The FREAK by Ulysse-Nardin is a brand-new Manufacture flying carrousel movement rotating around its own axis with no dial and no hands. It has to-date been the company's most audacious collection, boldly pushing the boundaries. Until now.
Ulysse Nardin has been at the forefront of timekeeping since its inception.
The FREAK X now follows the FREAK, representing the entry point into the FREAK collection. Though many of the same aesthetic and functional elements are in place, the new collection offers a smaller sizing, 43 mm instead of 45 mm. It is also easier to read and operate.
The FREAK X has a crown for time correction, which breaks with one of the most iconic aspects of the crown-less FREAK VISION or FREAK OUT models, which correct time by the bezel. The "baguette" movement is still a carousel, turning once on itself every hour to indicate the time.
The FREAK design DNA is still pre-eminent: There is no dial and no hands - the central bridge acts as a minute hand and one of the wheels indicates the hours.
Inside, and visible, is a super-light balance wheel in silicium, extra-wide, with nickel flyweights and stabilizing micro-blades. The movement itself, the new UN-230, is a fusion of the manufacture calibers UN-118 and FREAK VISION UN-250.
The case, nicely rounded with curved lines, is wholly new, and seriously transformative. The new FREAK X is available in titanium, rose gold, black DLC or in Carbonium ®.
The most spectacular iteration of the FREAK X collection is undoubtedly the Carbonium ® version. The aeronautic-grade Carbonium ® is a new, super-light and sustainable material used in the aeronautical sector for the latest-generation airplanes’ fuselage and wings.
The production of Carbonium ® has 40% less environmental impact than other carbon composites as it uses offcuts from aeronautical pieces. With complex process requiring high pressures and temperatures, Carbonium ® is a high-performance material that brings out the core beauty of the organic pattern created by the 7µm diameter carbon fibers.
Constructed from carbon composites that are among the most robust and resilient materials ever devised by science, it is as audaciously disruptive as it is technically and technologically transcendent.
Ulysse Nardin is the first to use this next-generation material in a watch. Its resistance-to-lightness ratio is unparalleled, and its stunning marbling effect never repeats, making each watch case absolutely unique.
