Review: A Beautiful Freak – The Ulysse Nardin Freak Vision

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Ulysse Nardin Freak Vision

Think about Ulysse Nardin and images of ships, anchors, enamel dials, and jacquemarts come to mind This is the mild-mannered side of the brand that we are all comfortable with But everyone has a freaky side, including Ulysse Nardin.

Rather than suppress its freaky tendencies, Ulysse Nardin had let them go uncaged in the form of the Freak since 2001.

The very first Freak was a trailblazer for high-end modern watchmaking It was the first watch to utilise silicon within its movement, which, as we know, has become quite common today Its design was also completely novel and mind-boggling at the time.

An entire movement that rotates like a carrousel and indicates the minutes? Get out of here! The reality is, the Freak has become Ulysse Nardin’s testbed for bleeding edge style and tech Last year, the Innovision 2 concept watch (not commercially available) made its debut with no less than 10 groundbreaking innovations Not a bad way at all to introduce yourself at SIHH as a newcomer.

For 2018, Ulysse Nardin presents an all-new Freak incorporating some of the innovations found in the Innovision 2 in one form or another Here, we bring you the details and our thoughts on the Ulysse Nardin Freak Vision.

 

 

The Case, Dial, and Hands

The case of the Freak Vision measures a sizeable 45 mm in diameter; this is after all a showpiece, not a dress watch Of all the iterations of the Freak, the Freak Vision has the cleanest, most modern-looking case.

One would expect a watch like this to be encased in space age material, but Ulysse Nardin opted for platinum instead, the most noble of metals The case is accented with blue inserts on the flanks and on the bezel Those familiar with the Freak know that the bezel is used to set the time (note the absence of a crown); three titanium riders are in place for easy handling.

And as is the case with the previous Freaks, turning the case back winds the watch In contrast to the rest of the case, the case back of the Freak Vision is crafted in titanium.

 

The case of the Freak Vision is crafted in platinum, with a titanium case back It is also equipped with a domed sapphire crystal

 

The most fascinating part of the Freak Vision remains the dial – well technically, it doesn’t have a dial.

What you see on the face of the watch is in fact part of the movement Time is still indicated in the “Freak” manner, which sets the collection apart from the rest in the catalogue and, quite frankly, all of watchmaking The bold construct you see on the “dial” in its entirety is what Ulysse Nardin calls the “baguette movement”.

It acts like a flying carrousel rotating around its own axis at a rate of one rotation per hour The majority of the gear train can be seen here, and supporting it is a carved upper bridge that is inspired by the hull []

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