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Freak Black Out

With a history that spans over 160 years, Ulysse Nardin has lived through some very diverse watchmaking industry times. For well over a century the firm was known to produce the most reliable Marine Chronometers for over 50 Navies around the world and collected First Prizes and Gold Medals for their accuracy at World Fairs and Universal Exhibitions.

With the arrival of the quartz age in the early 1980s, mechanical timepieces were in decline, so it was not surprising that, in 1983, when Ulysse Nardin launched its Astrolabium Galileo Galilei wristwatch, it created a sensation in the watchmaking world and was the spark that launched the renaissance of mechanical timepieces and inspired the creative minds of the watchmaking industry. Ulysse Nardin continued to be driven by innovation, winning the prestigious “Innovation Prize” a total of four times since 2001.

Since its foundation in 1846, the company had been managed by five generations of the Nardin family. By 1983, with the business failing as a result of the quartz crisis, Rolf Schnyder learned that Ulysse Nardin was for sale and set about acquiring the business. As president of the company, his challenge was to continue the age-old tradition of crafting fine mechanical timepieces while employing today’s technology. Schnyder’s comeback strategy was simple – manufacture a product that would return Ulysse Nardin to its pre-eminent position in the world of mechanical watchmaking.

A wall clock Astrolabium in Jorg Spöring’s workshop in Lucerne caught Schnyder’s attention, and provided the inspiration for the creation of an Astrolabium wristwatch. He then consulted Dr Ludwig Oechslin – scientist, historian, inventor and master watchmaker.

“I found Dr Oechslin to be a true scholar (with a doctorate in theoretical physics and the history of science), who had a passion for watchmaking and an uncanny genius for transforming radical ideas into the most innovative mechanisms,” remembered Schnyder. Dr Oechslin’s first assignment from Schnyder was to reduce the astrolabe to a wristwatch.

With the help of Dr Oechslin, Ulysse Nardin was propelled back into the horological hall of fame with the revolutionary Astrolabium Galileo Galilei. This was followed by the Planetarium Copernicus and the Tellurium Johannes Kepler; the complex trilogy measuring time in terms of astronomy had the added fame of being honored with coveted entries in The Guinness Book of Records.

Early in 2001, Ulysse Nardin unveiled a watch which was codenamed “Freak”. No watch company had ever produced a timepiece like the Freak – one of the most technically innovative watches designed and produced in the past 100 years. The concept was a technical tour de force, requiring the combined efforts of three of watchmaking’s most renowned engineers. The arrangement of parts was inconceivably unorthodox – it had essentially no true case! The crystal and the bezel were actually part of the movement; the Freak had no crown, no hands and the movement pivoted to indicate time! It contained fewer parts than the simplest watch today, and remained a carrousel tourbillon by necessity. No watch had ever been designed this way.

The development of the Freak pioneered the use of silicium in the context of necessity – not for decoration or to be different. While developing this novel escapement the Ulysse Nardin engineers explored the various opportunities to be had with the implementation of nanotechnology. Indeed, the accuracy and lightness (accompanied with the ease in designing complicated movement parts) confirmed the unique abilities of silicium for the production of escapement wheels.

“The Freak is poetry in mechanical watchmaking,” says Schnyder of his baby that won the prestigious Watch of the Year Innovation Prize 2002. “The extraordinary Freak set a historical landmark, a totally new movement concept which dispenses with hands, watch face and crown. It was the first impressionist timepiece where the movement itself indicates the time. The Freak with its new Ulysse Dual Escapement is also the very first timepiece to introduce silicium to watchmaking.”

“For the Only Watch,” says Schnyder, “Ulysse Nardin has produced a unique Freak – the Freak Black Out – a truly magnificent timepiece which is of historical importance.”

The Only Watch Freak Black Out is a technical work of art crafted in 18k white gold. The bridges and metal parts have been treated with a stainless black titanium-based alloy offering a spectacular view of this innovative timepiece. The tips of the hour and minute markers are in red SuperLuminova, enhancing the visibility of the time indication.

 

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For more information contact:
Ita McCobb
Patrizzi & Co Auctioneers SA
Tel +41 22 318 28 38
e-mail i.mccobb@patrizziauction.com

Audrey Baylac
Association Monégasque contre les Myopathies / Monaco Yacht Show
Tel +377 93 10 41 70
e-mail audrey@monacoyachtshow.mc