Explore Ulysse Nardin

Ulysse Nardin’s nautical character comes from a working life at sea. Founded in Switzerland in 1846, the firm built its reputation on marine chronometers, instruments used aboard ships to help determine longitude. That history still shapes the Marine collection: Roman numerals, railroad minute tracks, and, on many references, a power-reserve display balanced by small seconds. The resemblance to a deck chronometer is deliberate, right down to the dial’s orderly proportions.

Then there is the Freak, introduced in 2001, which took an altogether different course. The original dispensed with a conventional dial, hands, and crown; its rotating movement indicated the minutes. It also helped bring silicon into mechanical watchmaking, giving Ulysse Nardin a place in the conversation about escapement materials as well as unconventional displays.

The Diver collection translates the maritime connection into rotating bezels and more robust sports-watch cases. Blast heads elsewhere again, with angular case architecture and openworked movements that make the mechanics, rather than a traditional dial, the visual center of the watch.