Ulysse Nardin / [Super]

Key Highlights

• [Super] Freak limited edition with in-house automatic caliber UN-252 and 511 components.
• Automatic double tourbillon carousel with two inclined flying tourbillons on the minute bridge.
• Integrates 35 Freak patents and eight active patents, including a gimbal system and vertical differential.
• Patented Grinder® automatic winding system delivers a three-day power reserve while driving over 97% of the movement in motion.
• White-gold 44 mm case, blue Nanosital® hour disc and hand-finished movement, limited to 50 pieces worldwide.

From Marine Chronometers to the Freak

For 180 years, Ulysse Nardin has pursued precision, from marine chronometers to experimental wristwatches. That trajectory shifted in 2001 with the Freak, which replaced the traditional dial-and-hands layout with a rotating movement that displays the time and pioneered silicon in a wristwatch.

Since then, the Freak collection has acted as a laboratory on the wrist with 35 patented innovations, including silicon escapements, DIAMonSIL® and the Grinder® winding system. It has defined Ulysse Nardin’s identity as an independent manufacture that rethinks movement architecture.

The UN-252: A Mechanical Concentrate

The [Super] Freak condenses 25 years of Freak research into the automatic caliber UN-252, a 511-component manufacture movement developed over four years. More than 97% of the components are in motion with only 13 fixed parts, over 70% of the movement is hand-finished and each watch is assembled and tested by a single Grandes Complications watchmaker.

At its core is a flying carousel that rotates once per hour. Time is set via the bezel and the movement is wound through the caseback. Hours appear on a rotating light-blue Nanosital® disc that turns once every 12 hours, while the minute indication is carried by the bridge spanning the dial side.

Double Tourbillon Carousel and Energy

The defining feature of the [Super] Freak is its double tourbillon configuration. The minute bridge incorporates hundreds of components and carries two titanium flying tourbillons, each inclined at 10 degrees, rotating in opposite directions and completing one revolution every 60 seconds, yet the bridge weighs only 3.5 grams.

To sustain this architecture, Ulysse Nardin uses the patented Grinder® automatic system, whose oscillating weight is linked to a frame with four ultra-thin levers. By increasing the effective angular stroke compared with a conventional rotor, Grinder® captures energy from slight wrist motion and maintains a three-day power reserve for the carousel and twin tourbillons.

Why It Matters

The [Super] Freak is presented as Ulysse Nardin’s most complex time-only watch and the first automatic double tourbillon carousel, uniting 180 years of marine chronometry with 25 years of Freak experimentation. For GCC collectors focused on technical content, independent manufacture savoir-faire and scarcity, it concentrates silicon expertise, advanced micro-mechanics and hand-finishing into a run of only 50 pieces worldwide.