In 1970, one of the most famed, feared, and phenomenal aircraft in history –
the SR-71 Blackbird – had a catastrophic incident.
The plane, number 61-7970, went down 20 miles east of El Paso, Texas, after a collision with the KC-135Q (59-1474) refueling tanker. The pilot and his RSO (Reconnaissance Systems Officer) ejected relatively safely, but obviously, the SR-71 was lost. Since then, pieces of the fuselage – a futuristic titanium alloy mixed with metals such as vanadium and iron – have appeared for sale on occasion. Now, they're a part of a watch, specifically the crank handle and screw-down bezel on
Urwerk's new
EMC SR-71.
The idea originated when two entrepreneurs,
Jason Sarkoyan and
Dr. Roman Sperl, showed up at the Urwerk Headquarters in December 2020. Sarkoyan is a watch collector and designer and was wearing the EMC Black. Dr. Sperl, on the other hand, is an aeronautical engineer and a specialist in the field of the
SR-71 Blackbird. They had founded a company called Dreamland, which, according to the press release, is a "lifestyle brand dedicated to developing products that not only cater to the needs of space exploration but also bring the thrill of America's aerospace achievements into everyday life."
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If you've followed Urwerk, you know their EMC –
Electro-Mechanical Control – which has been out since 2013. The core feature is an optical sensor (linked to a control board) that checks the balance wheel's 4 Hz beat rate against a 16,000,000 Hz electronic oscillator benchmark. An integrated circuit has a calculator capable of determining the differential, and with a press of a button at about 8 o'clock on the case, you can get the readout of the chronometric precision of the watch on the 10 o'clock subdial. There's also a power reserve, running seconds (with an SR-71 on the tip of the hand), and of course, the hours and minutes.
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In addition to the parts of the Blackbird, the case is made out of blacked-out titanium and steel and is rated to 30m. At 47.55mm wide, 49.57mm long, and 17.58mm thick, it's not a small watch. Inside is the in-house EMC manually-wound movement with 80 hours of power reserve. The watch will be limited to 10 pieces and has a price tag of 150,000 CHF.
Source:
Hodinkee
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