making use of all the things he realized to be able to make high-precision pocket watches and marine chronometers. Additional reinforcing his affect on the Danish watchmaking scene, City printed a e-book named Guidelines for the Correct Measurement of Time by Watches and Clocks, which turned a typical for Danish watchmakers and continues to be thought of a significant reference work at the moment. A yr later, in 1805, City obtained a gold medal from the Royal Danish Agricultural Society for his bimetallic pocket thermometers.

In 1811, City Jurgensen based his personal enterprise within the Danish Capital, simply after the passing of his father Jürgen Jürgensen on April 16, 1811. City’s youthful brother Fredrik took over the household watchmaking enterprise in order that City might concentrate on his personal work. Fredrik achieved fairly successful too, being himself appointed courtroom horologist, purveyor of clocks and watches to the Danish royal household and state establishments. Fredrik’s stewardship was uncompromising luxurious objects and fewer than 500 complete items made within the 32 years between his taking up and his demise in 1843. Throughout this time, City centered his time on serially produced marine chronometers and astronomical pendulum clocks of the utmost high quality and precision. City handed away on 14 Might 1830, along with his three sons, two being watchmakers (Louis City and Jules Frederik) and Frederik (referred to as Fritz, The Colonel), later related to the Jürgensen enterprise as City Jürgensen & Sönner.

From 1800 up till his demise, it’s stated that City remodeled 700 pocket watches, 45 chronometers (deck watches for essentially the most half) and lots of examples of his bimetallic pocket thermometers. This leads us to the third technology, with City’s three surviving sons (aged 24, 22 and 13). His eldest son, Louis City, skilled as a watchmaker along with his father from 1822 to 1828, earlier than worldwide research in Paris, London and several other locations in Switzerland. Jules Frederik took over the household enterprise with Louis City, earlier than the latter turned the only proprietor in 1835, being on the head of the Copenhagen enterprise, whereas Jules moved completely to Switzerland. Beneath the 2 sons, City Jürgensen stays as synonymous as ever with the best attainable precision and reliability, mixed with uncompromising craftsmanship and high quality supplies. Louis City handed away in July 1867, and the Danish department City Jürgensen & Sønner would later be lead by his widow, Anette, and his youthful brother Frederik.

Within the meantime, Jules Jürgensen’s son, Jacques Alfred Jürgensen (born Might 17, 1842), traced his personal path, making his personal actions and developing with recent improvements, one in every of them a decimal movement work that was on show on the World Exhibition in Paris in 1867. In 1886, when Louis City’s widow Annette handed away, the transition was managed by Fritz, who trusted horologist Heinrich E. Kiens to take over the household enterprise, which stayed lively in Copenhagen, to deal with the commerce and restore of clocks and pocket watches. After his demise, the enterprise might be within the arms of his widow and later his son Carl Kiens, who took over in 1911.

As for the Swiss aspect of the corporate, Jacques Alfred Jürgensen handed away in 1912 with no youngsters, however the firm continued to outlive in an sudden approach. David Golay, a trusted good friend, continues the corporate’s operations beneath the outdated title after Jacques Alfred’s passing. World Struggle I is raging on the time, and enterprise has soured. Fashions shift to slimmer, lighter-weight watches and, dealing with these challenges, Golay decides to promote the corporate.

tough instances

In 1919, Henry Freund & Bros., the model’s major distributor in New York, joins forces with Bienne-based Ed. Heuer & Co., to amass the property of City Jürgensen Copenhagen. The brand new homeowners instantly got down to burnish the Jürgensen picture, investing closely in a brand new assortment. The timepieces manufactured in Bienne by Heuer between 1919 and 1930, beneath the supervision of Hubert Bernard Heuer, the founder’s grandson, faithfully seize the spirit of the unique City Jürgensen. Nevertheless, the 1929 Nice Despair led to the closure of the Biel-based manufacturing unit in 1932. Jules Jürgensen modified arms as soon as once more in December 1936, because of the Nice Despair and the tough instances on the US market.

From 1936 to 1974, that is what we are able to name the darkish yr of City Jürgensen. The corporate endured a sequence of possession adjustments, from Ed. Heuer & Co. to Aisenstein Woronock & Sons. Inc. of New York to Victor Huff to Downe Communication in Philadelphia to Morton Clayman, who units about manufacturing watches in St. Croix, US Virgin Islands, with parts sourced from Switzerland. This enterprise, beneath the title Jules Jürgensen, is a low level within the firm’s uninterrupted legacy, proves unsuccessful, and is promptly wound down after Clayman’s demise. That is after we can declare the top of high-end watches made beneath the City Jürgensen title.

The Baumberger takeover, the renewal of the late Seventies

That is probably an important second within the trendy period of City Jürgensen. Born in 1939, Peter Baumberger, born in Koppigen, Switzerland, skilled on the Solothurn watchmaking college. After commencement, he can be working collectively along with his father, a producer of luminous dials.

In 1976, in Copenhagen, the Clock and Watchmakers’ Guild celebrated the two hundredth anniversary of City Jürgensen’s beginning. On the time, there was nonetheless a small store promoting vintage Jürgensen watches, City’s publications, and different memorabilia… Mainly, the final vestige of the Jürgensen legacy in Denmark. The store’s proprietor, Christian Gundesen, a former journeyman watchmaker himself, owned all the things, together with the rights to the title. And for the event, the store’s entrance window was particularly embellished, which caught the attention of Peter Baumberger, who had the behavior of sourcing vintage districts of cities he visited.

On the sight of the store, Baumberger sensed a novel potential. Slowly, a connection can be created between him and Gundesen, who supplied him to purchase the entire place, together with the rights to the City Jürgensen title. It took Baumberger 3 years to attain his objective. Within the meantime, Gundesen offered the store to his nephew, Gerhard Scheufens. However by 1979, the Quartz Disaster had devastated a lot of the Swiss mechanical watchmaking business. By promoting his prized assortment of vintage watches, he raised the capital to amass the mandatory tools and managed to persuade Scheufens to promote the model to a non-Dane.

Then started the brand new period of City Jürgensen, as he introduced together with him English watchmaking legend Derek Pratt. Each males had recognized one another for some years and Baumberger was sponsoring Pratt for him to work his personal motion. Pratt had a particular fame – although much less well-known than his good friend and collaborator George Daniels, Pratt was the extra technically refined of the pair. Of their legendary weekly calls, Pratt solved a lot of Daniel’s most intricate watchmaking questions.

Picture Phillips

Picture Phillips

The preliminary marketing strategy of the Baumberger/Pratt period was to create a small manufacturing sequence of pocket watch tourbillons, paving the way in which for a brand new technology of wristwatches. This can lead the pair to current and manufacture 11 completely different references of wristwatches, numbered from 1 to 11. Stepped instances, elegant teardrop-shaped lugs, and meticulously crafted two-tone, frosted, and hand-guilloché dials would outline the gathering, not with no sure reference to what Daniel Roth did with Breguet again within the days.

The primary mannequin, the 1982 reference 1, was a chronograph calendar wristwatch – it must be stated that, as splendid because the tourbillon pocket watches made by Pratt have been, they by no means have been enough to run the enterprise. Already that includes all of the hallmarks of contemporary UJ wristwatches, this triple calendar, moon-phase, and chronograph was a selfwinding gold watch with teardrop lugs, stepped bezel and guilloché dial – laying down the foundations for the design language to return. The bottom of the motion was an El Primero, as Baumberger acquired new-old-stock ébauches from the Nineteen Sixties. 186 examples can be made between 1982 and 1986.

The reference 2 was launched in 1986, consisting of fifty platinum and 172 gold wristwatches with perpetual calendar, moon section, and the upgraded Frederic Piguet 71 computerized actions, the identical base as utilized in modern Breguet and Roth. The QP module was developed by Lemania. This 38mm watch includes a slimmer stepped bezel however retains the teardrop lugs and guilloché dial.

The reference 3 was launched in 1993, because the direct successor to the reference 2. The distinction lies within the addition of an influence reserve complication across the moonphase at 12 o’clock, one thing pricey to Baumberger and Pratt since they made the deliberate alternative to not have a intercalary year show. Although easy in look, this new addition proved advanced and brought on a lot bother to the corporate, in addition to being significantly costlier than deliberate, main UJ right into a tough monetary scenario. Fewer than 100 examples of the reference 3 can be produced, and the ref. 2 and ref. 3 have been the muse for subsequent watches primarily based on the identical idea: the ref. 9 with sub-dial shows, and the ref. 10 with small seconds, in addition to the ref. 4 with twin time indication (probably a novel piece).

Within the meantime, entry-level watches can be launched, beneath the reference 5, reference 8 and reference Huge 8, two- and three-hand watches with Frederic Piguet calibre 1150 and 1160. There was additionally the lesser-known reference 6, with a tonneau-shaped case – however that is possible that this watch by no means made it past the prototype stage. Reference 7, nicknamed the Diaplago, was a custom-made watch with a Dali-like case with a diamond-set bracelet. In complete, 11 references can be made earlier than Peter Baumberger handed away in 2010.

Past this, it was clear for Baumberger and Pratt to develop a devoted motion for City Jürgensen, with the initiatives P8 and P4. In 2005, the workforce embarks on a seemingly unattainable quest: to create a mechanical wristwatch with the accuracy and effectivity of a marine chronometer. Regardless of the challenges, they persevered and in 2011 unveiled the Calibre P8, a groundbreaking achievement and the model’s first serially produced in-house motion within the trendy period.

Pratt had a really clear concept when speaking a few devoted motion for UJ. Consdering the wealthy previous of the model, he needed one thing consistent with the custom of City Jürgensen, that means a precision timepiece with a chronometer escapement. Pratt, utilizing a Unitas ébauche as a base, began in 2003 to work on incorporating a detent escapement, which show tough contemplating the wants for miniaturisation and the well-known subject of any such escapement’s sensitivity to shocks. Whereas the prototype was achieved by Pratt, serial manufacturing proved tough and this known as for the intervention of specialists in conception and industrialisation, and the event was positioned within the arms of then-young engineer Jean-François Mojon, recognized at the moment because the proprietor of Chronode – one of many high motion designers and producers in Switerland.

The objective was to create a base motion able to receiving a number of forms of escapement – detent or lever – in addition to problems. This might result in the Calibre P8 with chronometer escapement and the Calibre P4 with lever escapement. Nevertheless, Derek Pratt handed away in 2009 and Peter Baumberger in 2010. In direction of the top of the story with City Jürgensen, another person of significance and relevance would take over, the well-known auctioneer named Physician Helmut Crott.

The opposite Scandinavian watchmaker

Within the meantime, as of 1996, one other Scandinavian watchmaker began to be concerned inside the firm, Kari Voutilainen. The latter labored with Pratt and Baumberger, first by ending dials for the model. It’s also essential to notice that his time working along with the 2 homeowners of UJ strongly influenced his later work beneath his eponymous title, with distinctive design parts later present in his watches, such because the open-tip arms, the teardrop lugs or the guilloché dials.

Extra importantly, Voutilainen might be concerned in what’s probably an important watch of the fashionable period of City Jürgensen, the Oval Pocket Watch. Again in 2005, initially created by Derek Pratt throughout his tenure as City Jürgensen’s technical director, he needed to create his magnum opus and it took over twenty years for him to finish the watch. As a consequence of his sickness, Baumberger handed over the meeting and ending of the watch as a equipment of elements to Kari Voutilainen who completes the well-known work. The distinctive piece includes a one-minute flying tourbillon with an built-in remontoire constant-force mechanism, an Earnshaw-style spring-detent escapement, and a moon section show. The watch, made between 1982 and 2005, and completed on the finish of 2006 by Kari Voutilainen, was auctioned in 2024, reaching CHF 3,690,000 beneath the hammer of Phillips – you’ll be able to learn an in-depth story about it right here.

The DR. Crott Period and the Late Return to the Danes

The sudden lack of Baumberger leaves City Jürgensen with out its guiding determine. Happily, his shut good friend, Dr. Helmut Crott – a distinguished authority in horology, famend collector, and passionate admirer of the model’s legacy – steps in to offer continuity. Beneath Dr. Crott’s management, the workforce sustains its custom, not solely of making distinctive watches that exemplify each technical prowess and craftsmanship, but additionally of innovating.

One in every of Dr. Crott’s key accomplishments is unifying the Jules Jürgensen and City Jürgensen manufacturers after practically 200 years of separate operation. Regardless of this and the success of the brand new collections, together with the model’s rising profile, Dr. Crott recognises the necessity for a construction able to managing the inevitable monetary calls for whereas preserving the model’s values.

In late 2014, a consortium of Danish non-public fairness traders current a method for sustainable progress and buy the corporate, together with Soren Petersen, a Danish watch collector and enterprise man. Throughout this time, City Jürgensen launches new collections primarily based on the P4 and P8 actions, beneath the motion design route of Jean-François Mojon, expands its world retail community, and in 2017, opens a brand new headquarters in Biel, on the coronary heart of Swiss watchmaking. Throughout this time, the model additionally introduced a stunning sports activities watch, the One assortment. In 2021, nevertheless, issues will change once more for the corporate.

2021, the brand new household homeowners and Voutilainen as Co-CEO

In 2021, the corporate owned by Petersen is acquired by an American household of devoted watch collectors who, together with a small group of strategic traders, set about faithfully returning City Jürgensen to its roots. And since then, the watch neighborhood has been eaferly ready to listen to extra in regards to the grand return of City Jürgensen. The objective of this group of traders, along with Voutilainen, is to convey again the watch model to its former glory, setting the requirements of design, technical innovation, and watchmaking high quality to a excessive stage.

For that, the conception of the watches has been entrusted to Kari Voutilainen as Co-CEO. Alex Rosenfield, who represents the household, additionally joins as Co-CEO. He brings expertise in vogue, media, and advertising and marketing, with a concentrate on constructing significant manufacturers. The manufacture, nonetheless primarily based in Biel, is beneath the route of Voutilainen’s daughter, Venla.

And what we are able to let you know now’s that: this yr is the 250th anniversary of the founding of City Jürgensen and will probably be the yr of the return, which is due in much less time than it took me to write down this text… The corporate will proceed to conduct its design, manufacturing, and manufacturing operations in Switzerland and a full assortment is to be anticipated very quickly, with clear parts from each the historical past of City Jürgensen and Voutilainen’s experience in high-end watchmaking. Extra particulars quickly at urbanjurgensen.com.