Ulysse Nardin Sparkling Free Wheel
The Ulysse Nardin Sparkling Free Wheel is the latest gem-set watch from the Swiss Manufacture. It possesses an eye-popping appearance and, as one would expect from this esteemed Maison, it is rich with mechanical virtue.
Founded in 1846, Ulysse Nardin has become known for its innovative mindset and for creating neoteric timepieces. However, the brand increasingly demonstrates a love for gem-set creations, marked with its recent ‘Sparkling’ period.
At last year’s Geneva Watch Days event (August 2020), Ulysse Nardin unveiled an ultra-modern, openworked creation, the ‘Blast’. The model features a prominent ‘X-shaped’ bridge and an automatic movement equipped with a tourbillon escapement. Just one week later, the Maison unveiled the ‘Sparkling Blast’ a bejewelled version of the aforementioned watch.
The Sparkling Blast features 211 diamonds (13 carats) and a platinum micro-rotor, housed in a 45mm white gold case. Needless to say, the model attracts proportionate pricing, retailing at CHF 410,000 (world price as at 2.9.2021).
More recently, the Manufacture revisited its Skeleton X model, released in January 2019, and suffused its bezel and X-shaped sections with a total of 149 diamonds. This comparatively new model, the Skeleton X Sparkling was offered at a more accessible price of CHF 29,900 for the titanium version or CHF 39,900 for the pink gold option (prices as at 3.2.2021).
Now, the brand from Le Locle has revisited another model from its vast catalogue, the Executive Free Wheel and enlivened its face and torso with 2251 pavé diamonds, totalling 5.90 carats. This new creation is called the Ulysse Nardin Sparkling Free Wheel. As one would expect of this company, the diamonds are first-rate and skilfully set by the Genevan specialists, Art Setting.
Beyond the glitz and the glamour conferred by its diamond suffused dial and case ensemble, the watch features a flying anchor tourbillon. This shuns conventional pallet jewels, favouring two integrated pallets formed of silicon. Moreover, the pallet fork does not rest on a conventional pallet staff but is incorporated into a circular frame, moving free of friction, mitigating wear and sipping less energy.
Silicon is used extensively in this movement, exploiting a number of its inherent benefits. The material is not liable to corrosion nor magnetism. Moreover, silicon has low-frictional properties, often obviating the need for lubrication. Ulysse Nardin has always been at the forefront of silicon technology and remains so.
Perhaps, one of the highlights of the movement specification is the constant force escapement. When a watch is fully wound, the energy from the mainspring is transferred via the gear train to the escapement. With most watches, the energy serving the escapement wanes as the mainspring unwinds. As the energy serving the escapement falls, the balance wheel’s angle of rotation, termed the ‘amplitude’, drops, thereby compromising precision. However, the constant force escapement ensures the energy arriving at the escapement remains uniform and thereby the amplitude does not fluctuate.
Ulysse Nardin may be in the midst of its ‘Sparkling’ period, however, it continues to demonstrate that horological virtue doesn’t need to be sacrificed on the altar of gem-set style.
Price: CHF 225,000 (RRP as at 24.2.22021)
Brand’s press release (February 2021)
There is only one train that serves Le Locle, Switzerland, a tiny hamlet in the canton of Neuchatel. Hikers with ski poles are a familiar sight on this route, as are the discreet members of the Ulysse Nardin team, watchmakers from generation to generation. Church bells ring and echo from the mountains and an occasional herd of sheep can be seen on their way through the town’s streets. This bucolic atmosphere belies the technology at work in the house of Ulysse Nardin, an integral part of the landscape of Le Locle for 175 years.
Deep beneath the winter snow, Le Locle houses the beating heart of Swiss watchmaking excellence. Ulysse Nardin is one of the industry’s best-kept secrets, a house constantly striving to produce technological avatars while remaining true to the company’s original aesthetic and stringent work ethic.
In 2021, Ulysse Nardin is proud to introduce its newest creation, a sleeping giant in the Executive collection: The Sparkling Free Wheel – a true work of art. Diamonds, diamonds, and more diamonds adorn a watchmaking marvel raised to the level of visual brilliance. Like the drifts of snow that glisten in the morning sun, the Sparkling Free Wheel incites dreams, encourages imagination and paves the way to fearlessly follow your passion to the ends of the earth.
The diamond-setting technique used on this chef d’oeuvre, known as “snow setting”, is a complex process performed only by highly trained craftsmen. In a snow setting, the diamonds of different sizes are placed side by side to completely cover the surface, like a fresh blanket of Swiss snow. The craftsmen of Art Setting, a Geneva-based workshop, have been perfecting this process for over three decades.
Ulysse Nardin and its parent company, Kering, are dedicated to sustainability, endeavouring with each innovation to leave Earth a better place for future generations. “At Ulysse Nardin, we adhere to the Kimberly Process to ensure that all of our diamonds are ethically sourced.” said Patrick Pruniaux, CEO of Ulysse Nardin.
The 2’251 pavé stones on the Sparkling Free Wheel are rigorously selected and comprise a total of 5.90 carats. The diamond setting alone takes approximately 120 hours of meticulous work to complete. The stellar quality – all VVS or VS with an F/G rating for purity and colour – is visible to the naked eye. Diamonds are everywhere on this model, from the face of the grey gold dial to the horns and even the barrel cover. The carbon soft-touch, black alligator band features a clasp also set with diamonds using the snow setting technique.
“For over 30 years Art Setting has worked tirelessly to preserve the ancestral techniques of gem setting pioneered by our forbearers. We take pride in putting all of our knowledge and experience at the service of constant innovation”, said Claude Leblanc, Director of Art Setting.
The Free Wheel’s most astonishing features are the dial’s tourbillon bridges and the 7-day power reserve indicator at four o’clock, which are shaped like boomerangs and look like they are miraculously floating in the air. So too do the other components, the hour and minute indicators and the gorgeous gear trains. The sapphire glass box housing these ‘flying’ elements is another standout achievement. The structure’s complexity and finish—especially the polishing of the box angles—were extremely difficult to achieve, requiring lengthy and painstaking experimentation. The case back is also sapphire, except there’s less to see inside, as, in a complete reversal of watchmaking convention, all the exquisite components are visible on the dial side.
The mechanical movement powering all this beauty is the UN-176, entirely developed in-house at the Ulysse Nardin manufacture in La Chaux-de-Fonds. Its flying tourbillon is the “Ulysse Anchor Escapement”, a pioneering technology that replaces the traditional Swiss lever escapement system and uses Ulysse Nardin’s signature low friction silicium instead of metal or synthetic rubies.
The eight pieces in this Sparkling Free Wheel limited edition are available for 225’000 CHF each.
Further reading