SpotlightMeet The New Freak In Town: Ulysse Nardin Release The Freak S Nomad At Watches And Wonders 2024
The latest Ulysse Nardin Freak S Nomad, showcased at Watches and Wonders, Geneva, is a cool, new, freakish expression of fine watchmaking savoir-faire, with a double oscillator on a flying carousel against a sand-coloured hand-guilloche hour disk
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The latest Ulysse Nardin Freak S Nomad, showcased for the first time at Watches and Wonders, Geneva, is, arguably, the freakiest timepiece in the collection yet. A stunning avant-garde timepiece whose architecture evokes science-fiction, the Freak S Nomad features no dial, hands or crown, much like its predecessors. And yet, this latest update takes the timepiece into a whole new freak show—a flying carousel featuring two oscillators with silicon balance wheels, all treated with anthracite PVD, against a beautifully hand-guilloched sand-coloured baseplate. The 99-piece limited edition Ulysse Nardin Freak S Nomad perfectly embodies the fusion of past and future into a contemporary timepiece, and a sure-shot conversation starter.
Freak S Nomad: New-Age Materials, Age-Old Crafts
A robust 45mm titanium case houses the Freak S Nomad, with a titanium bezel coated in anthracite PVD, and carbon fibre side plates that double up as lugs. A titanium ‘locker’ at six o’clock on the case controls time setting. An open caseback offers a different perspective of the automatic UN-251 manufacture calibre, which has a total of 373 components, most of which are proudly displayed on the face of the watch. The movement offers a fantastic power reserve of 72 hours, thanks to the brand’s patented Grinder system that is twice as efficient as traditional winding systems.
A hand-guilloche rotating base plate is the brand’s nod to traditional watchmaking craftsmanship, even as a pointer doubles up as the hour indicator on this dial-less timepiece with no hands. Coated in sand-coloured CVD, the diamond guilloche pattern is created using a traditional eighteenth century rose-engine lathe, which requires hours of uninterrupted concentration to create.
Freak S Nomad: Timepiece Or Science Fiction?
The flying carousel, which makes one rotation on its own axis in an hour, is the really freakish part of the Freak S Nomad. Its shape, and anthracite PVD treatment evoke the Millenium Falcon from the original Star Wars trilogy. The only anomaly on this speaceship-like structure is, perhaps, the lume-filled pointer that indicates the minutes on the timepiece. Two inclined oscillators with silicon balance wheels offer a certain symmetry, while also highlighting how futuristic the movement really is. Connected to this, via a vertical differential with ball bearings, is the brand’s patented DiamonSil-treated escapements which enhance efficiency and durability of the timepiece.
The Freak S Nomad is paired with an anthracite textured rubber strap, or a similarly-hued matt alligator leather strap with sand-coloured inserts, both of which complement the colours and textures on the dial. With its contemporary architecture, enhanced precision, and beautiful display of 18th century crafts, the Ulysse Nardin Freak S Nomad embodies the fact that there will always be room for another freak, especially one as advanced as this.
