Urwerk launches Atomic Master Clock – a master clock and wristwatch combo
WHAT: URWERK AMC
HOW MUCH: AROUND HK$23.4 MILLION
WHY: The latest timekeeping creation from Urwerk looks like it was plucked out of a sci-fi film. The AMC, short for “Atomic Master Clock”, to be released later this year, is a master clock and slave wristwatch combo that will keep your watch in tip-top timekeeping condition – without you having to lift a finger.
It works by placing the slave wristwatch (which features Urwerk’s signature Oil Change Indicator) inside the AMC, where it is wound, set and its rate regulated via a mechanical linkage.
An atomic clock’s timekeeping aspect is based on energy wavelengths emitted by certain atoms as they travel between energy states. Urwerk’s atomic master clock, created in collaboration with TimeStandard, uses ions of YIG (yttrium iron garnet) and rubidium, and has been manipulated to be used at any voltage. The outcome is a timekeeping clock accurate to within one second in 317 years.
The idea for a “master clock” dates back to 1793 when Abraham Louis Breguet devised an idea for a “sympathique clock” that kept designed watches in time by correcting them to an accurate standard time.
Urwerk’s project, conceived in 2009, took most of the following decade to realise, and is touted as the brand’s “latest and most ambitious project so far”.
The AMC, which measures 45cm x 30cm x 18cm, weighs around 35kg and boasts a case made of aluminium. The slave watch, designed to fit the AMC, is included.
Four AMCs will be created, but only three will be sold – one will be kept at Urwerk’s atelier for exhibition.
Want more stories like this? Sign up here. Follow STYLE on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter
The wristwatch can be put inside the AMC, where it is wound, set and its rate regulated via a mechanical linkage