In a panorama usually dominated by surface-level model partnerships, Ulysse Nardin and URWERK have unveiled a collaboration that goes far past a easy assembly of logos. Launched at Dubai Watch Week, the UR-FREAK is, in reality, the assembly between these two manufacturers that ought to have occurred perhaps 20 years in the past and has already drawn reward as one the most effective collaborations so far in watchmaking. Briefly, the watch is a kinetic sculpture the place the “mechanics outline the design.” Sadly, that — and even the photographs — doesn’t fairly seize it. The UR-FREAK is a technical fusion of two of probably the most disruptive ideas in fashionable horology: the Ulysse Nardin Freak and the URWERK wandering hour satellite tv for pc indication.
Within the UR-FREAK, the whole motion rotates as soon as each three hours. Because it spins, a large silicon stability wheel — 25 p.c bigger than normal variations — oscillates on the centre, serving because the beating coronary heart of the show. Orbiting this coronary heart are the satellite tv for pc arms, which carry rotating hour blocks that slide alongside a minute scale, a signature URWERK methodology of time-telling now powered by Ulysse Nardin’s carousel. This is the reason we name the UR-FREAK a fusion of disruptive ideas, to be clear.
As talked about, the non secular origins of this 2025 partnership hint again practically three many years. The late Nineties noticed the founding of URWERK by Felix Baumgartner and Martin Frei in 1997, whereas Ulysse Nardin, beneath the management of the late Rolf Schnyder, ready to shock the world with the unique Freak in 2001.
Each manufacturers constructed their identities on a selected definition of “independence” — the liberty to discover radical mechanics with out compromise or adherence to conventional norms. Because the press launch notes, this collaboration was designed to be a “technical collaboration” somewhat than a beauty one. Because of this, the UR-FREAK demanded the engineering of a completely new engine: the Calibre UN-241. The aim was to mount URWERK’s three-armed wandering hour satellite tv for pc system onto Ulysse Nardin’s rotating Freak carousel. It required the event of over 150 new elements to make sure the 2 complicated programs may “play good” collectively.
The bodily type of the UR-FREAK borrows the chassis of the Ulysse Nardin Freak ONE however the pores and skin is distinctly URWERK. Completed in a deep anthracite gray, the case evokes an industrial, nearly brutalist aesthetic. Slashes of “Electrical Yellow” (Pantone 395 C) — a color synonymous with URWERK’s radioactive-looking shows — spotlight the minute markers and the tip of the wandering hour hand. True to the Freak’s lineage, the watch has no crown. As a substitute, the wearer interacts straight with the chassis, rotating the bezel to set the time and turning the caseback to wind the mainspring, although the extremely environment friendly “Grinder” automated winding system ensures the 90-hour energy reserve is maintained by wrist movement alone.
The mechanics of the UR-FREAK are contained and shielded by a 44-millimetre case in sandblasted titanium, with a peak of 12 millimetres that’s water resistant to 30 metres. The watch is a restricted and numbered version of 100 items.
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