223 articles · 24 videos found · page 2 of 9
Monochrome
Introduced in 2001, Ulysse Nardin’s Freak watch turned many watchmaking conventions upside down. With no hands, no dial and no crown, the Freak was powered by an in-line movement pivoting on itself every 60 minutes to indicate the time. It was regulated by a dual direct escapement and introduced the watchmaking world to silicium (aka […]
Fratello
Bow down. The Freak deserves your respect. In fact, the Freak is the mack daddy of everything we call Nouvelle Horlogerie. In 2001, a bizarre and unexpected watch appeared from the Ulysse Nardin atelier in Le Locle, and it shook the world of watchmaking on its very foundations. This world was not yet ready for […] Visit Take It Easy, Everyone - It’s Only The New Ulysse Nardin Freak One Navy Blue to read the full article.
Fratello
The Gumball 3000 kicks off on September 14th in Saigon and culminates in Singapore on September 22nd. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the rally-style event that blends exotic cars, celebrities, and five-star treatment, and the Ulysse Nardin Freak X Gumball 3000 is the official watch for the event. If participants don’t purchase all […] Visit Roaring Through The Stages With The Ulysse Nardin Freak X Gumball 3000 to read the full article.
SJX Watches
For Ulysse Nardin, Watches & Wonders 2024 was all about the Freak S Nomad, which made its debut in a booth that featured a massive replica of the watch’s movement. While the Nomad is essentially just a new livery for an existing model, the aesthetic changes, which include a rotating guilloche dial, give the watch a sportier feel that suits the design. The Nomad is the second model in the Freak S collection after the original of 2022, and the latest in a long line of innovative watches that dates back to 2001. Interestingly, the Nomad is the first Freak to feature artisanal decoration, in the form of the guilloche dial, as compared to past models that have been more about technology than technique. Initial thoughts Mechanical watchmaking technology is fundamentally archaic, largely unchanged for more than a century. As a result, futuristically styled watches can easily come across as superficial. So it’s refreshing to consider the Nomad, which backs up its sci-fi styling with 21st-century materials and truly unique movement architecture that manages to be highly differentiated even a quarter-century after its launch. On paper, the Nomad is a large watch at 45 mm in diameter and 17 mm thick. Both of these numbers surprised me because after putting it on my wrist, it looks and feels smaller than it is. This is due, in part, to the lightweight titanium case, the muted colour palette, and the visual depth of the dial. Furthermore, the eye is naturally drawn to the central ...
Time+Tide
Ulysse Nardin's Clémence Le Rolland on the Freak's rocky beginnings and rise to stardom.The post How the Ulysse Nardin Freak changed the face of modern watchmaking appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Video
Worn & Wound
Very few things put a smile on my face quite like the Ulysse Nardin Freak. It’s one of the first haute horlogerie watches I can remember encountering, well before watches were ever a hobby or preoccupation, in a glossy magazine advertisement that I probably saw while waiting for a doctor’s appointment or something else similarly trivial and forgettable. The Freak, though, has stayed with me. How could it not? It’s one of the most cleverly named watches ever made, for one. And its “no dial, no hands, no crown” concept continues to endure, and even after multiple decades of horological innovation surrounding Ulysse Nardin (which they very much had a role in kicking off) it remains every bit as avante-garde, insane, and completely delightful as its always been. For the third straight year, Ulysse Nardin has brought just one watch to show at Watches & Wonders. The Freak S Nomad, a follow up to 2022’s Freak S, is a futuristic tour-de-force that pays tribute to classical watchmaking at the same time as it shows us something we’ve never quite seen before. The movement, an imposing flying carousel that rotates around its own axis, features two balance wheels posted at a 20 degree incline linked to a vertically integrated differential mounted to ball bearings. Every Freak movement, no matter how advanced or comparatively simple (this one is the most advanced there is) is an exercise in problem solving. When the movement itself is in motion, it adds a whole layer o...
Time+Tide
Clad in titanium and carbon fibre, Ulysse Nardin's most recognisable watch takes on a new look for Watches and Wonders 2024.The post The Ulysse Nardin Freak S Nomad is high-tech, sci-fi, and steampunk – all at the same time appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Deployant
UN focuses their attention this year with the release of the UN Freak S Nomad. See our release notes and commentary here.
Deployant
UN releases a Freak with a new release for 2024 - the Freak S Nomad. No dial, no crown and no hands. Return to conceptual origins of The Freak.
Monochrome
At this year’s Geneva edition of Watches & Wonders, Ulysse Nardin is introducing a new version of its Freak S with aesthetic updates that make the ingenious, complex, unorthodox watch even more compelling. Introduced by Ulysse Nardin in 2001 under the visionary leadership of the late Rolf Schnyder, the original Freak sparked a wave of […]
Video
Fratello
If you’re new to watches and have noticed the big wave of retro love sweeping the world, the Ulysse Nardin Freak will surely shock your system. And it will stun you even more if you are not privy to the fact that this is an ever-evolving creation that is already over 20 years old. That’s […] Visit Introducing: The Ulysse Nardin Freak S Nomad - Reinventing Hand-Crafted Avant-Garde to read the full article.
SJX Watches
Having explored the origins of the Ulysse Nardin Freak, from its concept by Carole Forestier Kasapi to its realisation by Dr Ludwig Oechslin, we now turn to the Freak’s more recent innovations, starting with the Dual Ulysse Escapement. [This story explains the evolution of the unique, high-performance escapement of the Freak. Part I, covers the origins of the Freak, from its conception to realisation, as well as its distinguishing characteristics, namely the inventive movement construction and innovative escapement. Part III details the history of silicium, the proprietary Ulysse Nardin silicium hairspring, and the patented Grinder rotor.] A new and improved version of the Dual Direct escapement in the original 2001 Freak, the Dual Ulysse made its debut in 2005 inside the Freak 28’000 V/H, colloquially known as the Freak 2. Slightly larger than the original model but otherwise very similar, the Freak 2 operated at 28,000 beats per hour (4 Hz), a higher frequency than the 21,600 beats per hour (3 Hz) of the original Freak. One of the factors which made possible the increase in frequency was the revised escapement christened the Dual Ulysse Escapement. A diagram showing the key parts of the Dual Ulysse Escapement. Image – Ulysse Nardin The Dual Ulysse Escapement Another creation of Dr Oechslin’s, the Dual Ulysse departs from the classical natural escapement à la Breguet that the original Dual Direct Escapement was based on, but it still bears some resemblance to its...
SJX Watches
Novel ways of telling the time or exhibiting the movement have long been the focus of the avant-garde horologists. Independent watchmakers like Ressence or Urwerk have built their brands on doing away with conventional hands. Such idiosyncratic approaches to watchmaking challenge the traditions of horology, making for a more interesting horological landscape. Even before Urwerk introduced the pioneering three-dimensional cubic hour display in 2005, there was the Ulysse Nardin Freak. Launched in 2001, the Freak literally changed the face of watchmaking by transposing the movement into the dial. Two decades after its launch, the Freak is still regarded as a landmark for its audacity, from both aesthetic and technical perspective. [This story covers the origins of the Freak, from its conception to realisation, as well as its distinguishing characteristics, namely the inventive movement construction and unique escapement. Part II deals with the evolution of the unique, high-performance escapement, while Part III details the history of silicium, the proprietary Ulysse Nardin silicium hairspring, and the patented Grinder rotor.] The origins The beginning of the Freak lay in 1997, when Carole Forestier-Kasapi, then a young and talented movement designer who only recently graduated from technical college, won the Prix de la Fondation Abraham-Louis Breguet, a contest conceived to mark A.-L. Breguet’s 250th birthday that sought to recognise watchmaking ingenuity. Now the head of m...
Deployant
Immediately after the Christmas Wishlist post, Santa Clémence granted writer Stanley's wish to get freaky with the Freak X Carbonium® over the holiday season and it was certainly an exciting journey that will unfold.
Quill & Pad
Many brands claim to have unique watches in their collection, but one that really owns this claim is Ulysse Nardin’s Freak. At Dubai Watch Week 2023, UN released the Freak One Ops.
Video
Time+Tide
Ulysse Nardin decks out the Freak One OPS in mil-spec colours.The post Tactical green for the new Ulysse Nardin Freak One OPS appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Worn & Wound
There’s a narrative that has emerged around the Ulysse Nardin Freak over the years that its an extremely niche product, and something of a difficult watch to fully wrap your arms around. It’s strange, yes, even avant-garde, but as I’ve spent more time considering the Freak, I’ve come around to the other side of this story. I wonder, how can anyone not love the Freak? Even if it’s not to your specific taste, the Freak is an original, and one of a handful of truly important designs that would set the stage for a generation of interesting, independent watchmaking that we’re still living through today. The Freak might not be for everyone, but everyone should be able to agree that there’s something special about it. The latest Freak, the Freak [X OPS] is part of the still relatively new Freak X lineup, a collection that aims to make the watch more approachable. Blake went hands-on with a Freak X here, and both the review and video (complete with commentary from a watchmaker) are worth a look if you’re new to the Freak universe. But the gist of the Freak X is relatively easy to understand: it’s smaller than a traditional Freak, and it has a crown. Historically, the Freak was marketed as a watch with “No Dial, No Hands, No Crown.” A curious rallying cry for sure, and a tough thing to picture. But when you see it, it all (kind of) makes sense. For me, the addition of a crown doesn’t feel like too much of a transgression. The visual impression of the Freak...
Time+Tide
Ulysse Nardin's Freak X OPS takes the brand's proprietary Magma carbon composite and gives it a camo lookThe post Ulysse Nardin Freak X OPS appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Quill & Pad
Twenty-one years after the launch of Ulysse Nardin's Freak changed the watch industry forever, the Freak S reinvigorates the collection with a new aesthetic and crazy mechanics reminding us of the modern roots of this company.
Deployant
Ulysse Nardin continues to enrich the Freak X model lineup with a new reference with an blue enamel guilloché dial. Limited Edition of 50 pieces.
Video
Time+Tide
Ulysse Nardin’s original Freak shook the watch-o-sphere to the core when unveiled at Basel in 2001. It was like nothing anyone had seen before; a complete reimagining of how a watch can function and display time where there was no crown, no dial and no hands. Seemingly so complex with a gear train sprawled across … ContinuedThe post The Ulysse Nardin Freak One is a super-freak and chic appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
The Ulysee Nardin Freak ONE has surpassed its shock-factor roots and embraced beauty, The time is adjusted via the 5N gold bezel, negating the need for a traditional crown. Its train of wheels and flying tourbillon are all integrated into the minutes hand. Mechanical watchmaking has evolved drastically over the last few decades, which is … ContinuedThe post The Ulysse Nardin Freak ONE embraces and dresses-up the atypical complication appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Deployant
UN goes back to the original Freak roots with the new Freak 1. Live report from the Ulysse Nardin Booth at Watches and Worders 2023.
![[VIDEO] The Freak Gets an Edit, The Curious Ulysse Nardin Freak X Reviewed](https://wornandwound.com/library/uploads/2023/01/Ulysse-Nardin_freak_022.jpg)
Worn & Wound
Ulysse Nardin is a peculiar brand. They have long been at the forefront of horological innovation, from marine chronometers in the 19th century, to creating stuff like DIAMonSIL in the 21st. However, they lack a singular, cohesive aesthetic that’s coalesced in broader culture in the same way watches like the Speedmaster, Submariner, or Royal Oak have. Except for a watch called the Freak, that is. A concept first released upon the world in 2001, the Freak was as impressive technologically as it was shocking to behold. With a movement that pivoted on itself to display the time, it was (and remains) daring, innovative, and downright novel. But, it never quite enjoyed a ‘hip status’ in the same way other exotic watches from the likes of MB&F; or Urwerk have since. This is likely due to a few reasons, but with the release of the Freak X in 2019, Ulysse Nardin is a whole lot closer. The Freak is a watch that has always commanded attention, both technically and visually speaking. The concept placed the gear train atop the mainspring, within a carousel that itself served as the minute hand. There was no dial to speak of, but rather a rotating plate containing the hour hand underpinning the structure. Winding and setting was managed via the deeply scalloped, somewhat steampunk-ish bezel unit. The launch of the Freak also marked the very first appearance of silicon within a watch movement, something the brand has been a pioneer of developing. This is a dramatic watch to behold ...
SJX Watches
Utterly bizarre and thoroughly ingenious when it debuted in March 2001, the Freak remains avant-garde even two decades later. But unlike the highly modern creations from brands like De Bethune and Urwerk, the Freak arguably gets less credit than it deserves, simply because Ulysse Nardin isn’t a niche, independent watchmaker. But that takes nothing away from the concept, which has been made more avant-garde than ever. Launched earlier this year, the Freak S is now the flagship model in the Freak line-up. In a first for a Freak, it reimagines the trademark carousel display, which now carries twin inclined balance wheels linked by a differential. Initial thoughts The landmark creation of the modern-day Ulysse Nardin (UN) brand, Freak was and still is interesting because it turns conventional movement construction on its head. Most of the moving parts are mounted onto a carousel on the dial that doubles up as the minute hand, while under the dial sits a massive mainspring that occupies most of the case volume. No other watch combines unorthodox form and function like the Freak even though it was launched in 2001, well before most of today’s best known avant-garde timepieces. That was four years before Urwerk unveiled its satellite-cube hour display, for instance, ensuring the Freak’s place as a pioneering creation. The Freak S (left) and the original Freak from 2001 While the essence of the Freak has been mostly retained over the various iterations since its launch, ...
Video
4 years to develop, two flying tourbillons, no crown, and a price tag of CHF 320,000... this is the Super Freak, one of the most complicated time-only watches ever made. For 2026, Ulysse Nardin has released the Super...
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