The essence of microtechnology in the creation of the Ulysse Nardin "FreakNation"

Ulysse Nardin celebrated "Freak Nation" at Watches & Wonders Geneva in 2023. The Freak One unveiled is a model that could be considered the culmination of the company's work. Rather than a showcase of technology, it enhances practicality through usable packaging and functionality. This is a luxury watch for a new era that goes beyond "Freak."

An ambitious work that retains the basic concept while achieving usable performance

　The first Freak, released in 2001, was a completely different model from any mechanical watch that had come before. It had no conventional hour or minute hands, crown, or dial; instead, the movement itself served as the hour hand.

　The original idea came from the famous Carole Cazapi, who won the Abraham-Louis Breguet Prize in 1997 for her concept of a rotating "center carousel" with a large mainspring rotating around its periphery.

　Kazapi's idea of ​​fixing the movement to a mainspring that unwinds as it rotates and then displaying the time by itself was quite a bold one, but it held great potential. Fascinated by this idea, the late Rolf Schnieder, owner of Ulysse Nardin, bought the idea of ​​the center carousel from Kazapi and asked Dr. Ludwig Oechslin to redesign it.

　When Oechslin got his hands on Kazapi's prototype, he praised it for its quality, but thought it unmarketable due to its short power reserve and lack of an hour hand. However, Rolf Schnieder, who had bought the idea, had already publicly stated that he would sell it. Oechslin considered placing the mainspring in the center of the movement to extend its running time, but this would increase its size. He then came up with the idea of ​​placing a movement integrated with a carriage that displays the time on top of the long mainspring. The basic idea of ​​the Freak, in which the rotating movement itself displays the time, was finally complete.

　The design change had another by-product: it eliminated the need for the crown, hand-setting mechanism, and winding mechanism that are necessary in a normal watch. Operation is incredibly simple. Turning the bezel on the dial side rotates the movement located on the dial side to set the time, and turning the case back winds the mainspring located on the case back. This simple structure has allowed the Freak, an unconventional and ambitious design, to continue for over 20 years.

　Conceived by Carol Cazapi and completed by Ludwig Oechslin, the Freak was, if we may say so, the most ambitious design team in history. Before the Freak, there had never been a watch in which the movement itself rotated to tell the time. This was because it was thought that an extremely strong and large mainspring was needed to rotate the movement itself, rather than the hands. By revising the design of the gear train and other components and balancing the weight of the movement, Oechslin was able to bring the Freak down to a reasonable size. Even if the rotating body is heavy, it will rotate smoothly as long as the weight is balanced. By refining this concept, the Freak evolved every year.

　The escapement was also unprecedented. Instead of the standard Swiss lever escapement, it featured a natural escapement invented by Breguet. This escapement, in which two rotating gears directly impact the balance, has high transmission efficiency and does not require lubrication. However, precision parts are required to operate properly. Ulysse Nardin overcame this challenge by using silicon material manufactured using a deep ion etching process rather than metal parts. The Freak was, in fact, the first wristwatch to use silicon parts.

　The dual direct silicon escapement is another reason why Freak watches are still popular today: its high efficiency allows for less torque from the mainspring, and it eliminates the need for lubrication, keeping the dial clean.

　The latest Freak model is the Freak One. Proclaiming a "return to the roots," the design of this model is the same as the 2001 model. However, reflecting the evolution of Ulysse Nardin, the internals have been completely changed. Furthermore, the latest Freak model emphasizes practicality without compromising individuality.

　The biggest change is in the escapement and regulator. Like the previous model, the balance wheel is made of silicon. However, instead of just placing a gold weight on the outer periphery, a gold weight that adjusts inertia is fixed on top of the silicon blade. This makes the balance wheel lighter while increasing inertia. The escapement is a standard Swiss lever. However, the escape wheel is made of silicon and the pallet is made by DIAMonSIL (!). The deliberate choice of a safe design is likely due to practicality.

　The automatic winding mechanism used is the grinder automatic winding mechanism (Swiss patent: CH713330), which was unveiled in the 2017 Freak Innovision II. This theoretically doubles the performance of the highly efficient ratchet automatic winding mechanism. There are two key features: there are four winding pawls instead of two, and the four pawls, fixed to a circular frame, are flexible.

　In the Freak, where the mainspring is packed all the way to the back cover, the axis of the mainspring is at the center of the watch. The winding gear is placed on top of this, and the outer periphery is scratched with pawls to turn it - this is the concept behind the grinder automatic winding. With a normal ratchet system, it is difficult to increase the number of pawls, but with this system, where the outer pawls hook onto the central axis, the number of pawls can theoretically be increased as much as you like. Roughly speaking, the more pawls there are, the smaller the dead angle, where the rotor rotates but does not wind. In addition, because the pawls themselves are flexible, they are able to follow the winding wheel more easily. Ulysse Nardin must have decided that the grinder automatic winding used in their experimental model was practical, and they finally adopted it in their flagship Freak One.

　The attention to practicality is also evident in the size. Even though they were wristwatch-sized, previous Freak models were by no means small. This is why the company created the compact Freak X. However, the new Freak One, despite being equipped with an automatic movement, is only 12mm thick. The diameter has also been reduced to 44mm, and the overall length is now just 52.3mm. The buckle is also a folding buckle, which provides excellent wearing comfort.

　The Freak One retains its extremely ambitious design while adding a more practical mechanism and size. This is the definitive Freak model that has been around since 2001. Honestly, who would have imagined that the Freak would be suitable for everyday use?