ALL ABOARD

Also blazing a horological trail is the latest variation of the Freak watch, the Freaklab. It’s the first Freak to feature a date display (at 4 o’clock); have its balance wheel dead in the centre of the watch; and sport a brand new set of shock absorbers, the Ulychoc system. The Freak is renowned for not having a dial or hands in the traditional sense. The “dial” is really a movement plate while the doubledecked gear train assembly, which rotates on its own axis, functions as the hours and minutes hands. The Freaklab is no different, except this time, the design elements make strong reference to Ulysse Nardin’s nautical past, when it produced highly accurate marine chronometers for use on ships. The gear train assembly’s “lower deck” displays the hours in the form of an anchor motif; the “upper deck” resembles a sail and indicates the minutes; and the movement plate is striated like the wooden deck of a yacht. Unlike typical shock absorbers that consist of five parts, the Ulychoc system replaces three of those parts with a single component made of silicon. Again, silicon’s properties mean that friction is non-existent. The system is a world-first and has a patent pending. A safety clip at 6 o’clock releases the bezel, which the user rotates clockwise to set the hours and minutes, and anticlockwise to set the date. Like previous editions of the Freak, the Freaklab has no winding crown. Its mainspring barrel is wound by rotating the bezel on the caseback. The Ulysse Anchor Tourbillon and Freaklab: two more feathers in Ulysse Nardin’s already well-decorated cap.