June 27, 2019

FREAK OR UNIQUE?

by AHMED SEDDIQI & SONS

As Ulysse Nardin opens a new boutique in Dubai Mall, Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons considers the merits of one of the most unconventional of Swiss watch companies

If these days we take for granted that Swiss watchmakers are arch-innovators, much of the credit for that reputation belongs to Ulysse Nardin. The Swiss watch company has previous here, stretching from the 19th century and into today.

Over the past 20 years in particular, Ulysse Nardin has proved itself a master of invention, paving the way for others. It was one of the pioneers of silicon technology in watchmaking 20 years ago; it was one of the earliest adopters of GMT watches with push pieces to adjust watches forwards and backwards; and its incomparable Freak, a watch with no crown, dial or hands, is one of the defining watches of this century.

The company was founded in 1846 and became one of the chief providers of marine chronometers (accurate ship’s clocks used in navigation) to the world’s navies. In the years since, it’s won thousands of awards, medals and prizes for accuracy and innovation, including many for its more recent complications.

Today’s line-up is still heavily influenced by those maritime and military design codes. And it’s worth noting that Ulysse Nardin is one of only a handful of Swiss watchmakers offering a five-year warranty on its watches. Peace of mind and a sign of the company’s confidence in its engineering.

Here are five watches from the current collection that put more meat on the bone of the Ulysse Nardin story. All are available from the new Ulysse Nardin boutique in the Dubai Mall.

Marine Mega Yacht

Ulysse Nardin is more at home on the high seas than on dry land and continues to produce high-functioning, exquisitely finished marine inspired watches. Among the high-end complications on this platinum-cased piece are a flying tourbillon, a three-dimensional moon phase indicator, a tide indicator and a novel power reserve indicator that shows time remaining via a descending anchorlinked to a windlass at 12 o’clock. Only 30 pieces are slated for production.

Freak Vision

The truth of the Freak Vision is that to fully understand it how it works, you would do well to source a high-level watchmaking qualification. This is concept watch technology in a production watch. The basics are common to the Freak family – the watch has no dial; no hands, instead using the rotating movement bridges to display the time; and no crown. No wonder they called it the Freak. To give one example of the technology on display here, this model features delicate ‘self-regulating silicon micro-paddles’, which use air resistance to make the watch more precise.

Executive Skeleton

Back in marginally more comprehensible territory we find the Executive Skeleton, a piece that exploits Ulysse Nardin’s advances in silicon, using the watchmaking wonder material (it’s resistant to magnetism and changes in temperature, and is frictionless without lubrication) in its spindly balance wheel (at 6 o’clock) and gear train. The watch’s case and blue rectangular bridge hint at the watch’s daywear intentions, but the centrepiece is its helter-skelter movement cascading across the dial. The result is mesmerising.

Ulysse Nardin’s collection is not limited to esoteric pieces that pitch the brand into the lofty echelons of fine watchmaking. It also makes robust, utilitarian pieces such as this hardy diver’s watch on a Milanese mesh bracelet, part of a new collection. Its features are as you’d expect of a submersible timepiece – the 42mm stainless steel case is water-resistant to 300 metres – but what separates it is its sandblasted blue dial and vintage-hued luminescent details.

Marine chronometers in the style Ulysse Nardin once made them have long-since been replaced by electronic technology, but the aesthetic continues to appeal, hence the Marine Torpilleur. The design is lifted straight from the dial of a vintage chronometer pocket watch, with the small seconds given its own oversized counter at 6 o’clock. There are a number of iterations in the line. This one has a 44mm black PVD-coated case and a case back engraved with a ‘torpilleur’ military boat, and is limited to 300 pieces.