Every creation begins with a question...
For the EMC, ours was: can a mechanical watch truly understand itself?
In traditional chronometry, precision is pursued in controlled conditions - on a timing bench, under the hand of a watchmaker. But once a watch leaves the atelier, it enters an unpredictable world: temperature shifts, magnetic fields, wrist movement, and gravity. These elements alter a watch's rate in subtle ways that no timing machine can fully anticipate.
We wanted to give the watch and its wearer the ability to observe these changes directly. To measure, analyse, and if needed, fine-tune its own performance. That was the birth of the EMC: Electro-Mechanical Control.
This allows the wearer to see the precise timing rate on demand, and they can then use that information to accurately adjust the timing of their watch to suit their own personal rhythm.
Electro Mechanical Control (EMC) was the world's first precision mechanical watch in which the timing can be monitored and adjusted by the user to suit their lifestyle – EMC is fully interactive.
A NEW KIND OF MOVEMENT
At its core, the EMC is a mechanical watch, uncompromisingly so. The UR-EMC calibre is a fully manual movement conceived and built in-house by URWERK in our Zurich atelier and calibrated in our Geneva HQ. Meeting the most stringent quality control, with its chronometric performance tested in five positions during a 30-day cycle to ensure that it meets the highest standards for a precision watch.
Two mainspring barrels in series deliver an 80-hour power reserve, ensuring long, stable torque. The bridges and baseplate are made from ARCAP, a non-ferrous, corrosion-resistant alloy chosen for its thermal stability. The balance wheel, also in ARCAP, was developed for predictable behaviour across temperature variations. It beats at 4 Hz (28,800 vph), driving a traditional Swiss lever escapement.
But the movement was designed to coexist with another system - a silent observer that would monitor its performance without touching it.
Electro-Mechanical Control
The EMC’s electronic architecture was conceived as a measuring instrument, not a regulating one.
A tiny optical sensor, positioned above the balance, reads each oscillation by detecting its interruptions of a light beam.
When the wearer activates the test function, the watch compares those mechanical oscillations to an independent 16 MHz quartz reference oscillator, the same type used in high-precision laboratory instruments.
To monitor and evaluate the mechanical movement, an ”electronic brain” was then needed. Olivier Evalet, a software developer who is passionate about software and computer engineering, was instrumental in helping this bold project succeed:
"The idea was to use precision optics, i.e. light, to measure the precision of a mechanical movement. The accuracy we managed to achieve is better than 10 microseconds. And we have created a reliable system that is designed to work over the long term. The power for EMC's electronic "brain" derives not from a simple battery but a super capacitor that, even after 100,000 to 200,000 charge/discharge cycles, loses very little performance. We also chose a high-frequency oscillator with an extremely long life – its instability is only three parts per million over a full year."
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (THE COMPUTER)
This computer determines the difference between the timing rate of the movement and that of the reference oscillator. Each microsecond difference between the two values is expressed as a gain or loss of a second per day of the timing rate. A variation of just 0.0000014 of a second per half-vibration translates as a variation of a second per day.
- Rate deviation (Δ) – the variation in seconds per day between the mechanical beat and the quartz reference.
- Amplitude – the balance’s swing in degrees, revealing the health of its oscillation.
The results appear instantly on the dial: no internet, no wireless link, just pure data born within the watch.
The electronics are powered manually and operate only on demand. The EMC does not regulate itself; it observes. Its intelligence lies in measurement, not automation.
ENERGY ON DEMAND
We refused the idea of a battery. Instead, we built a self-contained electrical system, a manual-winding generator powered by the wearer via a fold-out crank handle, integrated into the case flank, that drives a miniature Maxon generator similar to those used in Mars rover instruments. Turning the crank for a few seconds charges a supercapacitor, which then provides enough energy to run the electronic module for a single reading.
This energy is clean, renewable, and independent. The act of generating it is part of the experience: a mechanical gesture that powers a moment of introspection.
READING AND ADJUSTING TIME
The dial presents five indicators, each with a purpose:
- Hours and Minutes – Subdial at 5 o’clock.
- Seconds – Small counter at 1 o’clock.
- Precision Indicator (Δ) – Display at 9 o’clock, showing seconds gained or lost per day.
- Amplitude - Reveals the energy of the balance.
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Power Reserve – Show at 7 o’clock.
By pressing the button on the case flank, the wearer triggers a full diagnostic. The results, displayed instantly, show how the movement behaves on the wrist, under real conditions.
If the rate is outside tolerance, the owner can turn the watch over and use the fine-adjustment screw on the caseback. This screw directly alters the active length of the balance spring, allowing exact corrections — a quarter-turn corresponds to a deviation change of roughly 5–10 seconds per day.
It is a physical dialogue between human and mechanism: a watchmaker’s act performed by the wearer.
DESIGN LOGIC
The EMC’s form follows its function rigorously.
The asymmetric case is not aesthetic bravado; it houses two isolated systems that must coexist without interference: mechanical and electronic. Titanium and steel were chosen for strength, stability, and lightness.
Martin Frei, designer and co-founder of URWERK, had the considerable task of bringing all of EMC’s technical elements together in a visually appealing and comfortably wearing wristwatch. "At URWERK, the starting point of our creations is usually a sketch of the completed watch that embodies mine and Felix’s ideas before the micro-mechanics are fully developed. But with EMC, the technical features of the timepiece were already established, and this made my task that little bit trickier. We miniaturised the EMC components to the extreme, and this allowed me some leeway in terms of design. My approach was one of pragmatism – from incorporating the folding crank into the caseband, to making the electrical energy storing capacitor part of the case. In terms of design, you can spot the influence of objects that are dear to me: the crank echoes that of old SLR cameras; and the design of the balance wheel is reminiscent of a vintage 1/4 inch tape reel.
Each aperture serves legibility and technical logic. The four main indications are arranged as an instrument panel, echoing Martin Frei’s design ethos: each function is spatially expressed. The typography, inspired by engineering dials and measurement scales, underlines the analytical nature of the watch.
The creation of the EMC took almost six years, co-founder of URWERK, Felix Baumgartner, explains, “It’s a natural continuation of my work as a watchmaker. Like all watchmakers, I have on my bench a Witschi – an instrument to test the precision of my work. This impartial and uncompromising judge ‘listens’ to the rhythm of the balance and makes a verdict on the performance of the movement by measuring the timing rate, the number of seconds the movement gains or loses in 24 hours. This device is what I always refer back to; you might say it’s my only boss in the atelier!”
URWERK embarked on an audacious quest to incorporate a Witschi-like measuring instrument into a mechanical watch. “EMC allows you to obtain a reliable and accurate piece of data on your timepiece at the touch of a button – information that until now has been the preserve of professional watchmakers,” says Baumgartner. “Using this information, you can fine-tune one of the most exciting, most jubilant mechanisms invented – the mechanical watch – all by yourself.”
At its heart, EMC has a triple objective: to show how external parameters (positional changes, temperature and pressure) influence the timing of the movement; to enable the wearer to adjust the timing; and to facilitate interactivity between the timepiece and its owner. 
THE LAUNCH
The first EMC launched in 2013 and had an industrial look with its steel and titanium case that came with satin and shot-blasted finishes. Followed by the EMC Black, absorbing light, reducing visual noise. It is an object stripped to intent, an engineer’s tool, made poetic. A triple award winner in 2014, taking the GPHG prize for Mechanical Exception and Innovation Watch. Plus the SIAR award for Best Concept.
VARIANTS AND EVOLUTION
The EMC began in raw metal, then evolved through several stages over 10 years with different interpretations:
- EMC Nature - Satin and shot-blasted titanium and steel, for a raw look.
- EMC Black – Black coated titanium and steel, emphasising stealth and clarity.
- EMC TimeHunter – A softer-edged, tactical form with a larger time display and ceramic coating.
- EMC Pistol – Hand-engraved, a collaboration with master engraver Florian Güllert.
- EMC X-Ray – skeletonised, exposing the dual systems in full view.
- EMC SR-71 Final Edition – The closing chapter, inspired by the reconnaissance aircraft SR-71 Blackbird. Finished the metal alloy taken from the SR-71 aircraft.
Each variation shared the same foundation: a mechanical movement guided by empirical data.
LASTING LEGACY
The EMC redefined the relationship between the watchmaker, the watch, and its owner.
It brought transparency to chronometry, revealing how environment and wear affect precision in real time. It offered not convenience, but understanding.
The EMC did not seek perfection — it sought awareness. In that pursuit, it created something rare: a mechanical watch capable of self-measurement, inviting its wearer to participate in the craft of regulation.
For us at URWERK, the EMC remains a symbol of our philosophy: that progress in watchmaking is not about automation, but about giving knowledge back to the owner.
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Calibre UR-EMC
Manual winding, twin barrels, 4 Hz (28,800 vph), ARCAP balance and bridges, 80 h power reserve, optical sensor, 16 MHz reference oscillator, Maxon crank generator with supercapacitor, fine-tuning screw on caseback.
Functions
Hours, minutes, seconds, rate deviation (Δ seconds/day), amplitude, power reserve.
Titanium and steel, 43 × 51 × 15.8 mm, sapphire crystal, water-resistant to 30 m.
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
The EMC stands apart in the URWERK lineage, a watch that dared to abandon the brand’s signature satellite display. Even having for the first time traditional watchhands, but still on a very unconventional dial. Beneath those hands beats one of the most radical ideas ever fitted into a wristwatch. A mechanical creation that measures, analyses, and refines itself not through automation, but through interaction.
Controversial when it debuted, celebrated when it won multiple awards, including the GPHG for Mechanical Exception, the EMC rewrote what a precision watch could be. Today, this pioneering model has been fully discontinued, its production chapters closed. But its spirit-the dialogue between human and machine-continues to define URWERK’s philosophy.
For those who seek the rare and the revolutionary, owning an EMC is to hold a moment in URWERK’s evolution, the moment when a mechanical watch first learned to know itself.
If you are interested in acquiring one of these legends, contact UR-LEGENDS for availability: info@ur-legends.shop
