Ulysse Nardin Unveils the Super Freak at Watches & Wonders 2026 — The Most Complicated Time-Only Watch Ever Made

There are watches that push boundaries, and then there is the [Super] Freak. At Watches & Wonders 2026, Ulysse Nardin is unveiling what it describes — with complete justification — as the most complicated time-only watch ever made. The [Super] Freak is the result of 180 years of legacy and 25 years of relentless research and development, all in a single collection that forever changed the course of modern horology. It is, in every measurable sense, a landmark.

To understand the [Super] Freak, you have to understand the Freak — and to understand the Freak, you have to understand Ulysse Nardin. Founded in 1846 in Le Locle, Switzerland, the Manufacture built its reputation on a singular obsession: precision. By 1862 it had earned its first Gold Medal in London for mechanical chronometry, the first of 18 international distinctions, and went on to accumulate more than 4,300 chronometry awards — making it the most awarded watch brand in history. For over a century, Ulysse Nardin’s marine chronometers were the mechanical GPS of their time, trusted by navies, explorers, and scientists across the globe.

The intellectual engine behind what followed was Dr. Ludwig Oechslin, a young genius Schnyder encountered while visiting a watchmaker friend in Lucerne in 1983. Oechslin had created an extraordinary astrolabe clock accurate to one day in 144,000 years. Schnyder asked him to create an astrolabe that could be worn on the wrist. Oechslin accepted — and the collaboration that followed would produce some of the most significant watchmaking of the 20th century, beginning with the 1985 Astrolabium Galileo Galilei, a watch with 21 astronomical indications later certified by Guinness World Records as the world’s first astrolabe wristwatch.

But the creation that would define the brand’s next chapter arrived unexpectedly. In 1997, a young watchmaker at Ulysse Nardin named Carole Forestier-Kasapi won a competition celebrating the 250th anniversary of Breguet, competing against legends including Philippe Dufour and George Daniels. Her creation was unlike anything seen before: not only did the hands rotate, but the entire movement turned. And there was no crown — time and winding were set via the bezel. Revolutionary, but limited by a power reserve of around 10 hours.

Oechslin studied Forestier-Kasapi’s prototype and relocated the mainspring to the center of the watch, making it possible to house a 2-meter-long mainspring across the full diameter of the case and boosting the power reserve to seven days. He then pushed the rotating concept further still: the barrel, turning once every 12 hours, became the hour display. The movement itself, rotating once per hour, became the minute display. A planetary gear system was introduced to ensure the Freak’s carousel-style rotation operated smoothly while maintaining precise timekeeping.

One final challenge remained. Oechslin’s dual escapement required two escape wheels — twice the usual number — demanding extreme lightness. Traditional metals proved too heavy. The solution, proposed by Ulysse Nardin’s former Industrial Director Pierre Gygax, was audacious: silicon. The very material that had nearly ended mechanical watchmaking during the Quartz Crisis would now help redefine its future.

In March 2001, the Freak was born. The name was Oechslin’s own internal code — a watch that broke every rule. At its Baselworld 2001 launch, Ulysse Nardin unveiled it one day before the fair’s official opening in an underground venue with a seven-person parade, each figure wearing Ludwig Oechslin’s mask, led by Rolf Schnyder conducting a fanfare. It was a manifesto. A declaration that watchmaking would never be the same again.

Twenty-five years and 35 patented inventions later, the [Super] Freak is the culmination of everything that followed.

At the heart of the [Super] Freak beats the Caliber UN-252 — an entirely new in-house manufacture movement of 511 components that required four years of intensive development to bring to life. It is powered by Ulysse Nardin’s patented Grinder® automatic winding system, recognized as the industry’s most efficient, which captures even the slightest wrist movement through four ultra-thin levers measuring just 0.12mm thick — effectively doubling the angular stroke compared to conventional systems and delivering a three-day power reserve.

The [Super] Freak marks a historic first: it is the world’s first automatic double tourbillon — an unprecedented configuration in watchmaking. The minute bridge, composed of 327 components alone, presents two titanium flying tourbillons, each inclined at 10 degrees and rotating in opposite directions, completing one full revolution every 60 seconds. They are “flying” because each cage is fixed only at its base, with no bridge above, creating the impression of floating. Despite this extraordinary mechanical complexity, the minute bridge weighs just 3.5 grams — 30% lighter than that of the Freak S. The flying carousel turns once per hour. More than 97% of the movement — 498 of its 511 components — is in motion at all times. Only 13 components remain fixed.

Also new to the Freak collection is a seconds display, introduced for the first time here and made possible by one of the watch’s most technically significant innovations: a newly patented gimbal system. Originally developed centuries ago to stabilize marine compasses aboard ships, and later essential in gyroscopes, aeronautical instruments, and aerospace engineering, the gimbal has been radically miniaturized by Ulysse Nardin to just 4.8mm — the world’s smallest — with two transmission axes spanning a total of 12mm and composed of just 11 components. It receives energy from the world’s smallest differential — measuring just 5mm, composed of 69 components including eight ceramic ball bearings manufactured to one-micron tolerances — and transmits it to the cylindrical seconds indicator with flawless precision.

Both the gimbal and the differential were developed in collaboration with MPS, a Swiss specialist in custom microsystems and a recognized leader in biomedical and aerospace micro-engineering. Among MPS’s creations, these rank among the most complex and ambitious ever produced.

Silicon’s journey in watchmaking began with Ulysse Nardin and the original Freak in 2001. The [Super] Freak integrates 10 silicon components, including two balance wheels, two hairsprings, and two DIAMonSIL® escapements — a diamond-coated silicon architecture patented by Ulysse Nardin in 2007. Enhanced with the hardness of diamond, the escapements are engineered to withstand over 155 million impacts per year, operating at 18,000 vibrations per hour. Both silicon and DIAMonSIL components are developed and manufactured at SIGATEC, Ulysse Nardin’s dedicated silicon laboratory in Sion, Switzerland.

True to the Freak philosophy, the [Super] Freak features an hour disc that rotates once every 12 hours — but in an unprecedented evolution, it is rendered in transparent blue Nanosital®, an optically transparent polycrystalline material engineered through the controlled crystallization of glass, with a hardness level exceeding standard glass. Developed from a high-temperature composition based on silicon dioxide and aluminum oxide — two key oxides found in many natural gemstones — Nanosital® delivers exceptional purity and durability while maintaining its color and internal structure. The light-blue disc, with its subtle violet undertone, reveals the automatic engine beneath, underscoring the watch’s kinetic architecture and referencing Ulysse Nardin’s maritime heritage in equal measure.

The [Super] Freak is assembled within Ulysse Nardin’s Haute Horlogerie Atelier in La Chaux-de-Fonds — an intimate workshop reserved exclusively for the Manufacture’s most complex creations. Of the 14 Grandes Complications watchmakers based there, only five were specially trained to assemble the [Super] Freak. Each timepiece is assembled from start to finish by a single watchmaker — a commitment to continuity of mastery that extends through after-sales care as well. The assembly process requires 60 hours of hands-on work, followed by five days of testing to validate chronometric performance. Over 70% of the movement’s components are finished entirely by hand, using traditional tools including leather buffs, needle files, and wooden sticks — a particularly demanding process given the choice of titanium, a material that can require up to twice the time needed for brass to achieve the same level of surface refinement.

The [Super] Freak is housed in a new 44mm white gold case — more compact than the 45mm case of the Freak S — with a white gold open sapphire caseback and a redesigned bezel-locking system that is smaller, cleaner, and sleeker. The watch is presented on a grey rubber ballistic strap with white stitching and a white gold deployant buckle. Water resistance is rated to 30 meters.

Limited to 50 pieces, the [Super] Freak carries a retail price of 393,600 USD (VAT excluded).