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New Race to Space Editions with unique rocket material inside

Zurich. Swiss watch company Werenbach produces wristwatches made from the upcycled material of flown space rockets. With the recent resurgence of space travel in the media, the start-up company has dedicated a new collection to commemorate both the past and present named the “Race to Space Editions”. In these special models, very scarce materials from two rockets over the course of a year were methodically collected and incorporated into these watches to create the new editions, which are now available online while the limited numbers last.

From Earth to the moon to Mars and beyond

It was April 12, 1961, when the world was astonished to learn that Russian Yury Gagarin had flown into space and back again – the first human to leave our planet. Russia demonstrated its technological superiority at this point, stunning the world and forcing the Americans to accelerate their space program. Today, close to 60 years later, those same two nations sit side by side in joint missions to the International Space Station. Recently, space travel has once again made headlines that captivate the imagination of the world – and awaken memories of a science-fiction movie from before venturing into space was even possible. Donald Trump plans to build a “Space Force”, Elon Musk makes the BFR (Big F’ing Rocket) fly to Mars, and China plans to build a moon station. The new race for space supremacy has well and truly begun.

Race to Space special editions

Werenbach has spent the last year developing the “RACE TO SPACE” special models, waiting for the right materials to make it possible. The watches belong to the MACH33 family – the latest in Werenbach’s watch collection. All models contain not just material from the respective space rocket, which has reached a height of 85 kilometres on their flight into space, but symbolic sections of the rocket that make these editions so unique: they are cut from the flag prints on the rocket faring as well as from the very tip of the rocket itself. This is because these modern models are dedicated to three historic space flight nations from the original race to space: Germany (RTS5 GER), Russia (RTS1 RUS) and the USA (RTS2 USA). The watch straps, also made new for the collection, are each made in the respective national colours of the three countries. The models are manufactured in limited quantities due to the very limited resources used for the editions

The view of the astronauts in real time

Each of the watches in the MACH33 collection have a special feature: an integrated microchip that allows you to be connected to the live stream of Earth from the International Space Station, thanks to your smartphone. With these real-time video feeds, the watch-wearers can share a view that previously was only available to the astronauts aboard the ISS, but now can be accessed thanks to the watch on your wrist.

About Werenbach

Werenbach is a Swiss start-up company that was founded in 2012 from the wild idea of building a watch made from the material of a space rocket. From this idea, three completely unique watch collections (as well as a novel “Werenbachs Uhr, Bilgerverlag, Zürich”) were born. Werenbach has gained international attention thanks to two hugely successful crowdfunding projects funded by fans on Kickstarter, but founder Patrick Hohmann has always had another mission in mind: with his watches, he does not just want to sell timepieces, he wants to share a vision. The same vision as that of the astronauts of the ISS:

Every astronaut looking at Earth from space sees its beauty and realizes how small it is compared to the universe. They recognize that there are no limits when it comes to space, only those we place on ourselves on Earth” explains Hohmann. “This realization can change the way you think; change the way you see your world and how you act upon it. This is what we have come to call “Spaceborn” – our ideology born in space. It lives in the material of our watches and we hope, in the minds of those that wear them”.

Contact

Patrick Hohmann (CEO)
WERENBACH AG, Stauffacherstrasse 178, 8004 Zurich
patrick.hohmann@werenbach.ch