Ulysse Nardin Marine Manufacture 43 mm 1186-126/E0 Replica Watch

The beauty of technology is coming: Ulysse Nardin Freak retrospective In the 1970s, no one could have predicted that mechanical wristwatches would be in such demand 50 years later. While the marketing genius of a group of brilliant individuals kept the commercial viability of mechanical watches, the technical sophistication of Ulysse Nardin sparked a counter-revolution that changed the face of watchmaking forever.

When the brand launched the Freak in 2001, it was a revolution in design, mechanics and materials while staying true to tradition. Its original design came from Carole Forestier-Kasapi, who saw the tourbillon as a new way to tell time. In fact, her conception of a rotating movement surrounded by a giant mainspring won her the 1997 Abraham-Louis Breguet Foundation Prize, most notably beating British watchmaker Derek Pu Derek Pratt, who just became the first natural escapement in a winner's tourbillon watch. Her proposal eventually underwent a complete reconfiguration under the direction of Vatican watch restorer Dr. Ludwig Oechslin. Among other things, he relocated the mainspring below the gear train on the back of the watch, giving it a power reserve of one week.

The Freak is aptly named, as it bears no resemblance to anything ever worn on the wrist. This is the first watch in which mechanics and aesthetics are almost indistinguishable, and the design of the movement is the ultimate practice of aesthetics. It marked the first time a movement had been deconstructed to express time in its own right, and thus enabled a new watchmaking language that celebrated mechanics, a language that would largely embody independent watchmaking today.

Before the Freak, watchmaking was a treasure trove of ancient traditions, and watches only connect us emotionally to those traditions. They are usually constructed in two dimensions, with the mainspring and balance occupying the same plane on the edge of the baseplate with a hand-swept dial on top. Freak, however, shocked the world as it challenged and reconfigured centuries-old norms and brought a depth of knowledge that can only be inspired by innovations that surprise and awe. It has no proper dial and no hands. Instead, mounted on the massive mainspring barrel is a linear gear train that makes one full revolution per hour and doubles as the watch's minute hand.

In this construction, the hour wheel arbor is mounted on the mainspring barrel, and when the barrel is unrolled, the hour wheel is driven against a fixed peripheral rack. It is held in place by a bridge that acts as an hour hand. At the same time, the hour wheel drives the central pinion, which in turn drives the entire gear train, acting as the minute hand, resting against the upper fixed peripheral rack. The movement thus dispenses with a crown and a keyless mechanism; the mainspring is wound simply by turning the caseback, and the time is set by turning the bezel, since the peripheral frame is fixed to the inner circumference of the bezel. In addition, the Freak was also the first watch to feature a natural escapement, invented by Abraham-Louis Breguet in 1789. Characterized by two counter-rotating wheels, the natural escapement is called a natural escapement because each pulse is transmitted directly to the balance wheel with each vibration, which makes it different from all Known watch escapements are different and do not require lubrication. The Ulysse Nardin Double Direct Escapement solved the tolerance problems Breguet was facing at the time by replacing traditional metal with precisely shaped silicon components produced by deep reactive ion etching (DRIE). Thus, the Freak was the first watch to feature silicon components, thus ushering in the silicon age in watchmaking. The Ulysse Nardin Dual Direct Escapement solved the tolerance problems Breguet was facing at the time by replacing traditional metal with precision-formed silicon components produced by Deep Reactive Ion Etching (DRIE). Thus, the Freak was the first watch to feature silicon components, thus ushering in the silicon age in watchmaking. The Ulysse Nardin Dual Direct Escapement solved the tolerance problems Breguet was facing at the time by replacing traditional metal with precision-formed silicon components produced by Deep Reactive Ion Etching (DRIE). Thus, the Freak was the first watch to feature silicon components, thus ushering in the silicon age in watchmaking.

The properties of silicon make it an extremely beneficial material for watchmaking. It is one-third as dense as steel, and its operating inertia is lower, meaning far less energy is required to move silicon parts, allowing the movement to run with greater efficiency. Second, it is harder than steel and has perfectly smooth surfaces, allowing interacting parts to work together without lubrication and with minimal surface wear over time. Third, it can be fabricated with extreme precision and complex geometries by DRIE without further intervention after formation. Fourth, it is also highly elastic and therefore shock resistant as it snaps back to its original shape instantly when impacted. Last but not least, it is also anti-magnetic,

The first silicon escape wheel was produced for Ulysse Nardin by the Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology (CSEM), a Swiss research institute specializing in microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). Not only that, the double direct escapement system in the Freak fantasy watch cleverly integrates Breguet's two-stage escapement wheel structure into one plane. Each escape wheel has 25 teeth, of which every fifth tooth is slightly protruding and has a pointed point, while the remaining teeth have a flat point. The tooth with a flat point is used to drive the next escape wheel, and the pointy tooth contacts the rotation stop, transmitting the impulse directly to the balance wheel at each oscillation.

Freak 28'800 V/H: The Evolved Freak [2005]
The Freak 28'800 V/h, commonly known as the second generation, was launched in 2005 with an upgraded escapement called the Dual Ulysse Escapement.

The new escapement has 18 identical teeth, with hooked tips resembling shark's teeth, nestled on the edge of the improved detent instead of the first generation's 25 teeth per escape wheel, 5 of which extend to match the The brake is engaged. Since all teeth are now functionally touching the bung, the scan angle per scale is reduced and the mechanism is therefore more stable. Since it takes less time to rotate at a smaller angle, the new movement can accommodate high-frequency balance, thus increasing from 3Hz to 4Hz, or 28,800vph, which is where the model name comes from.

In addition, the circular balance was also replaced by a free-sprung balance with four adjusting screws recessed into its periphery and a silicon balance spring. In addition to the escapement, the Freak 28'800 V/h also introduces a locking plate to prevent accidental turning of the bezel.