Worn & Wound
Urwerk’s Legendary EMC is Back in a Limited Edition Inspired by the SR-71 Blackbird
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 wit...
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