A Night With Urban Jürgensen
A Storied Relaunch in Los Angeles
Urban Jürgensen has a deep history - 252 years of history, to be exact. The watches have been sought and revered by collectors familiar with the brand, in all it’s various guises, and perhaps the most famous watch is the Derek Pratt Oval1 which has become the basis for the re-launch of Urban Jürgensen in the form of the UJ-1 wristwatch.
Given the brand’s legacy, it needed to be handled delicately, preserving and honoring the Jürgensen family, the watchmakers who came before, and the exceptional watches produced throughout its many reincarnations.
It took a family with a passion for watches and a Finnish watchmaker to reboot the iconic brand. In 2021, Andrew Rosenfield, President of Guggenheim Partners, and a group of investors purchased Urban Jürgensen. The Rosenfield family chose to work with Finnish master watchmaker Kari Voutilainen, who had a deep connection to the brand having worked alongside Derek Pratt early in his career. Andrew’s son, Alex, now serves as Co-CEO alongside Kari.
It had been a long wait to hear anything from the brand or see new projects emerge. Once the relaunch was announced, I bothered Kari at every opportunity to find out more: When would it launch? What would the watches be?
And it was worth the wait.