Ulysse Nardin: Still innovative and disruptive

ULYSSE Nardin was such an innovative and disruptive watchmaker that the image sticks after Kering acquired it in 2014. Fans continued to see it as a maverick and an independent brand, while the French luxury group pretty much left it alone. Eight years on, after a management buyout deal was closed in June this year, Ulysse Nardin retraces its steps back from autonomy to independence. The new watches rolled out by the free-again watchmaker are as cutting-edge and radical as ever, as these six new timepieces will vouch:  

Blast Tourbillon Rose Gold and Blast Tourbillon White

Blast ushers in a new collection that features a model that’s instantly identified by its triple-toothed round bezel and a double “X” which clamps the movements together, as well as a new self-deploying buckle. More striking are the strong and geometric horns of the watch. They remind one of the sharp wings of a sneaky stealth aircraft – the inspiration for the Blast – as it slices through a storm.

The “X”, which is the underlying theme for all Ulysse Nardin collections, is mounted on a 45 millimetre-wide dial with a rectangle sitting atop, astride a wide swathe of the middle. The dial’s open-worked architecture exposes an automatic tourbillon – the first in the brand’s skeleton collection – powered by a self-regulated movement which has a new tiny yet powerful platinum micro rotor, visible at 12 o’clock.

Blast took 18 months to conceive and create and comes in 4 colours — white, rose gold, black and blue. The first, forged in solid rose gold, has a black DLC middle case, solid gold horns, black ceramic bezel and a tourbillon cage in rose gold colour and black PVD. The White Blast is a palette of white ceramic, metallic grey, dark blue and transparency. Prominent across the top of the rectangular frame is the “Ulysse Nardin” logo in dark blue. The bezel is titanium.

Blast Moonstruck

An astronomical complications watch that first appeared nearly 40 years ago, the Blast Moonstruck is an updated take on the historical timepiece, which has been given an “ultra-design” makeover. As with the original, the latest watch, pumped by an automatic in-house movement, is capable of “reproducing as faithfully as possible the sun’s visible trajectory and the lunar cycles”, including the brightness and dimness that vary with the lunar calendar. At the same time, the easy-to-operate watch is a world-timer, offering seasoned travellers access to the 24 main time zones that we have been using since the Washington Convention of 1884.

All these are housed in the geometrical case of the Blast model — and displayed by the easier geocentric representation of the solar system, rather than the Copernican approach, in a 3-D construction, enhanced by a domed crystal, that makes reading the time as well as the celestial mechanics a piece of cake. A larger 45 mm case and hands coated with luminescent material also helps with legibility, without adding weight to the wrist; for the case is made of light but hardy black ceramic and black titanium. 

Apart from giving a poetic understanding of the universe that envelops us, in particular the ties between the sun and the moon, sailors, whom Ulysse Nardin has an intimate relationship with since its founding in 1846, will find the Blast Moonstruck very useful. At a glance of the watch, they can predict the dates of the spring tides from day to day. Science nerds and watch aficionados looking for the ultimate watch, of course, will get a real kick out of following the sun in real-time — thanks to a precise moon phase mechanism and a complication that allows it.

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The Blast Moonstruck is limited in production and comes in a box with an automatic winder that takes care of the winding of the watch and keeps its calendar information accurate, when the watch is not worn.

Blast Rainbow

The silicon hairspring, which is fast replacing the traditional hairspring in a mechanical watch movement, has vastly improved the performance of the modern watch. And the watch world has Ulysse Nardin to thank for it. The independent watch brand was the first to introduce silicium escapement components in watchmaking in 2001. Though there are differences between the 2, both silicium and silicon offer a fix to the issues that have long plagued the traditional hairspring, such as magnetism and changes in temperature. 

In a nod to one of its greatest innovations, Ulysse Nardin has adorned the bezels and indexes of the Blast Rainbow with the iridescent rainbow colours of silicium — sparkling purple, green, blue or pink gemstones. And, of course, the new model is fitted with a movement that incorporates silicium components.

The skeleton “X” of the Blast, an automatic tourbillon watch, is fashioned by a design of complex and geometric forms, with a micro-rotor in platinum at 12 o’clock — all framed in a 45mm black DLC titanium case sealed with a black ceramic polished and sandblasted upper case. Limited edition of 50 pieces.

Freak X Carbonium and Freak X Blue

The Freak was so innovative and disruptive when it was first rolled out in 2001 that, after more than 20 years, you would have thought it’s a spent force. Wrong. It has not only spun a new X series in the sub-S$100,000 category, flinging the club door wide open to more Freak members; the new entry-level Freak models also continue to push the boundaries of watchmaking.  

The Freak X Carbonium boasts both a new automatic movement and new material. And not just any new material. Carbonium is environmentally friendly, new, super-light and a sustainable material is used for the latest-generation airplanes’ fuselage and wings — “the most vital and essential components in today’s modern airplanes”, according to Ulysse Nardin. 

The high-performance material, audaciously disruptive and beyond the range of normal technology, is constructed from neXt-generation carbon composites — one of the most robust and resilient materials ever devised by science. And Freak X is the first to use it.

“The use of a material like Carbonium comes as a clear reminder that we dare make a difference,” the brand says.

Freak X is available also in titanium blue, titanium black and rose gold.