Urwerk is getting its freak on with help from Ulysse Nardin. The two innovative Swiss watchmakers have teamed up to update the Freak, the model that put Ulysse Nardin on the map in 2001 when it debuted with no hands, no dial, and no crown. The brands are keen to point out many luxury watch collabs are mostly aesthetic in nature, but this one has yielded an “entirely new system that has never been seen before.”
The so-called Ur-Freak, unveiled at Dubai Watch Week, combines technologies that each brand pioneered. Urwerk supplied its signature wandering hours satellite display, where rotating cubes bearing the hour numerals orbit along a minute track. Ulysse Nardin supplied the Freak platform and its expertise in silicon, a material that’s resistant to temperature fluctuations and benefits from low-friction properties.
(Ulysse Nardin/Urwerk)
Specifically, Ulysse Nardin applied its own DiamonSil, a silicon material made less brittle by a diamond coating, to the escapement of the new UN-241 movement. The new in-house-made caliber features a silicon oscillator that makes a full rotation every three hours, operates at a 3-hertz frequency, and offers a full 90 hours of power reserve. Also incorporated into the movement is Ulysse Nardin’s Grinder winding system, which promises to increase the winding efficiency by converting even subtle movements into movement-powering energy.
As for the display, over 150 new components were developed in order to merge the Ulysse Nardin movement with Urwerk’s satellite display. Per the brands, here’s how it works:
Time is indicated by one of three connected hands. The active hand slides along the minute indicator scale on the right side of the face. Each hand has a turning domed disc that acts as a jumping hour display. Once the current hour connected to the rotating carousel has completed its path along the 60-minute marker scale, the hour disc changes, and the next hour is ready to be read by the next hand, which begins its travel along the beginning of the minute track.
(Ulysse Nardin/Urwerk)
Everything is housed in a 44-mm case with Urwerk design hallmarks, including the deep anthracite gray sandblasted titanium and three distinct fluted sections on the titanium turning bezel and caseback. The electric yellow accents on the satellite pointers, minute markers, and fitted rubber strap are also courtesy of Urwerk.
As the watch bears the Freak name, it eschews a traditional crown for a turning bezel and caseback with a small “locker” tab at the six o’clock position on the case holds the bezel secure when not in use and provides 30 meters of water resistance. For this application, the “locker” has a special “UR-FREAK” label.
(Ulysse Nardin/Urwerk)
Limited to just 100 units priced at $122,200 each, the Ulysse Nardin x Urwerk Ur-Freak is available now.
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