Looking back at the manufacture of the Ulysse Nardin Nautical Observatory

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Finding the right discount watch is a task. When a watch fits into one’s lifestyle, like a glove on one hand, not through some artificial marketing association, but for real-world applications, then there is a symbiotic relationship. For example, which watch is right for a boat owner?

Whether he’s the captain of a fly tower fishing boat, an open-air archer loaded with eager skiers, a sports cruiser with a galley and overnight accommodation, a true luxury recreational yacht, or even one bound for the port of Monaco in the thin air When sailing mega-yachts are in time for formula racing, the right watch is crucial. A dive watch can, but if form follows function, what is a watch for captains other than a diver? As summer beckons to captains of rivers, lakes and seas, Ulysse Nardin, synonymous with the pilot’s home, offers a watch that effortlessly moves from swim deck to yacht club, combining the basics of sport and dress elements, while benefiting greatly from Ulysse Nardin’s DIAMonSIL technology and reliable ship helm record. Since we first reported on the 2013 Ulysse Nardin Marine Chronometer Manufacture , we’ve been wanting to wear one. In this review, we put the watch to the test and found it to be more than just a boat.

Ulysse Nardin’s interpretation of a nautical chronometer has become a classic and immediately became the brand’s flagship product. You can make a game of finding the company logo on the crown, on the strap badge, on the clasp’s entry and as part of the gorgeous rotor. Finally, the company name also appears on the edge of the dial and caseback, reminiscent of prominent brands from the 1980s. What is not immediately recognizable is the internal movement. When paired with a rubber strap, just like the Southern Ocean, this watch is serious business and can handle rain or shine and relentless waves. From the top deck and teak deck to the yacht club dining room, this watch will work well in all marine situations.

For a watch that dares to call itself a nautical chronometer, the small seconds display is essential; the earliest models used for navigation are represented by a small seconds dial, blue Breguet hands and a large white main dial. The small seconds dial here is moderately sized to help with visibility. The date magnifying glass on the dial is a handy feature. In addition, the UN-118 movement has an automatic date correction/quick setting function that allows the date to be set forward or backward. Pairing a date complication with a nautical chronometer — although the former was missing from earlier models — is a useful update, and the genre’s modernization has produced one of the watch’s main identifying features. At the fake Ulysse Nardin Nautical Observatory, the power reserve indicator is located symmetrically above the small seconds and below 12 o’clock. The watch has an active power reserve of 60 hours and the indicator measures in 12-hour increments. Full power is indicated in white text (“Haut”) in French and red text (“Up”) in English and “Down” in English.

As mentioned earlier, the Classic Nautical Chronometer features blue Breguet hands. Although our models feature modern skeletonized hands, we learned at Baselworld that in the future, Ulysse Nardin’s homemade models will only have Breguet hands. You’ll not only get a top maker movement, but also a version that’s closer to the genre’s heritage. Given that these skeletonized hands are our least favorite part of the watch, we warmly welcome the change. In any case, we would have liked the minute hand to extend further to fit precisely next to the chapter ring, rather than stop. The hour hand can also be longer. Beneath the AR-coated sapphire crystal is a full yet not too busy dial. The blue of our model enhances the aquatic theme and contrasts with the lustre of the hands and the applied numerals. Above the date window, a red “1846,” the year the company was founded, is a familiar design feature. The sloping chapter rings have batons above the numbers and between the rails.

A rubber strap is a must for boat owners, allowing for transitions from deck to surface and back, but 100m water resistance means the watch is limited to just below the swimming platform. Ulysse Nardin has redesigned the rubber strap for its marine chronometer, adding another distinctive element to the watch. Instead of the single-turn rubber ring of the buckle, the strap has a titanium badge that gives the strap two additional pivot points and adds style. While the strap is tailored to the wrist size, there are additional sizing adjustments for the length of the clasp. There are three sets of holes on the top buckle side, two sets of which are used for expansion, and two sets of holes on the bottom buckle for expansion. Two pushers release the lower element and the upper element is pulled out manually. When closing the clasp, it feels a little counterintuitive to secure the top element first and then the bottom. Together with the badge, the three-element clasp gives the rubber strap an unmistakable Ulysse Nardin look. watches on discount

The 43mm fluted case with its concave barrel is a combination of steel and titanium, which means this watch is very light on the wrist and doesn’t get in the way of quick maneuvers on deck. The left side of the case is affixed with a badge of the watch number in an elegant lettering. The steel bezel is the heaviest part of the case and features a coin edge design that helps reduce the watch’s top-heavy weight. The caseback is secured by six screws and has a sapphire crystal for viewing the movement. Two crown guards are built into the titanium case to protect the screw-down crown. If your fingers are wet, the blue non-slip rubber coating on the edge of the crown is a subtle but practical clue that water is the watch’s natural habitat.

The self-winding movement UN-118 has a patented escapement, oscillator and hairspring. Ulysse Nardin’s initial partnership with Sigatec (and eventual purchase) allowed it to complete the DIAMonSIL escapement; DIAMonSIL, the UN’s proprietary diamond-coated silicon material. When it came time to introduce this mechanical achievement, the company opted to introduce the movement in its nautical chronometers. In 2006, the late Rolf Schnyder introduced the limited in-house Calibre 160, a dream that current CEO Patrik Hoffmann fully realized in 2012 by releasing the UN-118 as Ulysse Nardin’s first in-house fully produced movement. . We spoke eloquently about the technical marvels of this COSC-certified movement in our last article, so now we can talk about what the movement looks like. The beautiful rotor signifies the care and attention that went into making the watch. It glided along tracks cut into the bridge, running with the help of ball bearings. Two cutout anchors flank the center blue logo badge. The rotor moves easily, but its weight prevents constant rotation. The circular Côtes de Genève passes through the bridges and the movement is meticulously finished. No self-respecting captain will wear a watch whose attention to detail is at least as good as or better than his own.

Even if you don’t own or regularly charter a boat, yacht or ship – maybe your family simply calls you “the captain”? — This is a great sports/dress combo watch. Maybe you can buy a watch and then a boat? There are many options for the manufacture of cases, dials and straps; you can find the one that’s right for you here. Ulysse Nardin Marine Chronograph Manufacture

The Return of the Ulysse Nardin Moonstruck Watch

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Today, on the first day of the Chinese New Year, the Ulysse Nardin Moonstruck replica watch is back, now known as the Ulysse Nardin Blast Moonstruck. The Moonstruck is completely redesigned, more complicated, more nuanced, and it’s great because it’s a really cool watch, but it’s perfect for all-day, year-round wear. There’s a lot to unpack.

Over the past few years, dominated by mind-numbing vintage re-releases and regurgitated 50th-anniversary releases, I suddenly realized that I hadn’t experienced a fairly common feeling when I got naughty into modern luxury watches in the late When the crazy Harry Winston Opus and Urwerk and Ulysse Nardin Freak watches were developed and launched. These are all amazing videos that take me into the miniature world of huge engineering challenges.

Then I watched this new video with Ludwig Oechslin talking about his concept for the Ulysse Nardin Moonstruck watch, both original and new for 2022. I found myself on the edge of my seat again, bursting out laughing as my system tried to vent its exhilarating unbelievable feeling. The point is that Moonstruck is back, and it’s still a watch monster that elicits such a real response.

Finding mathematical solutions in different forms is a challenge for me. The new Moonstruck has a number of readable displays that invite you to take a closer look and get involved. Today, I know how it works and I can make it myself – it’s still an absolute bomb. – Ludwig Oxlin

Here’s how the Ulysse Nardin Moonstruck works. The watch places the earth at its center and simulates the moon’s rotation around the earth, as well as the apparent “movement” of the sun around the earth. I wonder if this makes the Moonstruck the luxury watch of choice for flat earthers? Well… but seriously, the point here is to simulate the way the wearer sees the sun and moon from Earth – it’s that simple. In addition to reading popular moon phases associated with any location in the world, the Ulysse Nardin Blast Moonstruck allows the wearer to predict the date of spring tide at a glance by watching the sun and moon align on their respective ellipses. According to the manufacturer: “For Ludwig Oechslin, the designer of the astronomical watch in the 1980s, this was the most complicated astronomical watch ever built,

That said, as is often the case with ostensibly simple and user-friendly devices, the underlying engineering and conceptual solutions are very complex. Moonstruck is completely mechanical, and that’s where the gibberish begins, it provides a representation of the phases of the moon in a circular aperture located at the apogee of the ellipse (the point farthest from Earth in the moon’s orbit), depicting its orbit, out of For practical reasons, it is described as being on the same ecliptic plane as the Earth.

This disc-carried aperture is associated with an elaborate gear train (who couldn’t see it coming?). It makes the moon phase indicator make one full revolution per day to follow the movement of the sun (the source of the moon’s brightness) and keeps it at 29 days, 12 hours, 41 minutes and 9.3 seconds. This is approximately the duration of a lunar month, also known as a weather rotation, which has an astronomical duration of 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes, 2.9 seconds. To maintain accuracy, the aperture showing the moon recedes every 24 hours on its orbital circle by an angle, measured in degrees, corresponding to 1/29.53 of a lunar month, to occupy a new position relative to the sun. Lost? At the same time, the representation contained in this small moving aperture also evolves to appear brighter or darker as the lunar calendar changes. The aperture remains in the same position relative to the sun when part of the moon is visible in it.

The moon phase display is described as “precise” because it only produces a one-day deviation after 40 years of operation without any adjustment or reset, related to the marking of the moon’s age. It’s not the most accurate mechanical moon phase in the watch world, but it’s accurate enough. The sun is reproduced in relief, made of bronze stone, a rare and precious mineral in the pyroxene family, and its golden surface is dotted with black patches, designed to reproduce those observed with telescopes in the star’s mantle. Ulysse Nardin Moonstruck fake

No doubt reading Moonstruck’s various displays takes some getting used to – unless you’re an amateur or professional astronomer – but here at least there’s more to it than just the way the steel bracelet joins the steel Something to immerse you in the case.

Two buttons, a setup familiar to many Ulysse Nardin owners, are mounted on the left side of the case. These allow the hour hand to advance or retard instantaneously in one-hour increments while in flight. This comes in handy when traveling – and when switching to daylight saving time – as the hours displayed by the main time can easily be adjusted to the traveler’s current time zone without disrupting all other indications. There is also a city ring and a 24-hour display that functions as a world time display. This remains the same when the pusher is used to beat the main hour hand.

In order to highlight this feeling of being in the center of the universe, based on the observation of the watch, the designers of Ulysse Nardin, together with the master Ludwig Oechslin, chose to place the watch in the part of the northern hemisphere seen from the North Pole center of. Sapphire crystal for instruments. For a true 3D effect, a dome crystal with land masses micro-engraved inside is set in (note, boxed) sapphire crystal and framed by an 18k rose gold ring engraved with 31 days of the month. One with A small white triangular pointer of luminescent material protrudes from below the earth and points back to the 31-day scale.

The cheap Ulysse Nardin UN-106 manufacture movement breathes life into all this celestial madness. Self-winding movement with a power reserve of 50 hours and running at a frequency of 4 Hz – more modern frequencies are more suitable for precision in everyday wear and are therefore ideal for this watchmaking exercise. The UN-106 movement consists of 335 components, 42 jewels, and displays hours, minutes, date, moon phase, lunar month day, tide coefficient, world time and dual time, as well as the observed position of the sun and moon around worldwide. The movement is showcased by a sapphire crystal and black DLC titanium caseback (the rest of the case is ceramic, more on that later) and features a solid 22kt gold rotor for the self-winding system. Oh, (spoiler alert) if you look at the coordinates etched into the case back,

The case itself is the Ulysse Nardin Blast design we detail and discuss here. Essentially, it’s special in that it uses seemingly impossible angles on its lugs – in the sense that it’s impossible that they “shouldn’t” have alternating finishes – yet , they do. To read about the neat solution to making this unique case design work, read the article we just linked to. The black ceramic case is nearly scratch-resistant — unless you’re traveling in a diamond mine — and it’s light and comfortable to wear. We don’t have exact numbers on the thickness, but it’s clear that despite its multi-layer construction, the Blast Moonstruck is still the perfect wearable watch, no thicker than your average automatic chronograph.

A very positive and powerful sense of monumentality and horological deterrent emanates from the proportions and colour scheme of the Ulysse Nardin Blast Moonstruck. This is a very confident watch – not surprising if you’ve just listened to Oechslin’s talk and learned about Ulysse Nardin’s watchmaking style. The Moonstruck is not only the flagship watch of the brand, but also the flagship of modern Swiss watchmaking, as it takes the most poetic complication (astronomical) and places it boldly and confidently at the center of the watch – while not Sacrificing legibility time and wearing comfort is not yet another art form in high-end watchmaking.

Personally, I’m delighted that Moonstruck and Ludwig Oechslin are back — in fact, I’ve been looking forward to, or rather, hoped for, it’s return in recent years. I don’t see this in the Blast formula, but it seems to be designed for this complication.