Very few things put a smile on my face quite like the Ulysse Nardin Freak. It’s one of the first haute horlogerie watches I can remember encountering, well before watches were ever a hobby or preoccupation, in a glossy magazine advertisement that I probably saw while waiting for a doctor’s appointment or something else similarly trivial and forgettable. The Freak, though, has stayed with me. How could it not? It’s one of the most cleverly named watches ever made, for one. And its “no dial, no hands, no crown” concept continues to endure, and even after multiple decades of horological innovation surrounding Ulysse Nardin (which they very much had a role in kicking off) it remains every bit as avante-garde, insane, and completely delightful as its always been.
For the third straight year, Ulysse Nardin has brought just one watch to show at Watches & Wonders. The Freak S Nomad, a follow up to 2022’s Freak S, is a futuristic tour-de-force that pays tribute to classical watchmaking at the same time as it shows us something we’ve never quite seen before. The movement, an imposing flying carousel that rotates around its own axis, features two balance wheels posted at a 20 degree incline linked to a vertically integrated differential mounted to ball bearings. Every Freak movement, no matter how advanced or comparatively simple (this one is the most advanced there is) is an exercise in problem solving. When the movement itself is in motion, it adds a whole layer of complexity to the math involved in ensuring rate stability, durability, and everything else a movement design team needs to consider.
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Also, yes, it looks like a spaceship. There are actually kind of a lot of watches that look like a spaceship on the market right now. But the Freak S Nomad is the only one that looks a little bit aggressive, like it might fly out of the case and start buzzing around you like an annoyed hornet. That’s something you might either love or hate, but I for one am on board.
Besides the absolutely bonkers rotating movement that also gives you a physical reading of the time in the way only a Freak will, the real highlight here is the hour disc that is mounted directly behind the angry spaceship caliber (not the official designation, which is actually UN-251). The diamond guilloche pattern is accomplished by hand, by a skilled artisan, and then finished in a sand colored CVD treatment. According to the brand, each disc is the result of 240 continuous movements on an 18th century rose engine machine, which are made over a three hour period. The pattern is made in a single continuous movement to maintain continuity and consistency. In person, it’s pretty spectacular, and a reminder of how rare it is to see this kind of old fashioned watchmaking in a piece that is so definitively contemporary. The clashing of styles is something that should work, but does.
The whole thing is packaged in a 45mm case with a titanium body, a titanium bezel that has been PVD coated, and carbon fiber lugs that frame the midcase. The Freak S Nomad is enormous. There’s no getting around that. This is not a watch you wear if you want to blend in, or not engage with people when they ask what that thing is on your wrist. You might also have to reassure them that the spinning spaceship/angry hornet thing is perfectly safe.
Only 99 Freak S Nomads will be made, and it carries a retail price of $148,300. That’s a lot of coin, to be sure, but there’s really nothing else quite like the Freak S out there, and even in Freak terms, it’s quite a special thing. Ulysse Nardin
