If you’re up on your hypercar releases, the word ‘hybrid’ is pretty common these days. Pretty much every insane, adrenaline-fuelled monster on four wheels uses a hybrid drivetrain and the reason why – and the very concept of a hybrid – is pretty appealing. Petrol engines have power but take a while to ramp up; electric engines offer less horsepower but much greater torque and therefore acceleration. Put the two together and you have a recipe for breathless performance.
It’s a concept you can also apply to the watch world to a lesser extent. Mecha-quartz movements are essentially a battery-powered quartz movement with a mechanical chronograph on top. Kinetic movements swap battery for a mechanical rotor while retaining the accuracy of quartz. Even Grand Seiko’s phenomenal Spring Drive movement is a collaboration between the high-tech and the traditional. No brand however has taken the idea quite as literally as Technik 4X.
Technik 4X TwinTimer-GRILLE
To understand what Technik 4X is, you first need a glimpse into the man behind the brand, one Hans Peter Grädel. Grädel is a modern renaissance man, there’s barely an area of watches that the man’s 60-year career hasn’t touched. His most noteworthy accomplishment is the patented case suspension introduced in the racy Formex 4 Speed, something that’s now a core part of the brand’s collection. It was only a matter of time before the man lent his disruptive talents to a new project.
That project came in the form of the ultimate two-in-one, the TwinTimer. Inside one case you not only have two dials – making it an incredibly clear and legible dual-time watch – but two movements. Two different movements, at that.
Technik 4X TwinTimer-GRILLE Limited Edition
What sets the TwinTimer apart from other hybrid technology watches however isn’t that it has quartz and mechanical elements, but that it has two whole movements. Rather than being chronometrically linked, the watch has two distinct engines powering two distinct dials. This means that while the movement isn’t technically a hybrid – there’s no sharing of chronometric traits – the watch as a whole is the hybrid.
On the right side of the watch, you have an automatic movement, a Swiss Sellita SW100. It’s rotor-powered, workhorse accurate and one of the most reliable calibres on the market. On the left-hand side, you have a quartz number from the guys at ETA, specifically the 901.00. If a watch were analogous to the human brain, you have the creative right-brain and the romance of fine mechanics, and the logical left-brain with the electronic precision of quartz.
The TwinTimer’s a novel twist on the idea of combining quartz and mechanical movements and being able to track multiple timezones is always a good thing, especially when it’s as clear as this. Because the movements are separate, they’re also independently operable via the TwinTimer’s two crowns. Fun as that hypercar-inspired idea is though, the biggest and most obvious link between Technik 4X and high-speed horsepower is in their design ethos.
The TwinTimer-GRILLE more than lives up to its name with a striking grille-plate from a car radiator surrounding the two central dials which themselves look like they’ve been ripped straight off a dashboard. Whether it’s the high-contrast, eye-catching red version or the slightly subtler monochrome rhodium and steel edition, it doesn’t take more than a glance to understand the automotive leanings underpinning Technik 4X.
I say slightly subtler because no matter what, there’s no missing these watches, partly for the design but mostly because they are big. In a world of steadily diminishing diameters, the TwinTimer-GRILLE has gone the other way entirely, measuring in at 44.50mm across. It makes sense; that’s what you need to fit in two movements. And between the architectural depth backed by that grille, the dramatically machined case and the bold colours, it has serious wrist presence.
Technik 4X Skeletor Pro (ASD-44), CHF 549 (approx. £494)
The TwinTimer-GRILLE isn’t the only watch in Technik 4X’s collection. The ASD-44 model has had plenty of variations in the past, with everything from beautifully realised atlases and cool, lumed horizontal lines in place of that radiator finishing. But the GRILLE edition is the best encapsulation of what sets Technik 4X’s approach to watchmaking apart. It’s big, it’s bold and it’s uncompromising in its pursuit of a hypercar concept.
That all said, Hans Peter Grädel isn’t the kind of designer to rest on his laurels, and it’ll be intriguing to see where he takes the TwinTimer in the future.
Price and Specs:
11 years (132 months) (Quartz)
More details at Technik 4X.
I re-read Sam’s review to see where he was supposedly “disrespectful to his audience” but couldn’t see this anywhere, must have been a case of subliminal influence, but anyway, to the watch.
Anyone that reads my (numerous) comments will know that this isn’t a watch about to be added to my collection, too big, too bold, but strangely, the dial colour on black bezel, with tan strap, is very appealing. The radiator grille feature would benefit from being a little smaller though. (As should the watch), I was under the impression that 39mm was the new target size.
I’m not a watch specialist, I just know what appeals to me, so, maybe, or maybe not, the use of differing movement types has been done before (as suggested by the previous comment poster), but twin independent movements, allowing different time zones (with two crowns has been done before), maybe by numerous brands, but my own knowledge of this is my Frederique Constant, twin time zone watch (this uses two separate quartz movements and two batteries), but is a definite dress watch which is only approx 35mm diameter (I guess due to having quartz movements). This dates back to 2008, so not an entirely new concept, but great for a traveller, and, a beautiful watch, (as are most FC watches). I’m not pushing FC watches, just using mine as an example of the twin time zone concept.
Wait? TWO Movements? In ONE case? But certainly this must be horometrically-linked, right? But NO! They were so creative as to add two crowns? How did this even happen? Who would think of such a bold move?
Are you okay, Sam? This has the least interesting internals possible. And has been done before. Which you know, but you’re gambling your audience don’t. And treating your audience with disrespect is a bad strategy. The watch looks nice and you could have focused on that.