- By Alex Ballmer
Before diving into the details of the newest Ulysse Nardin collection, I must bore you with a bit of history and bring you back to the days of adventurers exploring the oceans without any navigation tools. Today, going from point A to B without getting lost sounds like the easiest thing in the world for us. Take your smartphone out of your pocket, tap in the destination, follow the instruction and voilà! Not so long ago, explorers struggled to determine their positions without any help from modern tools, but in 1759 a man named John Harrison created an intriguing machine to guide them through the vast oceans. The tool he created was none other than the mythical marine chronometer H4. It helped navigators determine longitude. H4 and the chronometers that followed revolutionized maritime navigation well into the 20th century, with deck watches becoming a ship’s most important navigational tool.
Ulysse Nardin Chronometer Deck Watch made for the British Hydrographic, sold at the HSNY Online Charity Auction
Years later in 1846, Ulysse Nardin founded his company bearing his name in the lovely town of Le Locle, Switzerland. His passion for precision in chronometry pushed him and his descendant, Paul-David Nardin, to infuse their level of watchmaking skills into their company. This ambition for excellence and technical performance was the perfect match for creating marine chronometers. They made a name for themselves in this field, winning several competitions for horological excellence and supplying over 50 navys, geodesic institutes, and astronomical observatories around the world. The nautical know-how was and still is a big part of the spirit of Ulysse Nardin. This is why the brand decided to honour this long-lasting passion and launched in 2017 a modern iteration of the chronometer named the Marine Torpilleur. Today, the brand updates its collection and bears the legacy and codes of all its history.
The Marine Torpilleur Tourbillon Grand Feu
© Jess Hoffman for Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo
The Marine Torpilleur Tourbillon Grand Feu requires some background explanation to fully grasp the technical prowess and historic pedigree of the model. The most obvious feature bearing the savoir-faire of Ulysse Nardin is the amazingly well-built and finished flying tourbillon that is visible at 6 o’clock.
© Jess Hoffman for Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo
It is important to know that since 1983 Rolf Schneider was the head of the company for over 30 years. He was obsessed with perfection in watchmaking, especially developing new rotating cages for tourbillons watches. Ulysse Nardin carries on the tradition of its legacy with this stellar model. If you look on the dial under the flying tourbillon you will find a little text composed of eight letters “GRAND FEU”. Meaning, this black dial was made in enamel using the grand feu technique. Donzé Cadrans, a small independent workshop owned by Ulysse Nardin, masters the art of enameling, and makes dials for the most sought-after watches of the company. A grand feu enamel dial requires a complex mixture of components that fuse together after heating at a high level of temperature to obtain a certain colour. I’ve been told by an enamel master that it takes several dials before having the perfect result which adds complexity while producing a watch like the Marine Tourbillon Grand Feu.
© Jess Hoffman for Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo
The dial also bears a useful power reserve indicator at 6 o’clock. Turning the watch around will reveal the caliber UN-128. This patented UN Constant Escapement Tourbillon won the Tourbillon Watch Prize at the annual 2015 GPHG award ceremony.
© Jess Hoffman for Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo
The 208 components automatic movement has a 60 hours power reserve which oscillates at 18’000 V/H at a frequency of 2,5 Hz.
The Marine Torpilleur Annual Chronograph
© Jess Hoffman for Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo
The second model that stands out for me is the Marine Torpilleur Annual Chronograph. This watch is inspired by a pocket chronograph made by the brand that was used during the 1936 Berlin Olympics, which featured the ability to read time down to 1/10th of a second.
© Jess Hoffman for Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo
These types of chronographs were extremely precise, which is why automobile clubs, geodesic commissions, and scientists on expeditions trusted to use them to time precisely their different tasks. The 2021 version is available in two dial variations, the varnish white or a mat blue dial.
© Jess Hoffman for Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo
The UN-150 movement is encased in a modern size 44mm steel case with an open sapphire case back to admire the 406 components of the caliber.
© Jess Hoffman for Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo
I almost forgot to mention a very useful feature of the watch: the annual calendar (day at 12 o’clock and month at 9 o’clock). The watch is amazingly easy to set thanks to an ingenious technical feature on the movement which allows the user to adjust time and date with the crown by moving it forward or backward.
© Jess Hoffman for Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo
Alongside those two models, Ulysse Nardin also launched the Marine Torpilleur Panda a time-only watch with a power reserve indicator (limited to 300 models)
© Jess Hoffman for Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo
The Enamel Blue with a Grand Feu enamel dial made by Donzé Cadrans (limited to 175 models).
© Jess Hoffman for Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo
To round out the collection, the brand also unveiled two Moonphase watches with a blue or white dial each limited to 300 models.
© Jess Hoffman for Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo
It’s interesting how Ulysse Nardin infuses the legacy of the brand into this modern 2021 collection. Each watch has the same design with these beautiful fluted bezels but each of them has its distinctive look and feel. After spending a few days creating this article in the company of the Marine Torpilleur collection, I felt always drawn by the mesmerizing Tourbillon with the Black Enamel dial in a rose gold case.
© Jess Hoffman for Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo
It might be my love for complicated movement or the beauty of a hand-finished enamel dial, but this is the one that made me travel through time and made me think of these ancient mariners using these ultimate precise tool watches to find their way through the unwelcoming ocean.
For more information on Ulysse Nardin