Ulysse Nardin: More Than Just a Facelift—The New Freak [X]

Following the “Super Freak,” released to mark the 25th anniversary of this extravagant, one-of-a-kind timepiece, the anniversary year now brings a “Freak [X]” designed for everyday use.

Ulysse Nardin’s engineers and designers worked on it for more than two years. The result: a more compact design, optimized technology, and even more refined craftsmanship. The latest “Freak [X]” has received far more than just a facelift and boasts numerous technical innovations.

Case: 80% recycled steel, 41 x 10.35 mm (effective height 13.35 mm), Water resistance: 10 bar Movement: UN-232, automatic winding Power reserve: 72 hours Functions: Hours, minutes Dial: Gray or blue Strap: Leather, steel, or rubber with quick-change system Special features: new in-house caliber, new case architecture MSRP: €37,500 (leather), €38,600 (steel)

The “Freak” by Ulysse Nardin

The creator of the “Freak,” Ludwig Oechslin, is convinced: “What the Freak has achieved is to free people from the notion of what a watch must be.” In fact, his concept for this “crazy” watch inspired numerous other manufacturers to think beyond existing conventions. At the same time, the “Freak” demonstrates that innovation need not be at odds with the achievements of traditional watchmaking. Rather, it’s about taking a creative approach to tried-and-true technology.

For the “Freak,” which has been surprising us time and again since 2001, this meant doing away with the dial, hands, and crown. Instead, the watch relies on a patented carousel mechanism in which energy is transferred directly from the mainspring to the display—without traditional hands or gears. The upper bridge of the movement rotates once every hour and serves as the minute hand. Beneath it lies a disc that circles once every twelve hours and functions as the hour hand. This was combined with the groundbreaking use of silicon technology.

There are now many successor models to the “Freak” that showcase its creativity and innovative spirit—including 35 patents and 17 calibers. Among them is the extraordinary “Ur-Freak” model, which was developed in collaboration with the Swiss brand Urwerk.

The designers at Ulysse Nardin consistently and deliberately break with tradition—even their own—as they did in 2019 with the “Freak [X],” which features a crown. While this is standard for other watches, it was a first for the “Freak.”

This makes them just a little more conventional, without losing their extravagant appeal. The architecture of the “flying carousel”—in which the movement itself displays the time—has been retained.

The same goes for the latest “Freak [X]”—a watch that, while suitable for everyday wear, is anything but ordinary.

“Freak X”: A New Generation

This year, it’s not just the “Freak” that’s celebrating a birthday. Ulysse Nardin itself is turning 180. To celebrate both anniversaries, the watchmaker is presenting a year full of “Freak” new releases and continuous innovations, including a complete redesign of the “Freak [X].”

Case: Rose gold, 41 x 10.35 mm (effective height 13.35 mm), Water resistance: 10 bar Movement: UN-232, automatic winding Power reserve: 72 hours Functions: Hours, minutes Dial: Black Strap: Leather, steel, or rubber with quick-change system Special feature: new in-house caliber, new case architecture MSRP: €58,200 (leather)

New in-house caliber from Ulysse Nardin: UN-232

First and foremost, the new “Freak [X]” remains true to its roots: The rotating cage of the flying carousel completes one revolution every 60 minutes, thereby indicating the minutes, while the hours are displayed by a hand on a rotating disc. The carousel is called “flying” because it does not have an upper bridge.

The new UN-232 caliber is more compact than its predecessors, allowing the watch to be fitted with a newly designed 41-millimeter case (down from 43 mm) featuring a new box-shaped sapphire crystal.

In addition to its reduced dimensions, the movement’s architecture has been completely redesigned and is now more modular and sophisticated, enabling, for example, compatibility with a wider selection of “Métiers d’Art” hour discs.

For the first time in a “Freak [X],” the movement also features a DIAMonSIL escapement, which improves precision, efficiency, and durability. This high-tech surface treatment acts as a protective shield, increasing the hardness and resistance to mechanical stress of one of the movement’s most heavily stressed components, which is subjected to more than 250 million impulses annually.

Added to this are an oversized silicon balance wheel and a silicon hairspring, both manufactured by SIGATEC, Ulysse Nardin’s silicon laboratory. The movement also benefits from three modern microtechnological systems, which were developed and manufactured with tolerances in the micrometer range to reduce noise and friction throughout the regulating mechanism while optimizing energy transfer.

New Monoblock Housing Design

Compared to the original “Freak [X],” the case diameter has been reduced from 43 to 41 millimeters, while the case thickness has been reduced from 10.7 to 10.35 millimeters (effective height from 13.92 to 13.6 mm). All proportions have been readjusted accordingly. This is made possible, among other things, by the first-ever use of a rose gold micro-rotor in a “Freak.”

The design itself has also been redefined. Unlike earlier generations of the “Freak [X],” which were based on a modular titanium architecture, the new model features a monoblock case made of 80 percent recycled steel (gray sandblasted or blue hour ring with a color gradient and sunburst finish) or solid rose gold (black sandblasted hour ring).

This improves structural rigidity while also optimizing acoustic stability by minimizing the transmission of mechanical vibrations through the case. Water resistance has also been optimized thanks to the screw-down crown and is now 10 bar instead of 5 bar.

New Quick-Change System

Although a “Freak” is anything but boring to begin with, the new “Freak [X],” with its quick-change system, offers additional options for customization. This allows the watch to be flexibly adapted to different everyday situations and personal style preferences. Currently, there are nine different straps to choose from, made of rubber, leather, and 80 percent recycled steel, each featuring an integrated 2-millimeter fine-tuning system.

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