Nietzsche had quite a lot to say about memory. Generally speaking, he believed that forgetting was a necessity, that you had to be able to forget things in order to free yourself from the past. Urwerk doesn’t agree. In 2014, the watchmaking atelier sparked a minor revolution that still resonates today. Enter the EMC, or Electronic Mechanical Control. The concept is pretty straightforward: allow users to monitor how fast/slow their Urwerk is running and, if necessary, make adjustments themselves – tasks traditionally reserved for watchmakers.
One watch, two movements
In order for this to occur, the EMC is fitted with two movements. The first is purely mechanical, and displays hours, minutes, seconds and power reserve in the usual fashion. The second is more like a quartz movement, oscillating at an astounding 16 million Hertz. This is the reference movement. It doesn’t tell the time, but because of its astonishing rate it can measure intervals of 10 microseconds. An optical sensor compares this ultra-precise timing to the mechanical movement’s conventional 4 Hz frequency. The resulting discrepancy – anything from -20 to +20 seconds – appears on a counter at 10 o’clock. A small screw on the watch’s back makes it possible to adjust the mechanical movement, closing the gap and bringing the discrepancy as close to zero as possible.
To mark the 10th anniversary of this ingenious invention, Urwerk is releasing 10 pieces in new livery: the SR-71. While this aeronautical reference might not ring immediate bells for everyone, its nickname – Blackbird – surely will. This American stealth aircraft, capable of a cruising speed of Mach 3, remained in service until the 1990. Components from the surviving aircraft are classified and their military secrets are closely guarded by the US Army as well as, Uwerk assures us, “the CIA”.
Stealth in design
The EMC SR-71 features a lever on the right-hand side (a dynamo for charging the EMC module) crafted from a genuine piece of the SR-71’s fuselage. This rare alloy came to Urwerk via two enthusiasts who owned the raw material, and who also happened to possess their own EMC watches. The idea of combining the two was first tabled in 2020 and took three years to realise. This was how long it took to design the new component incorporating the melted-down fuselage, as well as to produce a new batch of EMC movements, which had been sold out for years. Previously, only two limited series of 50 pieces each were produced, and all 100 were quickly snapped up by collectors.
This latest EMC iteration boasts a 47 x 49 mm black titanium and steel case, paired with a khaki NATO-style strap. Its hand-wound double-barrelled movement supplies 80 hours of power reserve. Priced at CHF 150,000 (excluding tax), this Blackbird is quite a bargain compared to the $280 million you’d need to find for the airborne version!
