Ulysse Nardin Drops a Military-Style Freak Watch at Dubai Watch Week – Robb Report

Ulysse Nardin

While today’s horological landscape sees high-end independent brands crafting mind-numbingly creative timepieces by hand, 20 years ago things looked very different.

This was the time of the big watch—an era where 47 mm Panerais and 44 mm Royal Oak Offshores were king. It was in this landscape that a genius watchmaker named Dr. Ludwig Oechslin designed the Freak for Ulysse Nardin: Rethinking the conventional watch movement, he brought forth a timepiece in which a linear escapement is mounted on a central carousel that rotates once per hour around the dial, forming a hand. The movement is wound and set via the bezel, obviating the need for a conventional crown.

Over two decades later, the Freak, with its advanced materials and unusual design, is still considered a unique horological breakthrough—though U.N. continues to toy with its form, tweaking it subtly and expanding the collection. This past year, at Watches & Wonders Geneva, the Swiss maison debuted the Freak ONE, updating the model with DIAMonSIL coating (a diamond coating that protects silicon), a Grinder winding system, and DLC-coated titanium. Much as Rolex subtly updates a model family over decades, the ONE is no grand departure from the norm, but rather a subtle evolution; it still lacks a conventional crown, dial, and handset.

In honor of Dubai Watch Week—a biannual fair held in the UAE that sees brands, collectors, and journalists come together in celebration of all things watches—Ulysse Nardin released a new version of the Freak ONE with its special “OPS” treatment. Previously used on the Freak X back in September, “OPS” is a military-adjacent aesthetic that makes use of olive drab or khaki green, black, DLC-coated titanium, and Carbonium for a unique, adventurous look. 

Green, you’ll no doubt have noticed, has made a strong showing these past few years—something of which Jean-Christophe Sebatier, head of product marketing at UN, most certainly took notice. “Of course we observe the trends and have seen that green is a trendy color, but we didn’t want to do a traditional green like everybody’s doing today,” he said. “We also didn’t want to do a militaristic watch. We thought it was cool to bring this notion of adventure, of exploration, which is clearly related to [the watch’s] technical DNA and mindset.” 

Given the industry’s proclivity to ceaselessly plumb the depths of the military watch mine, it’s refreshing to find in the Freak [ONE OPS] a timepiece that references mil-spec design without being an homage to a specific, long-discontinued model. Indeed, that the Freak was never an actual military watch in any form removes a level of pressure from the design team, which can concentrate on making the watch, well, cool. (However, better water resistance would certainly be welcome—3 meters seems too little for anything other than a svelte dress watch these days.) Measuring 44 mm in DLC-coated titanium, the watch feels distinctly smaller than its dimensions would convey, and the lightness of the materials used certainly make for a more comfortable wearing experience.

The bidirectional bezel, fashioned from Carbonium, is central to the watch’s functionality: Distinctly futuristic looking, it’s secured by a tab that, when opened, allows one to set the time via rotation in either direction. (The outer caseback ring on the back of the watch can similarly be rotated for manual winding of the movement—though said movement is so efficient that this is largely unnecessary.) Set within the bezel is what the brand calls the “barrel cover,” as the watch lacks a dial in the traditional sense; sunray-patterned and khaki in color, it’s overlaid with an outer chapter ring featuring sand-colored cardinal and dash indices. The central time-telling components, however, are all part of the Freak’s unique movement.

The linear gear train of the Ulysse Nardin UN-240 automatic movement is counterweighted by a flying balance bridge. Cleverly, the minutes indicator itself forms the brand’s signature anchor logo, which is mirrored in the hour indicator as well. Consisting of 229 parts and boasting a substantial 90-hour power reserve and a DIAMonSIL-coated escapement, the UN-240’s Grinder rotor system easily and efficiently converts the smallest of movements into potential energy via bidirectional winding. And though its concentric design is largely pedestrian when viewed from the caseback’s transparent sapphire crystal, the visual feast provided via the “dial” side of the watch is enough to stop even the most jaded collector in his tracks. 

Finished with a comfortable khaki and black ballistic rubber strap, the Freak [ONE OPS] ($66,500) is a welcome addition to a groundbreaking line, and one of the clear standout releases of Dubai Watch Week. Sebatier is justifiably proud of its contribution not only to UN, but to the greater watch landscape: “During the past 20 years, the Freak has been considered a kind of laboratory on the wrist, with many innovations, 20 patents…it’s highly spectacular, highly technical, a little bit esoteric,” he says. “The idea we have is to keep this track record, but also to make this timepiece comfortable, cool, easy to wear, ergonomic—to not only provide pleasure to watch enthusiasts, but also, to create a watch to be worn.”