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Ulysse Nardin Celebrates Silicon in New Blast Free Wheel Marquetry 

Ulysse Nardin places its silicon Ulysse Anchor Constant Escapement at the center of a new watch, the Blast Free Wheel Marquetry, which dramatically utilizes silicon as an artistic material. The watchmaker pioneered the use of silicon components for watchmaking, debuting them in the first Ulysse Nardin Freak in 2001.

The new Ulysse Nardin Blast Free Wheel Marquetry.

The 45mm white gold watch, which debuts during Geneva Watch Week, joins the watchmaker’s collection of impressive Blast Free Wheel models characterized by raised, free-floating components.

The components are part of the innovative UN-176 movement, are here set amid an eye-catching blue pattern made from a multi-colored silicon marquetry disc, a debut for the Blast collection. 

The dial includes 103 radiant blue marquetry slivers made of a variety of thin matte and mirror-polished silicon surfaces. The surfaces vary in thickness from 0.30mm and 0.35mm, with their changing reflections and contrasts creating the dial’s visual splendor.

Ulysse Nardin also decorates the back plate with blue silicon, here in a single-plate form with a series of well-placed apertures that frame a few of the movement’s gears and pivots.

To review, the Free Wheel concept is Ulysse Nardin’s ode to historic mystery clocks, with a few visible components floating above a dial operating in harmony thanks to cleverly placed gearing below.

A dual barrel at the top of the dial is wound manually, delivering seven-days of power through the Ulysse Nardin flying tourbillon set with Ulysse Nardin’s unusual in-house, silicon Anchor Escapement. 

Also seen on the dial: The flying barrel (at 12 o’clock, without any visible attachment on the surface), flanked by an intermediate wheel on its left, a power reserve differential, and a reduction gear on its right.

The one-piece gold case is also unusual, featuring a cutout exposing the sapphire crystal box that offers a stunning, wide-open view of the movement through the sides.

The focus of the movement, the Ulysse Anchor Constant Escapement, is circular with a pallet fork fixed in the center supported on two ultra-thin blade springs. These spring are mounted perpendicular to each other and bend to provide a perfectly even impulse on the balance wheel regardless of power reserve.

The Ulysse Anchor Constant Escapement with escapement wheel, anchor & balance spring in silicon.

The Ulysse Anchor Constant Escapement is a major departure from the traditional Swiss anchor escapement. Its inclusion in the Ulysse Nardin Anchor Tourbillon is the likely reason it won the Tourbillon Prize at the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève in 2015. 

Price: $137,200

 

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Featured Events

Geneva Watch Days: A Corum Flying Tourbillon 

Corum presents a concept watch made from recycled titanium that frames a flying tourbillon and an aventurine stone dial set, quite unusually, beneath the movement.

The new Corum Concept Watch, a flying tourbillon set with sapphire bridges and an aventurine dial.

The technical showcase, which Corum will produce in ‘extremely limited quantities,’ abounds in organic shapes with its rounded openings and gently curved case edges. Its movement appears to float amid sapphire bridges, which expose the aventurine dial below as well as all the movement’s gearing.

Corum powers the watch with a finely wrought flying tourbillon movement beating at 3 Hz (21,600 vph) offering a superior ninety-hour power reserve. The rare vertical gear alignment for the manually wound flying tourbillon here somewhat echoes the layout of the Corum Golden Bridge collection, one of the watchmaker’s best-known designs.

Corum also provides an eye-catch caseback design that again highlights the unusual gear layout. Corum designers have etched pop-art descriptions of the movement’s components adjacent to the caseback opening. 

The window whimsically highlights the tourbillon, mainspring and gear train with brief descriptions of the primary functions of each component.

The new watch only measures 39.5mm in diameter, which is unusually small for a complicated Swiss-made concept watch. Corum notes that the moderate size opens up the field of customers for the piece, which will fit on any size wrist. 

The bracelet here echoes the case and is crafted from recycled textiles and can be additionally adjusted using Corum’s own specialized bracelet adjustment system.

Price: $465,000.

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The Watches

New Ball Watch ‘Skindiver’ is Stylish and Practical 

While it may be called Skindiver, the Ball Watch EM Skindiver III Beyond is built to standards that allow it to withstand the extreme conditions and rigors that even professional decompression divers will endure.

The new Ball Watch EM Skindiver III Beyond.

It also happens to be well-made and a handsome watch that will appeal to anyone who enjoys a sports watch look – or just swimming in style. 

Inside the 41.5mm x 13.8mm stainless steel case, this Skindiver houses an automatic winding movement beating at 28,800 vph with an 80-hour power reserve and adjusted and tuned to chronometer standards. The Swiss made movement is anti-magnetic and upgraded with the Ball Amortiser system which brings the anti-shock rating to an impressive 5,000Gs.

Encompassing the cyclops-enhanced sapphire crystal over the dial, the unidirectional rotating bezel has embedded self-illuminating tritium tubes and a domed sapphire crystal ring of its own. Tritium tubes are also used on the dial and hands for superb low-light legibility.

The watch has a classic, timeless look that is both stylish and practical. The black dial and stainless-steel case and bracelet give the watch a sporty tool-watch appearance, while the matte dial has a subtle finish visible under magnification that minimizes glare. 

Overall, the Ball Watch EM Skindiver III Beyond is an exceptional dive watch that combines durability, functionality, and style. Whether you are a professional diver or simply someone who enjoys spending time outdoors, this watch is a great choice. Price: $3,699. More info at www.shop.ballwatch.ch.

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The Watches

MB&F Expands HM9-SV  

MB&F adds two new versions of its aerodynamic Horological Machine No.9 Sapphire Vision (HM9-SV), now offering models with a blue CVD movement in a white gold frame and a green CVD movement with a yellow gold frame. The clear case fully exposes the watch’s dual cantilevered balances, planetary differential and free-spinning twin turbines.

One of two new HM9-SV models.

Both new models expand the HM9-SV series, which debuted in 2021 with four clear sapphire editions of the original HM9.

With its sapphire livery, the watch joined a family of MB&F models with significant clear sapphire customization, including the HM8,  the HM3 FrogX and the ten-sapphire-crystal HM6.

The pioneering independent watchmaker debuted its first HM9 Flow in 2019 as a tribute to 1940s and 1950s automotive and aeronautic designs.

Re-engineered

MB&F culls from its wide-ranging experience of creating with sapphire when re-engineering the HM9 with its clear case. On these SV models, MB&F seals the outer hull with a proprietary three-dimensional gasket and specialized high-tech compound bonding process. The result is new type of water resistant seal (to 30 meters) that is practically invisible.

MB&F explains that its designers were also required to rework a few the original HM9 dimensions with smoother lines and fewer edges to account for the property differences of sapphire crystal.

While quite hard, sapphire can fracture under pressure, which means the smoother lines on this HM9-SV limited this possibility. At the same time the rounded edges only enhance the organic aesthetic of the full watch.

Also new to the HM9-SV is an enhanced shock-resistance system made of laser-forged springs placed between the movement and the case.

As a reminder, the ‘flow’ of time begins on the HM9-SV with two fully independent cantilevered balances that dominate the top of the HM9-SV channel data into the central, spiky differential.

This effectively melds the information sent by the dual balances to a single time-pulse. High-tech conical gears then transmit that energy to through a 90° angle, which in turn makes its way to the HM9-SV’s perpendicular sapphire crystal dial.

MB&F is offering both new editions to the HM9 Sapphire Vision family (PVD-coated blue movement with a white gold frame and a PVD-coated green movement with a yellow gold frame) as a limited edition of five pieces. Price: $490,000. 

Specifications: MB&F Horological Machine No.9 – Sapphire Vision

Movement: Manual-winding in-house with two fully independent balance wheels with planetary differential, frequency of 18,000 bph, single barrel with 45-hour power reserve. Hours and minutes on vertical dial display, dual spherical turbines under the movement,  shock-absorbing helicoidal springs linking the movement to the case.

Case: ‘SV’ editions in 57mm x 47mm x 23mm sapphire crystal with frame in 18-karat white, yellow or rose gold (5N+). Hour/minute dial in sapphire crystal with anti-reflective treatment and Super-LumiNova on the numbers and indexes. Water resistant to 30 meters. Unique assembly process of the three sapphire crystal case parts with a patented three-dimensional gasket and high-tech bonding compound. Total of five sapphire crystals treated with anti-reflective coating: three crystals for the main components of the case, one crystal covering the dial, and one crystal for the dial itself.

Strap: Hand-stitched brown or black alligator strap with red, yellow or white gold folding buckle matching the case.

Price: $490,000. 

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American Brands

A Black Tie Timex

By Gary Girdvainis

Giorgio Galli’s CV includes over thirty years in the watch industry with designs and collaborations with numerous brands we all recognize. Today, as the creative director at Timex, Galli has launched a design that is so pure and elegant that it demands our attention.

The new Timex Giorgio Galli S2.

The eponymous release is called the GG(Giorgio Galli) S2 and it takes the Timex brand into new realms of movements, price-points, and unfettered design. 

The black dial with the notched metal ring is subtly elegant without the clamor of ostentation or affectation. Upon closer inspection, the attention to detail comes to light in the multi-faceted hour and minute hands.

To my eye the flat hands typical of so many affordable watches falls flat on me. When beveled, watch hands capture and reflect light, not only making the watches easier to read on a black background, but also adding a depth and panache to any watch in which they are installed.

Galli also made the right choice to eschew the date function on this watch. No-doubt the purity of this design would have been deflated by any distractions on this austere dial.

From the back you’ll note that rather than a threaded case-back Galli opted for a back held in place with six-screws. While it is more difficult to get higher levels of water resistance in this type of construction, it does look good to the eye and has the advantage of always having the case back oriented in the vertical position. Still, the GGS2 is water resistant to 50 meters, which is more than sufficient for a dress watch of this type.

The GGS2 also represents a new price point for Timex and is effectively double the cost of the nearest Timex I could find on the company’s website. Having said that, there is a lot of watch for the money embedded in this design.

The Swiss-made watch houses a Sellita SW 200 automatic winding mechanical movement, combines injection molded steel and titanium into the perfectly proportioned 38mm case, and features flat sapphire crystals front and back. Add to that a solid steel deployant buckle and a chemical resistant nitrile rubber strap and you end up with a lot of watch for $975. 

To Timex and Giorgio Galli I say bravo for creating the Black Tie(mex), a watch retailing for under $1,000 that would look right at home at any black tie affair.

Giorgio Galli wearing the watch he designed.
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