Urwerk’s EMC concept, introduced in 2013, has won watchmaking’s most prestigious awards, but how well do you know the EMC TimeHunter? Can you describe its inner workings or the play of wheels and pinions that ensure its chronometric performance? To give you an idea, URWERK presents the TimeHunter X-Ray, a limited edition of 15 watches that delivers a conceptual and stylistic knockout.
Urwerks EMC TimeHunter X-Ray Watch
The TimeHunter X-Ray comes across as a timepiece that is easy to read with a central dial for black hours and minutes hands coated with white SuperLuminova for enhanced contrast. A rotating disc showing the seconds at 1 o’clock is balanced at 7 o’clock by a power-reserve indicator. The EMC TimeHunter’s performance indicator showing its rate (± 15 seconds a day) and balance amplitude on demand are at 10 o’clock. On the back of the watch the movement can be seen through the sapphire crystal. Also on the back is the rate-adjustment screw, one of the nerve centres of this watch.
Urwerks EMC TimeHunter X-Ray Watch
For Martin Frei, co-founder and artistic director of URWERK “the back of the watch reveals two opposing worlds sharing the same case: electronic circuits and the finest mechanical movement. They invite you to find out more — specifically how this unusual timepiece works. The same goes for the face of the watch, for the TimeHunter X-Ray as its name says it, hides nothing. The mechanism, wheel-train, electronic circuits, indeed all the secret operations of the watch are displayed for its owner.”
The EMC TimeHunter concepts has three aims: to show the effect on the balance of external influences such as the temperature, pressure and the owner’s activity; to allow the owner to adjust the rate of the balance and to encourage the owner to interact with his watch.
Urwerks EMC TimeHunter X-Ray Watch
The EMC TimeHunter can be described as a precise mechanical watch with a proprietary movement designed, developed and manufactured in URWERK’s Zurich workshops and adjusted by URWERK in Geneva. Its movement complies with the highest quality standards. Its timekeeping functions are adjusted in five positions during a 30-day test to reach chronometer standards.
The TimeHunter X-Ray confirms the advent of the mechanical watch enhanced by electronic functions that provide a diagnosis of its timekeeping performance. Such a watch gives its owner the active role of getting the best performance from his timepiece.
