It has been nearly 20 years since Ulysse Nardin introduced the world?s first timepiece using silicon components with the original Freak in 2001. That groundbreaking moment was the proverbial starting gun for a shift in how the watch industry approached movement production. It?s also raised questions on every side of the industry, from the enthusiast level to the executive perspective, about the soul of watchmaking and how using state-of-the-art technologies and materials impacts the craftsmanship and artistry that have been intertwined with horology since Abraham-Louis Breguet walked the earth.
For many collectors, the debate falls on whether or not the added value these man-made materials bring to end consumers outweigh the romantic and emotional ideals behind watch collecting. Does an old-fashioned product like a mechanical wristwatch require an old-fashioned solution" How important is performance-oriented innovation actually to watch collectors" The original Ulysse Nardin Freak from 2001 has inspired close to 20 years of silicon innovation culminating in the recently released Freak NeXt (pictured) with a three-dimensional flying oscillator made of silicon.
The Benefit of Silicon
Silicon, also referred to throughout the industry as silicium, is a material borrowed from the worlds of semiconductors and microprocessors and its benefit in watchmaking is simple enough to grasp without going into the complicated minutiae of horological engineering. Its best known att...