ULYSSE NARDIN

Two one-of-a-kind Freak Vision timepieces have swum out of the depths of Ulysse Nardin's unique nautical universe. Named after the famous snorkelling reef of Coral Bay in Western Australia, the two Freak Vision Coral Bay timepieces contain a host of horological game-changers, a super-light silicium balance wheel with nickel mass elements and stabilizing micro-blades and a super-thin new case design made even thinner by a box-domed crystal. Now, the aesthetic techniques showcased in the Coral Bay incarnations provide a perfect foil for this technological masterwork. The Swiss Manufacture now uses thousands of 24 carat gold threads to create painstakingly delicate patterns. Ulysse Nardin uses bonding because the fabulously intricate designs it creates delight the eye. A bonding machine squeezes a gold thread on each side, one thread after another, to draw a coral reef motif on the watch movement's barrel spring bridge. Each thread is a different size, and all are tied only at the top and bottom of the thread, but not in its centre. To create blue and yellow gold coral reef patterns, the watchmaker colours the component and the coral reefs with a chemical vapour disposition process in blue. The entire surface is coloured except the departure and arrival points of the yellow gold threads, which are laser cleaned. Then the yellow gold threads are bonded to the component.