Bold Blue Enamel & Grand Guilloché Hallmark Ulysse Nardin’s Latest Freak ONE Offerings

For this Freak ONE, it’s a hybrid guiloché-fliqué craft that places enamel over the more straightforward etched sunray pattern of the rotating hour disc/“dial” of the first-for-the-model 44mm titanium case size. However, it is the painstaking work of the watchmaker’s in-house enameling atelier Donzé Cadrans that is the true star of the show, in this case.

Unlike a traditional dial, the hour indicator disc is a rotating part of the watch’s movement (along with the signature carousel movement gearing that rides on the recognizably kinetic sculpture of the minute hand indicator), so the watchmaker chose white gold for the base material for its thermal stability.

That aspect came in handy as layer after layer of hand-ground pigment enamel paste is applied to the guilloché disc, then fired at 800 degrees Celsius (1,472 degrees Fahrenheit), risking flaws, bubbles, and imperfections that can send you right back to the drawing board every time.

As such, the Ulysse Nardin Freak ONE Blue Enamel, with its still-disruptive no-dial/no-hands/no-crown story and cutting-edge automatic Grinder winding technology for its 90-hour power reserve manufacture UN-240 movement, is limited to 99 editions, priced at CHF 73,000.

An eye-grabbing white, woven-texture ballistic rubber strap holds this remarkable timepiece on your wrist.

Guilloché Geometry

Also coming in 44mm titanium and sporting the same UN-240 movement, all on a similar rubber strap (this time in light grey) for the same price tag of CHF 73,000, the new Ulysse Nardin Freak ONE Guilloché puts the exquisite geometry of hand-guilloché craft firmly center stage.

A visually compelling diamond pattern, appearing on the Freak ONE for the first time, creates a more hypnotic, undulating surface for the timepiece’s rotating hour disc/“dial” that ties into the timepiece’s artfully abundant sense of motion.

That visual focal point is subtly enhanced by a very pleasing golden sand-toned finish, which picks up the light, but presents an overall neutral character so the guilloché work can make its splash. It is also limited to just 99 examples.

Final Thoughts

Watchmakers with less courage than Ulysse Nardin may have worried that gorgeous, traditional adornments like enamel and guilloché would detract from an overall message of audacious time-telling technology.

However, we salute that every move forward on the Freak ONE (and this can be said of every new member of the Freak family, too) is a recognition that, after 20 years, the Freak concept is now less of an outlying object d’art, and more a fertile watchmaking platform, if you will, that continues to defiantly stand alone.

You can learn more with a visit to the Ulysse Nardin website.