Avant garde Geneva-based watchmaker Urwerk produces what they claim is the world's hardest timepiece, the 103.08 TiAlN, the Wealth Bulletin reports. That stands for Titanium Aluminum Nitride, a coating less than 4 microns thick and much lighter than gold and platinum but much, much harder - more than 5 ½ times harder than steel, in fact. Nearly indestructible, the watch is practically immune to scratches, shocks, oxidation and even acids, they claim. Theirs is the first timepiece ever to use the coating.

Shown here in rose gold, the limited edition watch will run you about $70,000. The slanting sides of Urwerk's signature "orbiting hour satellites" allow you to see what time it is without turning your wrist. The company, which launched in 1997, has been doing revolutionary things to timepieces, yet their inspiration goes back several centuries. The name is an homage to Ur, an ancient city in southern Mesopotamia, one of the earliest known civilizations in the history of the world. Take a look at some of their other designs below.

Take the Urwerk 103 and the Opus V and mix them up with a little Felix Baumgartner magic and you have the latest from Urwerk, the 201 Hammerhead. This amazing watch features the classic Urwerk hour satellites but adds in telescoping minute hands that adjust their length as they follow the minutes and then retract. The watch has a five-day power reserve indicator and a day/night indicator. On the back of the watch there is an oil change indicator and the world's first horological odometer which keeps track of the total time of use for over a 100 years. I haven't heard any news on official prize but Gizmodo UK is saying it is around $50,000. True Urwerk junkies will appreciate this slow motion deluxe video tour and the pics here.

[via Acquire Mag]

If you thought the Urwerk 103 was sexy in rose gold or platinum, check out the 103 Blackbird, a black-coated, platinum timepiece which is being made in a  limited edition of only 10 pieces. The supersleek Blackbird has a coating of PE-CVD otherwise known as Plasma Enhanced-Chemical Vapor Deposition which is scratch resistant. The SuperLuminova markers are yellow by day and glow in blue by night.  It has a  Calibre 3.03 manual-winding movement with a 43-hour power reserve.

[via Europastar]