Ulysse Nardin’s Stranger burst onto the scene in 2013, the first wristwatch with a visible music box mechanism. It plays 16 seconds of Frank Sinatra’s “Strangers in the Night.” The latest is a Stranger for the 2015 Only Watch auction, which is a one-of-one unique example that plays “We are the Champions” by Queen.
“Whether collecting art or watches, when I fall in love with something, then I need to understand, I need to research deeply,” Mo Coppeletta explains. “You may have taste, but if that isn’t backed up with knowledge then it is superficial.” Coppoletta was wearing an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar Skeleton. “It’s my summer watch,” he commented. What else does he own and how did he get into collecting watches?
On May 1, 2015, Hartmut Kraft took over as the brand-new president and CEO of Kering North America, a position that includes leading three very well established brands, Ulysse Nardin, JeanRichard, and Girard-Perregaux in the North American markets. With his unbroken enthusiasm for watches, he is not “just” another executive in the watch industry, but rather a true watch enthusiast with genuine respectful admiration for horology. Read on to hear what he has discovered in his first days at Kering.
Ulysse Nardin was expected to introduce the Ulysse Anchor Escapement in a production watch. And with the Ulysse Anchor Tourbillon, the brand did not disappoint. In fact, this constant-amplitude escapement is now housed within a one-minute tourbillon for an added pinch of technical virtuosity.
Ulysse Nardin founded his company on the precision required for marine chronometers. So supporting a challenger for the 35th America’s Cup as its official partner more than makes sense, and supporting Artemis Racing makes the most sense of all.
Here we present four quite different styles commemorating the 2015 Chinese Year of the Goat with beautifully decorated dials by Jaquet Droz, Ulysse Nardin, Vacheron Constantin, and Arnold & Son. Shhhh…if you listen carefully you might even hear them bleat!
The first timepiece Donzé Cadrans and Ulysse Nardin worked on together was in the early 1980s: the complicated jacquemart-outfitted Hourstriker San Marco with its vibrant blue, which was the first enamel dial of the modern incarnation of Ulysse Nardin and perhaps of the Mechanical Renaissance. Follow us on a visit to Donzé Cadrans and learn about the unique 300-year-old process this one-of-a-kind dial maker utilizes to make its aesthetic elements.
After the markets closed on July 30, 2014, luxury group Kering (previously known as PPR and the Gucci Group) sent out the announcement that it had acquired 100 percent of Ulysse Nardin as part of its quarterly report.
This past weekend I had the very good fortune to share an exceptional experience with good friends, a personal one, but it involved people I know through my work with watches. Over dinner we reminisced about a memorable trip back in 2009 to the Nice observatory for the introduction of the Ulysse Nardin Moonstruck wristwatch. Let me take you on a trip down memory lane with it.
It is just possible that the modern era of watchmaking truly began in 2001 when Ulysse Nardin introduced its Dual Direct Escapement in the first version of the Freak. Not only was this particular timepiece groundbreaking in its avant-garde design, but more importantly in its fundamental escapement technology invented by Dr. Ludwig Oechslin.