New: Ulysse Nardin Freak One Navy Blue

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Ulysse Nardin continues on their revisits to their iconic Freak with the Freak One released in 2023. For this year, they released the latest – the Freak One Navy Blue at IamWatch 2024 in Singapore.

Press Release details with commentary in italics.

New: Ulysse Nardin Freak One Navy Blue

The Ulysse Nardin Freak One Navy Blue retails at SGD 97,600 including GST.

Commentary

Another chapter in the freakish history of the Ulysse Nardin Freak. The original Freak, released in 2001 shocked the watchmaking world. Aptly named, the watch was wild. Not only in its aesthetics which is out of the ordinary, but also in breaking almost every traditional watchmaking feature. Slaughtering of the sacred cow, so to speak. We were at the launch in 2001, chatting with Rolf Schnyder and Ludwig Oeschelin. Our minds were blown that day. And UN continued to surprise us. Keeping the legacy of the Freak alive. In 2018 the Freak became automatic with the Freak Vision, introducing their Grinder automatic winding system. And in 2019, it took a side step, and broke one of its own…the Freak acquired a crown (!) with the Freak X. 2022 saw a spaceship drafted in for bridge duties in the Freak S. And in 2023, the Freak One made its appearance. This was a redesign, but one which retained the critical elements of the original. In 2023, UN introduced their military model lineup – the OPS to the Freak with the Freak X OPS, followed up with the Freak One OPS. And this year, we saw the Freak S Nomad in WWG. For IamWatch 2024, they released the Freak One Navy Blue.

LtoR: Freak One 2023, Freak One OPS 2023, Freak S Nomad 2024, and Freak One Navy Blue (this release)

The base model is the Freak One, first launched in 2023. But now with a black DLC coated titanium case with a carbonium bezel. UN used the carbonium bezel over black DLC titanium case in the Freak X Carbonium we reviewed last year. This material combination is now used in the “real” Freak in this Freak One Navy Blue. The barrel cover plate which serves as the dial we see behind the rotating movement train which serves as the hour and minute hands is also in blue. Coupled with blue straps, UN christened it the Freak One Navy Blue.

All other aspects remain the same as the 2023 Freak One. Same movement – the UN Caliber 240 is used. And the design of the movement train and the arrows which serve as hands are the same. The bridges are now in black DLC for a rather nice aesthetic. We saw the watch on the wrist of the CEO Patrik Pruniaux, and it looks rather fetching. We have requested, and are expecting to receive a review sample on loan, and will bring you the comprehensive report soon.

Here is Matthieu Haverlan, Managing Director or Ulysse Nardin introducing the Freak One.

Release information

THE FREAK

Almost a quarter century ago, Ulysse Nardin changed contemporary mechanical watchmaking with the first Freak. The year was 2001 and out of the workshops of Ulysse Nardin’s historic Le Locle Maison came a watch so unexpected, it was as if it appeared out of the blue —an alien in the traditional world of Swiss Haute Horlogerie. The debut Freak had no dial, no hands, and no crown. And yet it was unmistakably a high-end mechanical wristwatch – the most complicated time-only watch.

Just as it was a horological and design marvel, so too the original Freak was also a testbed for a material that would revolutionize watchmaking: silicon. This high-tech blue material, indeed the same material that gave Silicon Valley its name, offered a number of advantages over the metals used in conventional watchmaking, including that it was anti-magnetic, resistant to shock and significant changes in temperature, and almost completely frictionless. It could also be produced in unusual shapes and to fine tolerances. These qualities meant a watch with silicon components could deliver significant performance benefits to the wearer, particularly around precision, accuracy and reliability. Visually, it was arresting, too.

It quickly became clear that silicon was a watchmaking wonder and a gift to the visionary watchmakers and artisans of Ulysse Nardin, who applied it to the Freak’s escapement, breaking new ground and setting new standards for high-end watchmaking.

The original Freak of 2001, like so many iterations that followed it, has become a collector favorite and now enjoys the admiration of the international watch community. There’s nothing else quite like the Freak.

In the years since, the Freak has stood tall as an icon of modern, inventive, rule-breaking watchmaking, an iconoclastic landmark that the watchmaking community has looked to for inspiration. Countless watch companies now use silicon, once a radical, not to mention expensive material that has now become best-in-class standards.

Among those embracing Freak’s influence were Ulysse Nardin’s own watchmakers, who over the past 23 years have turned to it again and again, improving it and expanding on it, cementing its position as one of the greatest and most important watches of the 21st century. The New York Times declared that the Freak had “changed the face of contemporary watchmaking”.

In the spring of 2023, Ulysse Nardin introduced the quintessential Freak ONE at Watches and Wonders Geneva, a striking black and gold edition. Following unprecedented demand, the Maison introduced an adventurous new black and khaki green colorway with the Freak ONE OPS at Dubai Watch Week last November. Later that year, the Freak ONE proudly received the «Iconic Watch Prize» at the Grand Prix de l’Horlogerie de Genève. This award acknowledges the impact of the ‘Freak revolution’ on Swiss watchmaking over the past two decades.

And now, the independent Swiss watchmaker returns to the model with the Freak ONE NAVY BLUE

FREAK[ONE NAVY BLUE]

Ulysse Nardin presents the new Freak ONE NAVY BLUE, a core collect ion piece in an alluring deep indigo that nods to both the brand’s hist ory as creator of the world’s fi nest marine chronometers and its disruptive force pioneering contemporary watchmaking.

The watch picks up the Freak ONE’s base charact erist ics: a 44 mm titanium case fi nished with satin-polished black DLC and a bezel forged in Carbonium®. Ulysse Nardin introduced Carbonium® in 2019 as a low-carbon-impact material with an uncommonly high strength-to-weight ratio. The case is water-resist ant to 30 metres.

As integral to the Freak collect ion, the design defi es convention with no hands, inst ead using the tip of the fl ying carousel Calibre UN-240 Manufact ure movement to indicate the minutes and a blue rotating disc with an engraved sunray patt ern to show the hours. Its oversize silicon oscillator and balance sp ring create further visual drama, while the escapement wheel and anchor – the watch’s beating heart – are coated in DiamonSil®, another pioneering material patented in 2009 that off ers additional resist ance and durability by combining silicon and synthetic diamond.

The watch is equipped with Ulysse Nardin’s innovative and highly effi cient Grinder® automatic winding syst em, which will charge the watch up to its maximum 90 hours of power reserve. The sett ing device is recessed into the case back, while the watch is finished with a pair of rubber st raps made of 30 per cent recycled product ion waste.

NO DIAL

Typically, mechanical watches hide their workings under a dial. But the Freak ONE NAVY BLUE has no dial. Its movement doubles as its minute hand, while the hour hand is a pointer set on the barrel cover that sits under the movement.

NO HANDS

The unconventional Freak ONE NAVY BLUE has neither a big hand nor a little hand. Inst ead, its one-hour orbital carousel tourbillon becomes the minute hand, and the hour hand is replaced by a pointer on the barrel cover.

MATERIAL ADVANTAGE

The Freak ONE NAVY BLUE has a black DLC titanium case, topped with a bezel made of Carbonium®, a material fi rst used in fi ne watchmaking by Ulysse Nardin in 2019. It’s produced under very high pressure and at very high temperatures using carbon fi bre off cuts from the aviation industry, meaning its environmental impact is 40 per cent lower than other carbon composites. The fibres measure just 7µm and are weaved together in an organic fashion to create a unique fi nish every time.

HANDS DOWN

The Freak ONE NAVY BLUE is powered by UN-240, a self-winding movement with a 90-hour power reserve. The movement’s flying carousel with its silicon balance wheel and escapement are susp ended by a bridge that act s as the minute hand; the barrel cover serves as the hour hand.

SEE THE LIGHT

The hour and minute indicators and hour markers are coated in Super-LumiNova® that glows blue in low-light conditions.

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