Ulysse Classics: Freak 2001
Launched in 2001 under the behest of the visionary Rolf Schnyder, the Freak was the single most iconoclastic act of horological audacity in the history of modern watchmaking.
The introduction of the Freak at the 2001 Basel Fair sent shockwaves through the watch industry. The reception at Ulysse Nardin’s booth was electric. Rumors had spread of a watch that shattered all preconceived notions of traditional haute horlogerie; a watch where the movement was injected with what the ancient Greeks called anima, seeming to come to life to twist and turn to indicate the time, as if a living sentient being.
2001 Basel Fair
THE FIRST OF ITS KIND
What is so unique about the Freak? It is the first watch ever created where the movement rotates to tell the time. The barrel, like the gas tank of the watch, containing its mighty mainspring rotates once every 12 hours. It is connected to a center pinion that drives the bridge featuring the gear train around the perimeter of the case flange once every hour.
This is the Freak’s famous orbital flying one-hour carrousel. Fitted to the end of the bridge is the Freak’s escapement, hairspring and balance. You witness this pulsing with life before your eyes like the beating heart of the watch.
A UNIQUE CONCEPT
Every key concept that defines new-millennium watchmaking can be traced back to the Freak. The idea of full transparency, being able to see through the watch, comes from the Freak.
The concept of the engine as an art form, the movement laid bare in full display as the star, comes from the Freak. The concept of civil time telling transformed into kinetic art comes from the Freak.
To me, it was the first and most significant act of modern horological art. It was a watch whose primary purpose was to convey an emotional or an artistic expression of time.
SILICON – A TECHNOLOGICAL BREAKTHROUGH
Ulysse Nardin’s Freak holds the pioneer status as the very first luxury watch to use silicon, and it came down to two little wheels roughly the size of pin heads. These were the two wheels comprising the Dual Direct Escapement created by watch genius Dr. Ludwig Oechslin.
They were, in turn, inspired by the famous Abraham-Louis Breguet’s échappement naturel, an escapement he designed to no longer require lubrication. Because the incredible Freak featured its heart beating for the world to see just under its sapphire crystal, Schnyder decided that this was the perfect watch to showcase the all-new escapement. But the problem, compared to a traditional Swiss anchor escapement with steel wheels, was that these damn double wheels consumed twice as much energy.
PIONEER IN SILICON
Ulysse Nardin had experimented with a variety of other materials such as aluminum. The brand famously almost gave up hope when Pierre Gygax proposed the seemingly crazy idea of silicon. Said Rolf Schnyder when interviewed many years ago, “ I knew that if we had to follow the route of traditional watchmaking, we would never catch up with the entrenched leaders who had already been crafting beautiful complicated watches for centuries. I needed something that would let me leapfrog over the competition and become a leader in the form of new technology. When I saw silicon and understood its true potential in watchmaking, I knew that this was our opportunity. ”
With that, Schnyder boldly decided to journey where no watch brand had dared go before, with the integration of silicon technology for the two gear wheels of the Freak’s escapement boldly blitzing away for everyone to see right under the watch’s sapphire.