Urban Jürgensen traces its history to 1773 in Copenhagen and to the Jürgensen family of watchmakers, including Jürgen, Urban and Jules Jürgensen. In the late 20th century the name was revived by Peter Baumberger and English watchmaker Derek Pratt, and Kari Voutilainen began working with the company in 1996, later completing Pratt’s Oval Pocket Watch. After a period under Danish private-equity ownership, the brand was acquired in 2021 by the Rosenfield family, American collectors, with a small group of investors. Alex Rosenfield and Kari Voutilainen are co-CEOs, with Voutilainen responsible for design and production, and the watches are made in Biel, Switzerland.
The relaunch collection, announced in June 2025 and presented as marking more than 250 years of the house, has three models. The UJ-1 is a 39.5 mm one-minute tourbillon that reinterprets Pratt’s Oval Pocket Watch, made in editions of 25 pieces in platinum or rose gold. The UJ-2 time-only watch and the UJ-3 perpetual calendar with instantaneous moon phase, the latter conceived with Andreas Strehler, both use a double-wheel natural escapement based on a design by Breguet. The 39 mm UJ-2, with a guilloché dial, won the Men’s Watch Prize at the 2025 GPHG.
