Urban Bruun Jürgensen, was a Danish watchmaker born on 5 August 1776 in Copenhagen to royal watchmaker Jørgen Jørgensen and Anne Leth Bruun. He attended school at Efterslægtens while at the same time was a watchmaker's apprentice in his father's workshop. At the age of 20, he embarked on a five-year tour around the world, out of which he spent year a half years in Neuchâtel with financial assistance from Fonden Ad Usus Publicos and Det Reiersenske Fond. He then shuffled between Paris and London, until he returned to Paris while honing his skills as a watchmaker.

In 1801, Jürgensen returned to Copenhagen where he was on the verge of collaborating with Etienne Magnin, a French watchmaker, who was then sent to Denmark to build the next generation of chronometers for the shipping industry. The partnership plans were put on hold when Magnin went to Saint Petersburg, while Jürgensen decided to return to his father's business. 

In 1804, he was given a silver medal by the Academy of Sciences for a paper on “mainsprings” that was published in one of his journals. The same year he published Regler for Tidens nøjagtige Afmaaling ved Uhre which was then translated into French and republished a year later followed by a German translation. 

In 1807, he left Copenhagen for Neuchâtel, where he resided for two and a half years only to return to Denmark with a considerable collection of equipment and instruments — the country's largest of its kind while being accompanied by a group of Swiss watchmakers who had replaced his inexperienced Danish employees. 

In 1811 post the demise of his father, Jürgensen continued the workshop on his own. In 1815, He was elected to the Academy of Sciences which was a rare honour for any craftsman at the time. During his twenty-year tenure as a watchmaker, Jürgensen only made fifty chronometers.