All products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors. However, we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through these links.
This article was taken from the December 2012 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by <span class="s1">subscribing online.
Welcome to Wired's roundup of the hottest products for the coming year -- from hi-tech toys to thousand-year stopwatches.
Here, Wired takes you through a selection of stopwatches, timepieces and tourbillons.
Ultimate time machine
Urwerk UR-1001 (above)
This example of Urwerk's "Zeit Device" pocket watch is a unique piece made to commemorate the tenth anniversary of Bond Street retailer Marcus. Made of platinum, its sleek black looks come courtesy of an aluminium titanium nitride coating. Typically for the high-tech Swiss watchmaker, the UR-1001 houses a constellation of indications that include Urwerk's trademark three-pronged "hour satellites", a hand that tracks the minutes alongside each hour.
You can also set the rear display to show periods of up to 1,000 years -- assuming someone is there to keep it wound up. £559,000
Motorsport stopwatch
Casio Edifice EQW-A1110DB
Casio's upmarket steel-cased and analogue-display Edifice watches are inspired by the world of motor sports, and have the technology to match.
This new multifunction chronograph features the Japanese brand's pioneering "Smart Access" system, which simplifies the operation of multiple functions with an electronic crown switch and five-motor drive. £500
Mighty mechanism
TAG Heuer Mikrotourbillon S
In the Mikrotourbillon S, the secondary powertrain is regulated by a merry-go-round tourbillon mechanism that ticks at a speedy 50Hz -- over ten times the norm, allowing elapsed time to be recorded with an accuracy of 100th of a second. £175,000
Phone friendly
Meta Watch Strata
By connecting to your iPhone or Android device via Bluetooth 4.0, this digital watch can tell you if you have new notifications on your phone -- be it a text, a missed call, tweet or weather report -- at the touch of a button. £125
Space time
Omega Spacemaster Z-33
Launched at the 2012 Baselworld watch fair, this titanium pilot's timepiece is a reboot of Omega's cult, egg-shaped Flightmaster case of the late 60s, but spiked with serious tech.
The thermocompensated quartz movement provides an ultra-precise time readout via the analogue hands. A second time zone can be displayed on the red digital readout. £3,720
Changing faces
HD3 Slyde
The latest from high-concept Swiss collective HD3 is like nothing else: a touchscreen watch that displays time, date, chronograph and Moon phase in a choice of downloadable analogue-style graphics.
Its bi-axial navigation means you can scroll vertically to select the time, or horizontally to select a fully personalisable photo page displaying elapsed time or a countdown. £4,400
Time to glow
A Lange & Söhne Zeitwerk Luminous
Zeitwerk's mechanically driven, instant-switch digital time display was already considered unconventional. Then the Luminous came along - a futuristic design with a semitransparent dial that allows the phosphorescent coating of the numerals to "charge up" in UV-rich sunlight.
This allows the time to be read at night, but keeps the mechanism out of sight. £62,000
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
