Ulysse Nardin Freak S Nomad

Looking around fine watchmaking today, connoisseurs have never had it so good. Creativity, innovation, imagination: Swiss watchmaking’s wild side is unleashed.

In 2001, when the Ulysse Nardin Freak was introduced, the landscape was somewhat drier. This was a watch that broke all the rules. Not only did it not have conventional hands, nor a dial, nor even a crown, its beating heart was built around the use of high-tech silicon, a cutting-edge material employed to combat the stresses placed on a watch’s moving parts. Everything about the Freak was daring, groundbreaking and, frankly, freaky.

This, no mistake, was a risk. Mechanical watchmaking was just back on its feet after three misfiring decades, but would this Freak, this extraordinary creation, this horological anomaly actually get a good hearing? Would anyone go for it?

Indeed, they would.

The Freak whipped up a storm. Here was a watch that breathed new life into high-end watchmaking, without relying on the old tropes. Out with the smooth round yellow gold cases, enamel dials and tourbillons. In with a free-spirited watch with fresh aesthetics and avant-garde technology. The Freak told a new story:

No dial. No hands. No crown.