Ulysse Nardin Freak S Nomad Reviewed by Tim Mosso – Spoiler Alert, He Likes It!
by Tim Mosso
I felt spoiled while reviewing this 2024 Ulysse Nardin Freak S Nomad. Not only was it a break from my usual routine of surveying used watches sourced from my office, but this specific Freak is a prototype example delivered straight from the factory.
Ulysse Nardin Freak S Nomad
After a decade of portraying used watches that arrived at random, receiving hardware direct from an OEM felt like stepping up from Greyhound to Gulfstream.
It’s not often that I review a new/primary retail watch on these pages, but it’s a sign of changing times in my world. “WatchuWant.com” and its discount preowned watches became “WatchBox” with a hard focus on premium preowned.
Then “WatchBox” became “The 1916 Company,” and new watches are on my radar for the first time. This kind of fresh-baked access is a privilege I rarely enjoyed in my aftermarket life in the past. All of which is to say I’m still an analytical nerd, but now I get to analyze things with stickers still attached.
Ulysse Nardin Freak S in red gold from 2022
The first Freak S arrived in April of 2022 – shortly after Ulysse Nardin’s landmark purchase by its management from corporate owner Kering. Although that Freak certainly was developed under the former overlord, it seemed like the ultimate “fresh start” statement piece and a formidable declaration of intent.
The first Freak S, at 45mm in rose gold, black ceramic, aventurine glass, and titanium, it had grandeur. And with its differentially geared dual escapements on a carrousel, it felt like a Philippe Dufour Duality built by aliens.
I was in love with the idea of the Freak S, but I couldn’t get my mind around something that big and flamboyantly rose gold. Forging a Freak from colored gold is like adding two extra wheels to a Mercedes-Benz G-Class; there’s a guy – somewhere – who can pull off the G63 AMG 6×6, but I’m not that guy.
A 45mm rose gold watch was destined to be something I’d admire but never want.
Ulysse Nardin Freak S Nomad
What a difference two years makes; I want this Freak S Nomad.
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Start with the basics. The new Nomad is a titanium cased Freak S with carbon fiber composite cladding on its flanks. While the carbon is laced with subtle veins of yellow gold, the material doesn’t overpower like the solid gold 2022 original. 99 pieces will be offered for 2024, so this offering is only slightly more common than the 75-unit original series.
Ulysse Nardin Freak S Nomad
The Freak S Nomad draws its name from the “sand colored” guilloché dial base which replaces the aventurine base of the original Freak S. Presumably, the combination of “sand” and “Nomad” intends to evoke desert-based itinerant peoples.
Ulysse Nardin Freak S Nomad
The guilloché work deserves special mention. This isn’t the stamped variety that’s now common even at the “holy trinity” level of luxury watchmaking. Actual engine-turning by a lathe artisan delivers deep and drastic cuts that impart surface tension missing from the aventurine original.
Whether the color is actually “sand,” “champagne,” or “ginger ale” is less important than the luminous quality it brings to the exquisite guillochage. The intricacy of rose lathe work often gets lost in the void of dark colors. UN product planners calculated this shade for its luminous qualities, and that’s mission accomplished.
Super-LumiNova filled hour hand of the Ulysse Nardin Freak S Nomad
Chemical vapor deposition, a PVD-alternative gaining popularity for its success with bright colors, makes the look possible. More than just a base, the engine-turned dial moves in 12-hour circuits and carries the hour hand of the watch.
Ulysse Nardin Freak S Nomad carrousel regulator
While it’s debatable whether the Freak’s carriage is a true “carrousel” in the 1890s “Bahne Bonniksen” sense, there’s no denying that it’s not a tourbillon.
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While the Diavolo model gave Freak fans a true tourbillon option in 2010, the rotating assembly of the Freak S doesn’t work like a tourbillon. Carrousels have separate drive trains for the escapement and carriage, so it’s possible to move the carriage independently without massively overdriving and crashing the escapement.
That basic principle has enabled the entire 23-year run of Freaks with settable minute hands that also bear escapements.
In an era when lower priced Freaks with crowns exist, it’s important to emphasize that the Freaks with bezel-setting remain the top of the line. The Freak S Nomad sits at the collection’s apex. That becomes abundantly clear upon inspection of the carrousel.
Ulysse Nardin Freak S Nomad
As with all Freaks since the 2001 original, a rotating carriage acts as both the minute hand of the dial and the vast majority of the movement itself. Unlike any previous Freaks, the “S” model mounts two independent escapements and oscillators on the rotating carriage.
Differential of the Ulysse Nardin Freak S Nomad
A differential at the rear of the assembly averages the dual rates and outputs the result via a pinion riding a fixed ring gear at the periphery of the dial.
Differential of the Ulysse Nardin Freak S Nomad
While the original concept of the tourbillon – and the carrousel – was to average out gravitational error of a pocket watch in a permanent vertical orientation, this isn’t optimal for wristwatches. Wristwatches move in random ways and spend unequal times in different orientations.
Ulysse Nardin rests none of the Freak S’ precision play on the carrousel and nearly all on the geared escapements. Since they are angled 20 degrees from the horizontal, equal in geometry, and opposite in orientation, the two oscillators act as self-cancelling mirrors through the magic of the differential.
Unlike a tourbillon, the averaged oscillators of the Freak S instantly cancel positional errors driven by the motion or orientation of the watch.
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To be sure, the idea of differentially geared opposing oscillators is as ancient as anything in mechanical horology. But UN makes this application unique by infusing the Freak S with more of the silicon technology first introduced to watch engineering by the 2001 ur-Freak.
Ulysse Nardin Freak S Nomad
The full escapements, hairsprings, and all but the white gold masses of the balance wheels are crafted from silicon shaped by DRIE technology. These components limit drivetrain mass, resist the effects of magnetism, limit friction, and minimize the impact of temperature change on the timing organs.
Unlike any other manufacturer of its size, Ulysse Nardin owns its silicon technology and means of production through Sigatec, a subsidiary acquired in 2006.
Back of the Ulysse Nardin Freak S Nomad
Although the Freak S remains bezel-set and caseback windable like all the premium Freak offerings, its automatic winding system sets it apart from most historic Freak models. The system, dubbed “Grinder,” is a re-imagining of traditional automatic winding mechanisms that appeared in 2017 on the InnoVision 2 concept watch.
It’s difficult to describe without animations, but the fundamentals include efficient winding due to low friction, compliant mechanisms, several pawl-based ratchets, and sensitivity to slight movements.
Since the system pivots around a fixed center, the Grinder is a unique breed that blends some elements of both center and peripheral rotor automatics.
True to its billing, very little motion is necessary to set the Grinder’s mass whizzing, and there does seem to be something to the claims that it is better able to convert slight disturbances to stored energy.
Ulysse Nardin Freak S Nomad
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It’s worth mentioning that the Grinder is not featured on the crown-equipped Freak X, which employs a conventional center rotor. On a ribald note, the suggestive name fits perfectly with a brand whose NSFW erotic watches are an infamous staple of industry trade shows.
Ulysse Nardin Freak X with blue dial in titanium
In my recent interview with Ulysse Nardin Managing Director Matthieu Haverlan, he expressed interest in keeping the Freak both central to the brand image and comparatively rare. Of anticipated annual production in the 10,000-unit range, a run of 1,000 Freaks can be expected.
That production, in turn, will be dominated by the basic Freak X.
Far fewer examples of the GPHG-laureate Freak ONE will be made. And the Freak S, when offered, will amount to dozens per annum.
While I tend to avoid emotional connections with the thousands of watches I process, the Freak S Nomad was returned to its maker with regret. A rarity, indeed.
Ulysse Nardin Freak S Nomad
For more information, please visit www.ulysse-nardin.com/watches/freak/2513-500le-4a-gui-3a
Quick Facts: Ulysse Nardin Freak S Nomad
Reference Code: 2513-500LE-4A-GUI/3A
Edition: 2024, 99 pieces
Case: Titanium case core with gold-laced carbon fiber composite flanks; 45mm diameter; 17mm thick; 53.5mm lug-to-lug; 23mm lug spacing; 30-meters WR; no crowns; sapphire caseback; individual series number plate on nine o’clock flank; manual winding by mobile caseback; time setting by mobile bezel
Strap: Anthracite rubber ballistic textured with “sand” contrast binding stitch
Clasp: Titanium double-fold deployant clasp with trigger release
Dial: Hours and minutes; minute hand by mobile carrousel; hour hand by indicator on mobile “sand” colored guilloché dial base; luminescent hands; cantilevered hour indices
Movement: Caliber UN-251; automatic; 72-hour power reserve; carrousel mounted escapements and oscillators; twin escapements in silicon with synthetic diamond coating; twin free-sprung silicon balance wheels with white gold timing masses angled at 20 degrees from horizontal; twin silicon hairsprings; 2.5 Hz; differential to average rates of dual oscillators; 33 jewels
Functions: Hours and minutes on carrousel
2024 Price: $148,300
* Tim Mosso is the media director and watch specialist at The 1916 Company. You can check out their very comprehensive YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/@the1916company.
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