Ulysse Nardin Freak X Ice & Magma

New Watch! • 05 Mar 2020

Ulysse Nardin Freak X Ice & Magma


In Brief

Ulysse Nardin unveils two new Freak X watches: The Freak X Ice and the Freak X Magma. The Freak X Ice has an alabaster titanium case and an open-worked white leather strap. In contrast, the Freak X Magma has an ultra-light, scratch-resistant carbon fibre and red, marbled epoxy resin case and a “volcanic rock” black leather strap.

Both variants measure 43mm in diameter, have sapphire crystal dials and case-backs and are water-resistant to 50 metres. Housing the self-winding Calibre UN-230, replete with a flying carousel movement rotating around its axis, an oversized central oscillator and a 3 Hz Silicium balance. There’s also a hefty 72 hours power-reserve.

Interested in the Freak X? Let us know, we’re here to assist! Alternatively pop by one of our many boutiques, we’d love to have a chat about Ulysse Nardin. The Hour Glass is the Exclusive Retailer of Ulysse Nardin in Singapore, Thailand & Malaysia.

Backstory 

Ulysse Nardin launched the first Freak wristwatch in 2001. It was the brainchild of the visionary owner of Ulysse Nardin, the late Rolf Schnyder and the brilliant master watchmaker, Dr Ludwig Oechslin. The horological landscape back then was very different from what it is today. Many ‘independents’ were still in their infancy or hadn’t been conceived, and the whole idea of making complicated avant-garde watches was almost non-existent. The Freak showed an alternate route forward.

In recent years the Freak has become a fully-fledged collection, spanning various levels of complication. Following the introduction of the Freak Vision and the Freak Out, Ulysse Nardin introduced the Freak X – as a streamlined interpretation of the Freak – at the 2019 edition of the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie. Read Mr Orolin’s piece on “How Watchmaking Became Modern Art” and the role Ulysse Nardin played in enabling that transition – it’s well worth the read for anyone remotely interested in Ulysse Nardin and avant-garde watchmaking.

Carsten Peter

Ulysse Nardin partnered with adventure photographer Carsten Peter in the lead-up to The Freak X Ice and the Freak X Magma. Carsten, a World Press Photo award winner and a regular contributor to National Geographic magazine, specializes in going to extremes: scuba diving in a glacier on Mont Blanc, crossing the Sahara on a camel, caving in Borneo.

Carsten’s images take the viewer to places most would never dare to go; over glaciers, into tornadoes and on the edge of volcanic craters. Often requiring a mix of rock-climbing, paragliding, diving and hiking to get to these locations. Carsten is a fitting partner for Ulysse Nardin, seeing as he embodies the dogged pursuit for the extreme – a state of mind championed by the Le Locle-based manufacture since the 1840s.

Interested in the Freak X? Let us know, we’re here to assist! Alternatively pop by one of our many boutiques, we’d love to have a chat about Ulysse Nardin. The Hour Glass is the Exclusive Retailer of Ulysse Nardin in Singapore, Thailand & Malaysia.

Tags: freak x ulysse nardin


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