In 2026, as Ulysse Nardin marks 180 years and the Freak turns 25, the Maison has reserved a particular shade of purple for a closing chapter. The Ulysse Nardin Freak S—the Freak [S Purple Enamel], Ref. 2513-500LE-7AE-PURP/0A—is, the brand says, the final Freak [S] in titanium with an enamel hour disc, limited to 50 pieces.
Ulysse Nardin’s Freak [S Purple Enamel], Ref. 2513-500LE-7AE-PURP/0A, is a 50-piece edition in a 45mm titanium case with a rotating purple guilloché-flinqué enamel hour disc made at Donzé Cadrans and the automatic Caliber UN-251, which has a 72-hour power reserve.
Since 2001, when Dr. Ludwig Oechslin conceived a watch with no dial, no hands, and no crown, the Freak has used its rotating movement to tell the time, and it pioneered the use of silicon in mechanical watchmaking. The Freak [S], introduced in 2022, pushed that idea into three dimensions. Ulysse Nardin calls it the world’s first automatic watch with dual oscillators: a flying carousel whose architecture spreads across six gear planes, with about 95% of its components in motion.
Time is still read from the movement itself. The baguette-shaped carousel completes one full rotation every 60 minutes, a pointer at its tip marking the minutes, while a disc beneath it turns once every 12 hours to indicate the hours. For this edition, that disc is the point of the exercise: a guilloché-flinqué enamel surface in purple, made entirely in-house at Donzé Cadrans.
Founded in 1972 by master enameler Francis Donzé, Donzé Cadrans is, the Maison says, Switzerland’s oldest enameling workshop. It began working with Ulysse Nardin in the 1980s and was acquired in 2011. Its specialties include Grand Feu, cloisonné, champlevé, and guilloché-flinqué, almost always on a static dial. The Freak’s hour disc is different. It is a moving component of Caliber UN-251, built to precise tolerances and fitted with multiple screw points, so every firing has to leave the piece flat, balanced, and dimensionally true.
To survive repeated trips through the kiln, the disc is made from 18k white gold, an alloy Ulysse Nardin specifies as 750 gold, 130 palladium, and 120 silver for its thermal stability. Before any enamel goes on, the gold is stamped with an in-house pattern meant to sharpen the visual rhythm of the rotating carousel and its twin silicon oscillators.
Solid enamel compounds are washed, ground by hand, and mixed into a pigment paste, then applied and fired at about 800°C across three to four layers. After the last firing, the surface is polished by hand for about an hour. Bubbling, cracking, or an uneven fire means starting over.
Each watch is assembled from start to finish by a single Grandes Complications watchmaker at the Manufacture in Switzerland. Caliber UN-251 is a self-winding movement of 373 components and 33 jewels.
Two oversized silicon oscillators, each inclined at 20 degrees and fitted with silicon balance wheels, hairsprings, and DIAMonSIL escapements, are linked by a vertical differential of 47 parts, including six ceramic ball bearings, which averages their rates. The brand describes that differential as the smallest of its kind in watchmaking. Ten of the movement’s silicon components are produced at Sigatec, Ulysse Nardin’s silicon laboratory in Sion.
Supplying two oscillators is the job of the patented Grinder winding system, first seen on the Freak InnoVision 2 concept in 2017, which the Maison developed to turn even slight wrist movement into a 72-hour power reserve. There is still no crown. Time is set by unlocking a safety lock at 6 o’clock and turning the bidirectional bezel; winding is done by flipping the watch and rotating the caseback counterclockwise, feeding the barrel through the base of the Grinder.
The case, bezel, locking mechanism, and caseback are all titanium, 45mm across and 16.65mm overall—the brand also quotes a perceived height of 13.66mm—with sapphire crystals and 30 meters of water resistance. A purple calfskin strap with white stitching is paired with a titanium folding buckle.
Decorating the Freak’s hour disc is a path the Maison has already started to walk, as with the Freak [ONE] Blue Enamel and Guilloché editions. The Freak [S Purple Enamel] is limited to 50 pieces and priced at CHF 153,000, or $174,400. After those 50, this particular pairing of titanium and enamel will not be repeated.
| Specification | Details |
|---|---|
| Model | Freak [S Purple Enamel] |
| Reference | 2513-500LE-7AE-PURP/0A |
| Edition | Limited to 50 pieces; the final Freak [S] in titanium with an enamel hour disc, per Ulysse Nardin |
| Hour disc | Guilloché-flinqué enamel in purple, on 18k white gold (750 gold, 130 palladium, 120 silver); stamped in-house pattern; three to four enamel layers fired at about 800°C; hand-polished; made at Donzé Cadrans |
| Movement | Manufacture Caliber UN-251, self-winding |
| Functions | Hours and minutes; flying carousel rotating around its own axis (one turn per 60 minutes); rotating hour disc (one turn per 12 hours) |
| Oscillators | Two oversized silicon oscillators, each inclined at 20 degrees, with silicon balance wheels and hairsprings |
| Escapement | DIAMonSIL® |
| Differential | Vertical differential with ball bearings (47 parts, including six ceramic ball bearings) |
| Winding | Grinder® automatic winding system, blades technology |
| Components | 373 |
| Jewels | 33 |
| Frequency | 2 x 2.5 Hz (2 x 18,000 vph) |
| Power reserve | 72 hours |
| Movement diameter | 42.15mm |
| Case | Titanium case, locker, bezel, and caseback |
| Diameter | 45mm |
| Height | 16.65mm overall; perceived height 13.66mm |
| Weight | 112.16g |
| Crystals | Sapphire, open sapphire caseback |
| Water resistance | 30 meters |
| Strap | Purple calfskin leather with white stitching |
| Buckle | Titanium folding buckle |
| Price | CHF 153,000 (8.1% VAT incl.); $174,400 (tax excluded); €171,200 (21% VAT incl.); £142,010 (20% VAT incl.) |
Timely FAQs
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