The Low-Down

Collective is a private watch enthusiasts club based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Founded in 2018, it is the brainchild of Gabe Reilly and Asher Rapkin, two watch enthusiasts working in the tech industry. Besides organizing exclusive events for the group, they collaborate with watch brands and independent watchmakers to make one-off timepieces for existing and prospective members.

The Urwerk UR-100V P.02 is a three-way collaboration between Urwerk, Collective, and the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York. The futuristic watch pays tribute to the experience of piloting the Space Shuttle Enterprise on the 40th anniversary of the first space shuttle program. An interesting fact about the name Enterprise – it was actually designated the name Constitution, to be unveiled on Constitution Day, September 17, 1976. Fans of Star Trek petitioned President Gerald Ford through a letter-writing campaign, to name the orbiter after Star Trek’s USS Enterprise. Even the cast of the television show was on hand during the rollout of Enterprise. The Enterprise is on display at the Intrepid museum in Manhattan.

The UR-100V P.02 dial simulates the space shuttle program’s launch and landing sequences in minutes. These are visible through apertures that also show the approximate location of the shuttle at each phase of launch and landing. Green represents the shuttle on Earth. Blue indicates the shuttle traveling through the Earth’s sky or lower atmosphere. Red represents the upper atmosphere, and black indicates time in space or, more precisely, low earth orbit.

The standard edition of the UR-100V tracks the kilometers traveled on the equator in 20 minutes and the kilometers the earth covers around the sun in the same period. The P.02 takes a completely different approach, using the two lateral apertures to track the process and timing of both take-off and landing for the space shuttle. A custom made, detailed manual provides detail into that process, allowing the wearer to experience the same period of time that an astronaut might have experienced as a sequence of launching or landing a space shuttle.

“When you get your hands on the P.02, your impulse is immediately to watch the wandering hour complication play out. As you watch the hand wander through the space shuttle’s typical launch sequence you really can think about what seven minutes sitting at the top of a rocket must be like.” Therein lies the value. Owning a watch like this is an investment in the art of watchmaking as well as storytelling. Museum’s Curator of Aviation and a former astronaut, Eric Boehm, says the museum was excited to help Collective and Urwerk capture the experience of flying the space shuttle by highlighting the instrumentation on board. “I was thrilled to assist in bringing the P.02 to life, taking design inspiration from Enterprise’s cockpit instruments to help tell the story of some of the shuttle program’s most dramatic moments: launch and landing.”

IMHO

The era of the space shuttle program is one of the most fascinating ones that was led by aerospace companies in collaboration with NASA. However, now it is the Silicon Valley companies leading the way with privatization of space exploration.

Martin Frei and Felix Baumgartner are legit space geeks and Trekkies. The P.02 takes them further down the rabbit hole. Gabe Reilly and Asher Rapkin are true Silicon Valley watch nerds, “What we like and think is exciting is that a watch is a creative canvas upon which stories can be told. We don’t fancy ourselves watch designers but, because of our marketing background, we do see ourselves as storytellers,” says Rapkin. “We loved URWERK’s use of orbiting satellite hours and minute hands for the UR-100 SpaceTime launched in 2019, but we saw an opportunity to tell a different story. If URWERK were to create a watch that was a tribute to the space shuttle prototype, Enterprise, what would that be?” says Reilly.

While I had the prototype P.02 to test drive, these pictures may not reflect the final version the collectors will receive. I think there are very minor cosmetic adjustments that were being discussed (for example the strap).

Tech Specs

Movement: UR 12.02 automatic movement, 28 800vph, 48 hours power reserve
Case: 41mm x 14mm, titanium and stainless steel with gun metal PVD finishing
Functions: Satellite hours and minutes, space shuttle sequence of events indications
Availability & Price: $62,500, and limited to 20 pieces