Timothée Chalamet’s Latest Role: Minority Partner in Heritage Watch Brand

By JCK News Desk | April 23, 2026

Urban Jürgensen, the Danish watchmaking house founded in 1773, has announced that actor Timothée Chalamet (pictured) is acquiring a minority stake in the company.

Chalamet will also serve as a creative adviser on select projects and initiatives for Urban Jürgensen. This investment represents the actor’s first equity partnership with any brand.

Founded in Copenhagen, Urban Jürgensen is known for combining Danish design principles with Swiss engineering. The company—which has historically served as watchmaker to the Danish royal court and clockmaker to the Danish navy—was relaunched last year under the stewardship of the Rosenfield family, who led a group that purchased Urban Jürgensen in 2021.

“When we first met, we were struck by Timothée’s curiosity and interest in independent watchmaking,” said Urban Jürgensen CEO Alex Rosenfield in a statement. Rosenfield emphasized that the collaboration is grounded in alignment around process and standards rather than promotion, noting that the brand’s philosophy centers on practicing craftsmanship and preserving artisanal knowledge.

In the company’s announcement, Chalamet explained his attraction to the watch business. “A couple of years ago, a film director I admire deeply piqued my interest in artisanal watchmaking—not the flashy kind, but the kind that demands years of discipline, patience, and ultimately, mastery,” the three-time Oscar nominee said. “I started to see it as a sibling to filmmaking—a precise expression, just on a different scale. One lives on an IMAX screen, the other within 48 by 40 by 10 millimeters, but both have the ability to hold entire worlds within them.”

Chalamet characterized his involvement with Urban Jürgensen as a creative collaboration rather than a conventional endorsement, and he expressed interest in continuing to explore the world of artisanal horology alongside the Rosenfield family.

According to Urban Jürgensen, its relationship with Chalamet developed organically, beginning with his personal interest in watches, which he collects. Over time, discussions evolved around a shared interest in traditional craftsmanship and a measured approach to growth.

Urban Jürgensen focuses on handmade, low-volume watchmaking, working with leading figures such as Kari Voutilainen, who designed the first three watches of the current era and serves as a board member and senior strategic adviser.

In 2025, Urban Jürgensen won the Men’s Watch Prize at the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie in Geneva, where it was nominated in three categories. Besides Chalamet, a small group of strategic external investors hold limited stakes in the company, it said.

(Photo courtesy of Urban Jürgensen)

The JCK News Desk uses AI to help research and produce the first draft of articles. This story was then edited by staff writer Libby Rutkey.