As I was getting ready to leave from my last visit to URWERK, I said something to Felix Baumgartner along the lines of, ‘I really like your 103.03, however, it is a shame it is far too big for my small wrists.’ He replied that he thought that the watch wore very comfortably on small wrists - including his own - and why don’t I take his (watch) home for a couple of weeks and try it out for myself? Not needing to be asked twice (and worried he might change his mind), here I am a week later typing away with his white gold 103.03 on my wrist and sore facial muscles from a fortnight of continuous smiling.

Warning! As I fastened the watch to my wrist in URWERK's atelier, I noticed from the corner of my eye a fleeting movement above and behind Felix's workbench. Turning quickly, I was just in time to see the last vestige of my objectivity fly out the window. For those looking for, or expecting, a disspassionate and objective review, I wish you the very best of luck in your quest . . . because you will find precious little trace of that here.

Please note: The watch in this article is Felix's own watch and is a prototype (due for a service). It does not have any anti-reflective coating on the crystal and please do not be too harsh if my images have highlighted any grime, dust or scratches.

Now while I am an unabashed fan of this timepiece, I am not at all a fan of large watches. I have tiny wrists - 17cms or just over 6 ¾” - and I have never felt comfortable wearing anything larger than a 38mm watch. In fact, when Felix made the offer, I was wearing a vintage ultra-thin VC caliber 103 that is 33mm in diameter and is so light that it would float off the wrist if not for the strap holding it down. Taking that off and replacing it with a 50mm long, 128g time-machine was a considerable shock to the lower arm . . . for about five minutes: after that it felt like it had always been there.

The following comments were made after wearing the watch virtually 24 hours a day for two weeks. I have a fairly varied and active lifestyle - probably much more active than Felix realized - and the watch has accompanied me while working with horses daily (including cleaning stables), driving tractors, flying in helicopters, dinner party, (suit and tie) business meetings and press conferences. Not a typical fortnight I'll admit, however, the 103.03 never looked or felt out of place once. I found it a very comfortable easy to wear watch in all those situations and I do not remember having ever worn a watch as versatile before.

By any standards, at 50mm long, 36mm wide and 13.5mm high, this is a large watch: yet I was surprised not only how well proportioned it looked on my wrist, but also how comfortable it was to wear. One problem that I have with larger watches is that the lugs extend straight out past the curve of my wrist; this usually results in either the watch either moving forward (down the arm) and causing the crown to push into the back of my hand, or it slides around my wrist and ends up upside down - neither of which has happened (or feels likely to happen) with the 103.03.

Your author hard at 'work'.

So why doesn't it look so big? I believe that is due to two main design features. From the wearer's main point of the view, the watch is only 36mm across and it does not even have a crown out to the side which usually makes that dimension look even wider; and while a thickness of 13.5mm may seem substantial, this is only in the very center of the case - at both ends the case tapers down to the wrist giving an overall appearance of a much thinner watch. Usually it is not the diameter that makes a watch look big and bulky to my eyes but the height.

These images of Felix Baumgartner wearing the watch bear repeating (from Part Three)

As the images above show, the 103.03 does not look like an over-sized watch, however, does it wear like one? In a word, 'No.' Even with my small wrists, the watch is very comfortable and wears like a much smaller model. I believe this is due to a number of factors: firstly, while the watch is 50mm in overall length, that does include the integrated lugs - the strap pins are ‘only’ 43mm apart which mean that the lugs do not extend past the curve of the wrist; secondly, the strap is very wide (30mm at the pins), which provides a very stable base and a comfortable feeling on the wrist - the weight is distributed over both a large surface area of watch and strap; thirdly, while looking at the case edgeways gives the impression that the base of the watch actually curves up and away from the wrist at each end, in reality it hugs the wrist by curving down and around it – resulting in a very snug and secure fit. This clever feat is made possible by placing one of the lugs below the watch and complimenting that with an angled form jutting up to the large crown.

Another big design feature is that massive crown. It is relativity discreet when seen from above as the crenellations match the grooves in the top of the case. The pleasure comes from viewing that imposing form from the back and actually winding the movement. I have never enjoyed winding a watch as much as this one and found myself wishing, for the first time in my life, that the power reserve was shorter! While the winding mechanism has been especially strengthened to avoid any possible over-enthusiastic over-winding of that large crown, I found that it is very easy to feel when the movement is fully wound as it stops quite clearly when it has had enough.

Expecting that telling the time would not be as intuitive as reading a classical watch, I was surprised once again. Within twelve hours of wearing the 103.03 I found myself not so much reading the time as simply noting the position of the satellite; much as we do when glancing at a ‘normal’ dial. A major (and deliberate) advantage of URWERK’s design is that you never have to tilt your wrist towards you to see the time: even when driving you can usually see very clearly where the hour satellite is and know the time at a glance.

Another unexpected result from wearing this watch has been that I have found that I do not usually need to know the time as precisely as I once thought. When wearing a watch with standard hands and dial, I am as fussy as anyone in checking the time against an atomic clock at regular intervals, or feeling a little peeved if I am reminded that my watch is a couple of minutes out. While it it easy to tell the exact time if you feel you need it, with the the 103.03, I find myself in the habit of just looking at which 15 minute period it is in rather than bothering with anything more precise. Unless I have a train to catch, I can see myself needing no more than the hours and half-hours before long.

Honey, do you think my arm looks big in this?

Low or no light . . . no problem.

As much as I am biased towards the watch, in the quest for balanced reporting I have searched high and low for flaws . . . and believe I have found one - a very small one. While not everybody will spend as much time as I have looking at the Control Board with a loup or macro lens, my own experience has revealed that it is fiddly to (perfectly) clean the edges of the dials where they meet the baseplate. If the crystal was flat with the baseplate, that ‘problem’ would be eliminated.

While not at all ostentatious, especially in white gold or platinum, this is the first watch I have ever worn where I have noticed strangers surreptitiously glancing at my wrist trying to work out what it is I am wearing . . . and the braver of them even asking! Friends who would not blink an eyelid at a $300,000 repeater - because of ignorance, not being blasé - immediately want to know what the watch does and how it works and it gives me much pleasure to demonstrate.

There is however one very major flaw with this watch; I have to give it back! 'Better to have loved and lost . . . .'
I tell myself . . . without much conviction.

Thank you very much Felix for trusting me with your baby. It has truely been my pleasure