Where it all began - Le Locle
The Beginning. The middle of the 19th century saw the beginnings of a technological arms race for chronometric precision that would change the world. A long-held dominance by British watchmakers was drawing to a close. The source of this downfall wasn’t to come from a great, global power, but a small, landlocked nation of farmers—and specifically, a tiny little town called Le Locle, a place young Ulysse Nardin called home.
The Rise of Swiss Watchmaking
Up until this point, Swiss watchmaking could not yet compete with England’s finest. Production followed the établissage system, in which components made by hundreds of craftsmen were assembled into modest, affordable watches. But increasing pressure from the new American factories, capable of producing high volumes of very accurate watches at a very reasonable price, was placing a strain on the global watch market. It would be England’s downfall and Switzerland’s rise.
Driving Technical Development
A few decades earlier, the British Royal Observatory in Greenwich had established a chronometry competition to challenge watchmakers to build more precise clocks, vital for navigating oceans safely. Marine chronometers, the instruments that made longitude calculation possible, were expensive and rare, and the competitions sought to accelerate their technical development. The competitions spread across observatories around western Europe, including Ulysse Nardin’s local observatory, Neuchatel.
Ulysse Nardin and a Boundary-Pushing Vision
It was the perfect opportunity for Ulysse to make his mark in this new, high-tech world of watchmaking. His father, a watchmaker specialising in minute repeaters, taught him everything he knew. Ulysse then sought the knowledge of two local experts in the field of precision, William Dubois and Louis Richard, who helped him understand that the level of accuracy he was aiming for would require a completely new approach to watchmaking.
In 1846, in the attic of his family home, aged just 23 and funded by a 500 francs loan from his father, Ulysse Nardin founded his eponymous brand. Ultimate precision was the goal, an uncharted territory at the bleeding edge of technological capability. It was to become a family endeavour, with Ulysse’s sister setting the ruby bearings and his brother assisting with the export of the watches.
Ulysse was successful in producing accurate, complex pocket watches, including examples with an 8-day power reserve, foudroyante seconds and a complete calendar with moon phase, but it soon became clear that the advanced precision he sought was even more of a challenge than he had anticipated. At the time, chronometry was measured at the local observatories, but the process was too slow for Ulysse. If he wanted true mastery of chronometry, he would need to bring this capability into his own workshop.
Achieving New Levels of Watch Accuracy
So in 1860, in an audacious move that could have been his downfall, Ulysse invested in an observatory-grade precision regulator clock known as an astronomical regulator. This very expensive piece of cutting-edge technical instrumentation allowed him to set and measure the accuracy of his watches very precisely. It became the beating heart of his workshop, allowing his business to be more agile in the development of the ultimate chronometer. It was such a prized possession, that during a workshop fire, it was the first thing he rescued.
Chronometry Prizes and Technical Recognition
Two accelerated years after the acquisition of the astronomical regulator, Ulysse Nardin was triumphant, winning the first of many gold medals in chronometry at the London Exhibition in 1862. But it wasn’t prizes he was after, it was industry dominance in the field of the most accurate timekeepers in the world, marine chronometers. It was clear to him at this point that it would be an endeavour that would span generations.
Ulysse Nardin’s Legacy of Precision and Innovation
In his twilight years, Ulysse Nardin dedicated his time to training his son, Paul-David, in the passion of precision. Ulysse Nardin’s legacy would live on in his son’s endeavours, who won his first gold medal shortly after his father’s death. Paul-David would also be inspired to bring a never-before-seen level of science and engineering to the manufacture of clocks and watches, ultimately realising Ulysse Nardin’s dream of the most accurate marine chronometer in the world. It would be a century of global dominance, originating from the family attic of a 23-year-old’s workshop in the quiet little Swiss town of Le Locle, where the brand still resides to this day.