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Watches and Wonders 2024: The Ulysse Nardin Freak S Nomad

 

Ulysse Nardin expands its hands-free Freak universe with the new Freak S Nomad, which places a thoroughly modern, dual-oscillator flying carousel movement atop a hand-cut diamond guilloché pattern hour-disc dial finished in sand-colored CVD.

The Ulysse Nardin Freak S Nomad

Set in a 45mm titanium and carbon-fiber case, the new dual-oscillator Caliber UN-251 Manufacture movement is a flying carousel that mimics the outline of a spacecraft. This particular craft not only powers and regulates the watch, but, as with all Freak movements, it serves as the watch’s minute indicator while it rotates around its own axis.

For enhanced efficiency and stability, Ulysse Nardin treats the movement’s dual oscillators and silicon balance wheels (inclined at 20 degrees) with a diamond coating called DIAMonSIL.

The watchmaker then coats the movement’s bridges with an anthracite-hued PVD and packs the minute hand with plenty of luminous light blue SuperLumiNova.

To wind the watch, Ulysse Nardin fits its own Grinder ultra-efficient winding system into the back, powering a full seventy-two-hour power reserve. The watchmaker calls Grinder “an automatic system that’s twice as efficient as a traditional automatic system.”

Ulysse Nardin is offering the Freak S Nomad as a limited edition of ninety-nine, each offered with a choice of two straps: one anthracite rubber ‘ballistic’ and the other in matte-finished anthracite alligator with sand-colored calfskin leather accents.

Ulysse Nardin has filed more than twenty patents for the Freak since 2001. You might recall that last year the watchmaker took home the Iconic Watch Prize at the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève for its Freak One. 

Price: $148,300.

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Watches and Wonders 2024: Parmigiani Fleurier Updates Toric and Drops a Date

Parmigiani Fleurier launches the Tonda PF Micro-Rotor No Date, creating an even more minimalistic option within its Tonda PF Micro-Rotor series.

 

The new Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF Micro-Rotor No Date.

The debut comes alongside a terrific new Toric collection that the watchmaker launched as its primary Watches and Wonders 2024 highlight. (We’ll have much more about the new Toric in a future post.) 

At Watches and Wonders 2024, Parmigiani Fleurier launched a new Toric collection, including a manual wind model (pictured) and a chronograph rattrapante (pictured below).
The new Parmigiani Fleurier Toric Chronograph Rattrapante

The Tonda PF Micro-Rotor No Date

In the full Parmigiani Fleurier collection since 2021, the initial Tonda PF Micro-Rotor watch displayed only minutes, hours and date on its signature, ultra-clean Grain d’Orge guilloche dial. 

The newest, cleaner dial echoes the existing date-free models within the Tonda PF Automatic series and the Tonda PF GMT Rattrapante collection, the latter of which was a highlight of the 2022 Watches and Wonders exhibit.

With this new iteration, the watchmaker strips the 40mm by 7.8mm watch of even its date display, leaving only the 18-karat gold, rhodium-plated skeletonized delta-shaped hands to offer the sole time display.

Parmigiani Fleurier retains the eye-catching guilloche dial pattern here, creating a specialized Golden Siena color.  The watchmaker describes the hue as “a shade with moiré effects directly inspired by the rich “sienna” palette, thus celebrating the subtle nuances and naturalness of the earth.”

Turn the watch over for a busier display. From the back, you’ll see the platinum oscillating weight as its powers the highly decorated PF703 automatic caliber.

Here more of the underlying movement plate can be viewed than is typical in other watches with micro-rotors. That’s because Parmigiani Fleurier watchmakers have created a specialized, slightly smaller rotor built with a unique shape.

Price: $25,300. 

Specifications: Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF Micro-Rotor No Date

FUNCTIONS: Hours, minutes

MOVEMENT: PF703 – Automatic Manufacture movement with platinum 950 micro-rotor. Power reserve: 48 hours

Frequency: 21,600 Vph (3 Hz)
Jewels: 29
No. of components: 160
Overall diameter: 30.6 mm
Thickness : 3.07 mm
Decoration : Côtes de Genève, Perlage Oscillating weight: platinum 950 micro- rotor, Grain d’Orge guilloché

DIAL: Color: Golden Siena
Finishing: Grain d’Orge hand-guilloché Indices: hand-applied rhodium-plated appliques
Hands: 18-karat gold rhodium-plated, skeletonized delta-shaped

CASE: Polished and satin-finished stainless steel with platinum 950 with knurled bezel Diameter: 40mm
Thickness: 7.8mm, Crown: 4.3mm, screwed-in
Glass: ARunic anti-reflective sapphire. Case back: sapphire glass
Engraving on case back: serial number – “PARMIGIANI FLEURIER”
Water resistance: 100 meters.

BRACELET:

Polished and satin-finished stainless steel bracelet
Closure: stainless steel folding clasp

Price: $25,300.

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Watches and Wonders 2024: Hublot Downsizes Big Bang 

The latest entry to the Hublot Big Bang series is not so big and displays a bit less bang.

One of six debuts The new Hublot Big Bang Integrated Time Only collection.

The new Hublot Big Bang Integrated Time Only, one of many Watches and Wonders 2024 debuts from the Swiss watchmaker, takes Hublot back in time to its 1980 roots with its three-hand-and-date display within an integrated 38mm case. 

While 38mm models with similar dials can be found in the current Big Bang Original collection, all are higher-priced diamond models. (Most existing Big Bang Original models measure 41mm or 44mm in diameter.)

The existing models are all also attached to straps. The new models feature fully integrated bracelets that offer a clean, screw-free link with their case. 

The 2024 debut series maintains Big Bang’s so-called ‘ears’ on each side of the case, as well as the six H-shaped functional screws that secure the bezel. The new watches also displays time with the Big Bang’s familiar large skeleton hour hand and minute hand, each accompanied a seconds hand that is tipped with the Hublot ‘H’. And as you can see, the same even-numbered indexes mark the time on the dial.

As an added bonus, all the debuts feature soft ferromagnetic steel dials that protect the Hublot MHUB1115 automatic movement from the problematic effects of magnetic fields.

Hublot debuts the Big Bang Integrated Time Only series with six models. Two are made with a brushed titanium case and bracelet, with a black or a blue dial. The next two versions are in King Gold, also with a blue or black dial. 

Two more versions are in cased in ceramic. One is entirely navy blue with a blue dial while the other is a familiar Black Magic style (above) known to Hublot collectors. The watch’s case, bracelet and dial are black, which makes it the first Big Bang Black Magic with a 38mm diameter (with an exception within the Classic Fusion series.)

Prices: $13,100 (Titanium), $15,300 (blue ceramic and Black Magic) and $47,100 (King Gold). 

Smaller Fusion Too

We’ll have more downsizing from Hublot in future posts. These smaller new models include of the 29mm Classic Fusion Original and Classic Fusion series in various case metals, with or without diamonds.  Here’s a preview: 

Two examples of Hublot’s new Classic Fusion models available in a wide range of 29mm case metals.
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Watches and Wonders 2024: Chopard Alpine Eagle & L.U.C XPS 

Chopard’s wide-ranging Watches and Wonders 2024 debuts include a premiere, ongoing titanium chronograph within the high-flying Alpine Eagle collection, plus a beautiful forest green-dialed model that now enhances the dressy L.U.C XPS series.

The new Chopard Alpine Eagle XL Chrono

Alpine Eagle 

Chopard’s sporty Alpine Eagle collection now includes the 44mm Alpine Eagle XL Chrono, the watchmaker’s first serially produced titanium chronograph within the collection. Though Chopard did previously offer two high-frequency Alpine Eagle watches using the lightweight, anti corrosive metal, the new chronograph joins the collection full-time.

With a new Rhône Blue dial color, the watch retains the Alpine Eagle’s characteristic ‘eagle’s iris’ pattern dial, meant to evoke both the strength of the namesake bird and the beauty of the Alps.  Chopard says this particular hue is inspired by the Rhône river, which originates in the Alps.

Chopard’s superb 03.05-C chronometer-certified flyback chronograph movement.

Powering the chronograph is Chopard’s superb 03.05-C chronometer-certified flyback chronograph movement, which boasts a sixty-hour power reserve and is the subject of three technical patents. Its unidirectional gear drive system reduces energy loss, according to Chopard, while also ensuring rapid automatic winding. In addition, a vertical clutch ensures accurate time-measurement starts.

As with all watches sold from within the Alpine Eagle collection, part of the proceeds from sales of this model will be donated to the Alpine Eagle Foundation, which aims to protect the white-tailed eagle population around Lake Geneva, among many other environmental causes. 

The watch, Ref. 298609-3008, is a Chopard Boutique exclusive. Price: $25,000. 

L.U.C XPS Forest Green 

Chopard’s L.U.C collection debuts have been highlights of many previous Watches and Wonders exhibitions, and the latest entry, the L.U.C XPS Forest Green, is no exception. 

With its retro sector-type dial, the new with oozes vintage charm. Teamed with a movement from  Chopard’s well-known L.U.C series ( the automatic L.U.C 96.12-L caliber), the watch combines an ultra-thin profile with both traditional and very modern touches.

The vintage-looking satin-brushed dark green dial is achieved, ironically, by use of a modern PVD treatment.

The 40mm by 7.2mm steel case is very modern too. It is composed of in Lucent Steel, Chopard’s own alloy produced with a recycling rate of at least 80%. The movement is an ultra-thin caliber measuring just 3.30 mm thick.

It features a bidirectional 22-karat gold micro-rotor and twin stacked barrels, called Chopard Twin Technology, that provides a sixty-five-hour power reserve.

Price: $11,800. 

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Watches & Wonders 2024: The Zenith Defy Skyline Chronograph

  

Zenith adds a chronograph to its Defy Skyline collection, the watchmaker’s contemporary version of its Defy series from the early 1970s characterized by its octagonal case and multi-sided bezel.

The new Zenith Defy Skyline Chronograph.

Debuting three years ago with time-only models, and now including tourbillon and skeleton models, Defy Skyline has become one of the watchmakers best-selling collections. With the new Defy Skyline Chronograph, the collection offers an even sportier option within the same contemporary design.

The new watch also adds another Zenith series that highlights the Manufacture’s El Primero 3600 automatic high-frequency chronograph caliber with a 1/10th of a second chronograph function.

With three dial options, the new watches retain Skyline’s 41mm steel case and add pushers, the collection’s first, with a design that echoes those seen on existing Defy Extreme models. A screw-down crown with the Zenith star logo helps ensure a water-resistance of 100 meters.

Available in metallic black, blue or silver, the Defy Skyline Chronograph’s dial maintains the signature sunray pattern metallic design, engraved with four-pointed stars, found throughout the Defy Skyline series.

To display chronograph times, Zenith places a set of three overlapping counters, which show the elapsed seconds and minutes of the chronograph and the constant running seconds. The date window matches the dial color, a feature seen throughout the El Primero models. The flange ring with the 1/10th of a second scale has twelve facets to form the dodecagonal bezel, which are essentially hour marker extensions.

As with all Defy Skyline models, the new Defy Skyline Chronograph offers an integrated quick strap-change mechanism. With a push of a button, the three-link steel bracelet can be swapped with the supplied star-patterned rubber strap with steel folding buckle. 

Price: $12,300.

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