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Ahead of Geneva Watch Days next week, Urwerk has unveiled what will surely be in the running for “Watch of the Year” talk when 2024 comes to a close. The EMC SR-71 is a new variation of one of the independent brand’s most discussed and honored timepieces. The original EMC, introduced ten years ago, is a former winner of the GPHG prizes in both the “Mechanical Exception” and “Innovation” categories. Even within the strange world of Urwerk, the EMC is an oddity, so it’s always exciting to see them return to this platform with a new variant.
EMC stands for Electronic Mechanical Control, a term that seems to contradict itself but actually does a fantastic job of describing exactly what this watch does. What you need to know about how this watch operates is that the traditional time telling functions (hours, minutes, seconds, and power reserve) all operate mechanically. But integrated into the movement is an optical sensor linked to the balance that, on demand, can record the rate at which it is oscillating. Using light and an integrated circuit, the movement will tell you the delta between the timing rate of the mechanical movement and a reference oscillator (a 16,000,000 Hz mega-quartz oscillator in this case). Pressing a button on the side of the case activates a meter at roughly 10:00, telling you how fast or slow your watch is running. What’s more, the watch is equipped with a timing adjustment screw on the caseback that can be accessed by the owner without disassembling the watch for extremely fine adjustments to timekeeping by slightly altering the active length of the balance spring. Pretty slick.
A watch that can tell you how accurate it is at the push of a button is a pretty cool advancement in watchmaking, but the EMC can’t be discussed without talking about the crank on the right case flank, a feature for which this watch will alway be remembered. The optical sensor and integrated circuit (essentially a small computer) both need power to operate, and solution dreamed up by Urwerk (and their partners at Maxon, a Swiss firm best known for developing electromotors for Mars rovers) is a micro-generator that is wound manually via the large crank. Again, a pretty great party trick.
So, the EMC is truly on an island all by itself when it comes to the watchmaking and technical innovation behind it, not to mention the sheer creativity, which is born out of a deep respect for traditional watchmaking and reimagining the principles of the craft in a modern context. This version of the EMC further sets itself apart by taking design cues from an aircraft that’s similarly unlike any other, the famed SR-71. The SR-71 “Blackbird” is a long range, high altitude spy plane that is one of the fastest vehicles ever made, and could operate at Mach 3.2 and 85,000 feet. It flew for just over 30 years before finally being retired in 1999, which was plenty of time to build up its lore among aviation enthusiasts.
The genesis of this project comes from a partnership with two friends of the brand, Jason Sarkoyan and Dr. Roman Sperl. Sarkoyan is a collector and owner of an EMC, and Sperl is an aeronautical engineer with an expertise in the SR-71. They had come into possession of pieces of an SR-71 fuselage, which were made of titanium and an alloy whose properties were never made public. That material has been melted down and is what the crank on these watches is crafted from.
Obviously, given the rarity of the material, the EMC SR-71 is a very limited run of just ten pieces. The retail price is listed at CHF 150,000. Urwerk
