Ulysse Nardin: the seed bears fruitBasel 2008 impressionsby Marcus Hanke It was a good decision to present the fascinating concept watch “InnoVision” far from the frantic watch fairs, in August 2007. Otherwise, its real importance might have been lost among all the various novelties shown there. The InnoVision was - and is - a concept watch in purest sense; a technology demonstrator, integrated into the proven testbed of the “Freak”. Combining the advantages of the radical...

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Ulysse Nardin InnoVision 10 technological innovations united in one watch perfectly sum up Ulysse Nardin’s vision on the future of mechanical watchmaking. Pioneering. Ulysse Nardin has presented quite a number of “World’s Firsts“ in the past years, and many of them have used the „Freak“ as a showcase. The “Freak“ was the first watch with a silicium escapement. It was commercialized in 2001. Some Freak prototypes housed the first hairspring m...

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Tweaked by the Freak: Techno-Innovation Revisited by Meehna Goldsmith © April 2008  In the intervening centuries since Abraham-Louis Breguet invented the tourbillon and developed the overcoil bearing his name, not much had progressed in horologic technical achievement.  Watchmakers continued to display their skills by hand constructing complications and mastering polishing techniques.  At Basel in 2001, Ulysse Nardin boldly dared to question this tradition.  Their introdu...

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Welcome to the ground floor of the UN facility. Now, I have been writting quite a bit about IWC. But in reality, I am very much at heart, a part of UN..in spirit. Ulysse Nardin is more than a factory, I avoid that word..it is a "facility". It sounds much better doesn't it? But seriously, it is a facility in many ways. There is actual research, carried out at many levels, from Ludwig's private quarters, as an independant man not on the UN staff, but he works continously on mathematics, schematics, and pasta....

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Living perpetually Sonata-style A peek review of thelimited edition 42mm GMT Perpetual in platinum by Marcus Hanke   Maybe you know the situation: you are an avid fan of a certain style, a certain design. And then comes the same product in new clothes, in a radically changed design. The natural reaction is opposition. Online communities are full of fierce battles for and against BMW’s new 7 class, for and against the remake of classic movies, and - sometimes - for and against th...

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  Let it shine, shine, shine! How watches can be read in the dark by Marcus Hanke   Ever since people had the technological know-how to measure time, there were some of the chronically sleepless type, who wanted to know what time it is, even when it was too dark to see the dials and hands. In the medieval cities, the nightshift guards sang out the hour, and in the more noble households, technically more refined innovations were introduced: clocks with a moving strip of paper, o...

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  PuristSPro Interviews Patrik Hoffmann by Dr. Marcus Hanke & Anthony Tsai   © December 2007 Patrik was born and raised in Basel, Switzerland and has been working in the watch business all his life - for about 25 years now. Having a degree in controlling from Switzerland, he worked for Oris as an accountant before he took a sabbatical and studied marketing and management in Michigan USA.  He then worked again for Oris for a couple of years before moving ...

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PuristSPro held an Ulysse Nardin event on Friday December 7, 2007 at The Peninsula Beverly Hills. 3 Ulysse Nardin execs were in attendance:Patrik Hoffman - US President of Ulysse NardinAhmad Shahriar - West Coast Regional Sales ManagerStefan Huber - Managing Director of Russia For the full report including tons of pictures and a couple video clips, please CLICK HERE  to get magically transported over to the report in our Ulysse Nardin forum! The main topics of the night were the UN Freak,...

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A Freak-ish tango of versions by Marcus Hanke   Freak 1, Freak 2, Freak 1.5, Freak 2 again ... are we speaking about software releases, Tango dancing steps, or what? No, of course not. We are speaking about an episode in the technical history of wristwatches, about Ulysse Nardin’s “Freak”.   Already when the original Freak was released in 2001, it was clear to any observer of the business that Ulysse Nardin had left the fields of traditional watchmaking and ...

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Ulysse Nardin is proud to present the Savarona Maxi Marine Chronometer Limited Edition exclusively designed for the Turkish Market. ...

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Everyday Beauty:
Ulysse Nardin’s Marine Annual Chronograph

An experience review
by Marcus Hanke

Part I

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Everyday Beauty:
Ulysse Nardin’s Marine Annual Chronograph

An experience review
by Marcus Hanke

Part II

When I acquired this watch, I originally opted for the black dial with flat silver hands. The reason for my choice was that I already had the Marine Diver with a silver/white dial and blued hands, and consequently I wanted to avoid having two watches with a too similar style. Additionally, I thought that the black colour would more effectively hide the framework of the big date window, making it less apparent that there were two windows aside, separated by a bar.

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Everyday Beauty:
Ulysse Nardin’s Marine Annual Chronograph

An experience review
by Marcus Hanke

Part III

Compared with the rest of Ulysse Nardin’s production line, one has to state the Marine Annual Chronograph to be one of the least original Ulysse Nardins - technically at least. While most other UN watches make use of own mechanical developments, at least in the shape of indigenous modules, the Marine Annual uses a Dubois-Dépraz 4900 movement. Dubois-Dépraz is a company renown for modifications of standard (ETA) movements, and especially for modular complications. Its cal. 4900 is in fact an ETA 2894 chronograph movement, with an annual calendar/big date module developed by DD. An annual calendar is programmed to “know” the sequence of months with 30 and 31 days. The only need to manually adjust the mechanism is during the transition from February to March, when it is necessary to set the date display from 28 (or 29) to 01.

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60 years ago, Dave Piccione's father established the family business in Ohio, a shop for jewellery, watches and hand engraving work, which was meticulously executed by the father.

Meanwhile, the business has grown, and the Picciones intend to have a worthy celebration of the 60th anniversary. Therefore, Dave contacted Ulysse Nardin about a limited special edition, exclusive to Piccione.

What you see here is the result of a most peculiar cooperation between the Piccione family and UN, an extremely attractive watch, unfortunately limited to a small number only:



The Piccione 60 years anniversary edition is the well-known Perpetual GMT in the Sonata-style 18k white gold case, with matching hands. What makes this particular edition so attractive is its dial: A highly polished, glossy black lacquer surface mirrors the equally polished and faceted hour markers and oversized Roman numerals.


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The current trend towards larger watches offers new possibilities for the Ladies' watches as well: Where formerly only quartz movements were used due to size restraints, solid and tried automatic movements are now standard. Additionally, I have the impression that our ladies find themselves interested in mechanical timepieces as well; maybe not because of the same reasons, but for pure emotion. The restless movement of the balance wheel is generally compared with a beating heart, and thus a mechanical watch is attributed some kind of spirit, even 'soul'. Where we watch enthusaists discuss about wheels and pinions, the ladies rather see a living organism.

Consequently, it is only logical for Ulysse Nardin offering more ladies' watches with mechanical movements.

The first novelty is rather a facelift, but a substantial one: The "Lady GMT" now got a small second instead of a central sweep second, and a new, highly elaborate crown, which is also used on the "Caprice" series:

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A year ago, Ulysse Nardin celebrated its 150th anniversary - aside other novelties - with an extremely beautiful Marine Chronometer, featuring an enamel dial and a slightly enlargened case, with 43mm diameter. The downside was, only 320 people could buy it, since it was limited to 160 pieces each in pink gold and platinum.Now the larger Marine Chronometer (how is it called? The "smaller" one already was the "Maxi". So maybe the 43mm version will be the "Mega-Maxi"?) is available in an unlimited stainless st...

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Colourful watches are not a real novelty for Ulysse Nardin: Several years ago, there was a bright yellow 1846 Marine Chronometer in the line. Unfortunately, I cannot show it now; I had archived many older watch pics on a site called Clubphoto, and had to realize now that this site went out of business without prior notification, taking all pics with it. Maybe I have backed up the pics on a CD somewhere. If I have bad luck, I have a backup, but on a ZIP disk, for which I now don't have a working drive left ....

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More than two years ago, UN succeeded its former, classically designed limited-edition platinum perpetual by one with a design that was somehow 'borrowed' from the Sonata: The limited edition platinum GMT Perpetual "Sonata style" This watch proved very popular, and was sold out quickly. It was followed by a limited edition in 18k red gold case. For the many friends of this style, who did not get one of the limited watches, or would prefer a less conspicious case material, cheaper than platinum, UN now o...

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The major novelty, showcased by Ulysse Nardin, of course was the Freak DiamonSil. I think it is not necessary to go into further details, since the revolutionary new material of the Freak's escapement wheels has been presented already by some articles, which you can access through the UN blog list, to the right.The watch's outer appearance is very similar to that of the Freak "Diamond Heart", minus the diamond-decorated bezel. The hour and minute indicators set with diamonds are the same, and give a clue on...

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Maxi Marine Chronometer – Super Yacht Cup 2007  Limited Edition Ulysse Nardin sponsors the Super Yacht Cup 2007 in Mallorca exclusively designed for the finest super yachts in the world and to commemorate this event created the Maxi Marine Chronometer “Super Yacht Cup”. The officially certified self-winding movement (C.O.S.C) features a power reserve indicator, oversized small seconds register and a large date display at 6 o’clock. The elegant 41 mm case is individually ...

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Maxi Marine Chronometer 43 mm- Conquering the Oceans Ulysse Nardin is proud to present the Maxi Marine Chronometer 43mm to complement our Maxi Marine Chronometer collection. The officially certified self-winding movement (C.O.S.C) features a power reserve indicator, oversized small seconds register and a large date display at 6 o’clock. The elegant 43 mm case is individually numbered and equipped with a screw-crown and a sapphire crystal. The exhibition case back affords a view of ...

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Ulysse Nardin concentrated on broadening its collection in 2007, as opposed to creating radical new watches as it has often done in previous years. The flagship model of 2007 is undoubtedly the Freak DIAMonSIL.

Click to view image
Freak DIAMonSIL - limited edition of 28 pieces in platinum

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I am speaking of the Freak 28,800 "Diamond Heart" on one side, and the Freak "DiamonSil" on the other.


Interestingly, this was a mere byproduct of the research done for the first silicium wheels for the original "Freak", and then for the silicium hairspring: It is possible to artifically "grow" diamond, layer by layer. However, you need a base material, and silicium is perfect. So for each "diamond waver", you have a silicium plate and let the diamond grow on it, until the desired thickness is reached. After that, the silicium base can be etched away by acid, it is no longer needed. ...

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by Bernard Cheong

Rolf Schnyder knew what his legacy would be. He knew and believed in his importance of his role as the resurector of a mighty company. And he knew that it extended well BEYOND his capacity as the CEO and leader of Ulysse Nardin, it extended into his previous lives and roles as a player in the field of manufacture of precision watch parts and tools....

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Not a new watch review, but nevertheless a vital component of the wristwatch: the right clasp can make the difference between a smooth and comfortable wearing experience and a hell, with bloody abrasions and hurting pressure spots. More or less, the clasp is the most important part of the watch. Strange, then, that apparently it gets only little attention from the designers.

Bad experiences with various folding clasps, especially those of the double folding species, kept me using simple tang buckle, at least on most of my watches. On my UN watches I only used a folding clasp once. It was the older design:

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