Switzerland-based brand, Azimuth is known for creating unusual concept watches. This time taking inspiration from the endless roads of the U.S. highway systems and motorcycles, the watchmaker has created another wonder called as the Azimuth SP-1 Crazy Rider watch. A wrist watch with a chain drive.
On the visual front the watch looks like an asymmetrical instrument cluster of a bike. The hour and minute markings are positioned and styled like the speedo and tacho readings of a bike. The inner fringe of numbers in yellow represent the hour and the crescent placed on the right shows the minutes. Chain-sprocket like gears are placed on either side which drive the chain in the clock-wise direction. The minute hand is placed on the sprocket placed on the right; it timely rotates in the standard way while the small hour indicator is placed on the chain and moves along the circumference of the chain to depict the corresponding hour.
It appears that the drive chain is carrying both the hands, but it is not. The hour hand is fixed on to the chain but the minute hand is pinned on the centre of the sprocket, allowing it to move faster than the other hand. The construction is smartly done for a unique visual effect.
The bike-chain drive like mechanism is housed under a glass that is fixed on a metal frame. The bezel is fitted on the main open caseback with exposed screws. The open caseback features the working mechanism modified by Azimuth for the SP-1 Crazy Rider. Interestingly the mechanism bared through the caseback is designed to look like an engine block of a motorcycle.
The Azimuth SP-1 Crazy Rider sports a leather strap with bright coloured stitching. The case element of the watch will be available in black PVD or brown PVD. The watch provides water resistance upto 30 meters, so it definitely is a rider’s watch and not a diver’s watch. The watch-maker has made an initial batch of 100 units of the Azimuth SP-1 Crazy Rider. The watch will roll out in fall with a pricetag of $5,200 (around INR 3.5lacs). For that much price you can buy a Yamaha YZF-R3 or Two Honda CBR250Rs or almost three units of Bajaj Pulsar RS200!