VON DOREN
URÆD MARK II - Day/Date
The story lives on
In 1904, Ole Brude crossed the Atlantic Ocean in a lifeboat he had designed himself. Many doubted the egg-shaped vessel. He proved them wrong, and his invention has saved thousands of lives since.
URÆD Mark II is our tribute to the same courageous way of thinking. The watch displays the days of the week in Norwegian, and every single detail is designed by Von Doren.
A Swiss automatic movement from Sellita. Ceramic bezel. Sapphire crystal front and back. Water resistant to 100 metres.
Produced in only 300 numbered pieces of each colour.
Day/Date and 2 timezones
Norwegian weekdays and date on the dial.
Rotating bezel for a second time zone.
Three different colour variants
Choose between Ocean Green, Storm Black or Atlantic Blue. It is delivered on a black rubber strap, with an elegant steel bracelet available as an option.
Specifications
- Dimensions:
Diameter: 40 mm
Thickness: 12.9 mm
Lug to lug: 46.6 mm - Movement: Sellita SW240-1 Elaboré, Swiss automatic movement
- Jewels: 26
- Day/date: Norwegian weekdays in a curved window at the top, date window at 3 o’clock
- Case: 316L stainless steel, brushed and polished
- Crystal: Sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating
- Case back: Sapphire crystal with view of the movement
- Bezel: Ceramic, unidirectional
- Lume: Super-LumiNova BGW9 on bezel, hands and indices
- Power reserve: 38 hours
- Water resistance: 10 ATM / 100 metres
- Strap: Black rubber strap. Steel bracelet available as an option
- Lug width: 20 mm
Swiss made Sellita SW240-1 Automatic
Movement
The Sellita SW240-1 is a Swiss automatic movement with both day and date display. The movement is used by several renowned watch brands.
Automatic winding: The watch is wound by the movements of your wrist.
Day and date display: Shows both the day of the week and the date.
Manual winding: Can also be wound using the crown.
Hacking seconds: The seconds hand stops when the crown is pulled out to set the time, allowing the watch to be set precisely.
Origin of Norwegian Weekdays
Mandag (Monday)
Mandag is the day of the Moon. “Måne” is a Norse god, and the brother of “Sol”. The gods did not like that Måne’s father Mundilfare named him after the moon. Therefore they sentenced Måne to drag the moon across the sky every night.
Tirsdag (Tuesday)
Tirsdag is named after Tyr, the son of Odin and the god of war. Tuesdays were considered the best day for battles.
Onsdag (Wednesday)
Onsdag is named after the Allfather, Odin. Odin was the wisest and most powerful of all the gods. After the Norse mythology was replaced by Christianity, it was hard for the Christian priests to accept that one of the days was named after a pagan god. They tried to rename the day “Midtuke”, which means “middle of the week”. This was unsuccessful, however.
Torsdag (Thursday)
Torsdag is named after Tor (Thor), perhaps the most famous Norse god. This was the most sacred of all the days. Important meetings and assemblies should preferably begin on Thursdays. Thursdays were also believed to be the most powerful day for magic.
Fredag (Friday)
Fredag is the day of Frigg and Frøya. They were goddesses of love and fertility, and Friday was the day of love.
Lørdag (Saturday)
Lørdag is a modernisation of “Laugardagr”, which means “washing day”. Saturday was traditionally the correct day for ritual cleansing ceremonies.
Søndag (Sunday)
Søndag is the day of the Sun, and traditionally the first day of the week. “Sol” was Måne’s sister and was named after the sun. Just like with Måne, the gods did not approve of her father’s choice of name, and thus sentenced her to pull the real sun across the sky every day.
Our inspiration - The story of URÆD
Some stories deserve to be told again.
In 1904 a young Norwegian inventor set out on a journey that would challenge the modern perception of safety at sea. With a groundbreaking enclosed lifeboat, an unwavering faith in his own invention, and the Atlantic Ocean in ahead of him, Ole Brude set sail for America.
The boat was named URÆD.
More than 120 years later, its story lives on in the URÆD MK II.
Ole Brude – the man who wanted to make the sea safer.
In the early 1900s, the sea was both a lifeline and a constant danger. Shipwrecks claimed countless lives, and the open lifeboats of the time offered little protection against cold, storms and high waves.
Ole Brude from Ålesund believed there had to be a better solution.
He envisioned something entirely different from the traditional lifeboats: an enclosed design that could protect the people on board, even in extreme conditions.
The idea was as simple as it was revolutionary. Instead of fighting the forces of the sea, the lifeboat would be built to withstand them.
A vision takes shape.
Brude developed drawings and plans for an egg-shaped lifeboat built of steel. It was to be enclosed, robust and capable of keeping people safe through storms that would have left traditional lifeboats highly exposed.
But the road from idea to finished vessel was demanding.
Brude had to secure funding, convince others that the design was feasible and find a workshop that could build it.
In 1904, the boat was built at Aalesunds Mekaniske Verksted. That same year, Ålesund was struck by the great town fire, which contributed to delays in the project.
The result was a vessel the world had hardly seen the like of.
It was only 5.5 metres long and 2.4 metres wide, made of galvanised steel plates and equipped with a sail, a keel and a small lookout tower.
The boat was named URÆD - Norwegian for "fearless".
Four men. One lifeboat. An entire ocean.
Ole Brude did not simply want to present a new invention. He wanted to prove that it worked.
The plan was ambitious: he would sail URÆD from Ålesund to America, cross the North Atlantic and demonstrate the lifeboat's capabilities to the world.
On 7 August 1904, Brude and three crew members set out on the historic voyage.
They had no engine. Only a sail, navigational equipment, limited supplies and faith in a design that had never been tested before.
Ahead of its time.
An invention that pointed towards the lifeboats of the future.
Despite the remarkable crossing, Ole Brude's design did not achieve the breakthrough he had hoped for.
The idea was radical, production was costly, and the shipping industry was not ready for such a sweeping change.
But Brude's fundamental idea would prove to be far ahead of its time.
Only several decades later did enclosed lifeboats become common in international shipping.
Today, modern enclosed lifeboats are built on the same central principle: protecting people from the sea through a solid, enclosing design.
Ole Brude was a pioneer. URÆD was an early step towards the rescue vessels of the future.
