Ten years after the groundbreaking InnoVision 1 concept watch, Ulysse Nardin unveils InnoVision 2. Anyone worried that Ulysse Nardin might have lost its appetite for innovation in the wake of the death of long-time owner, Rolf Schnyder, in 2011, and its takeover by France?s giant Kering Group in 2014, will be heartened by UN?s launch of its new InnoVision 2 Freak concept watch.
Ulysse Nardin filed 11 patents for InnoVision 2.
InnoVision 2 is the brainchild of Patrik Hoffmann, whom Schnyder handpicked to succeed him as the company?s CEO. It comes on the 10th anniversary of the original InnoVision, and like that one, contains 10 recent UN innovations in mechanical watchmaking that the company hopes to use in watches in the future.
That was the idea behind InnoVision 1. That watch showcased Ulysse Nardin?s pioneering work in selective photolithograpy technology. It contained mechanical movement parts made of silicon fabricated by exotic production techniques like DRIE (deep reactive ion etching) and LIGA (lithography, electroplating and moulding). Two highlights of the InnoVision 1 Freak watch were its silicon hairspring and silicon shock absorber, both of which UN now uses in its watches. In fact, says Hoffmann, ?Eight of those 10 innovations are now in our timepieces in some form. This is crucial because it shows it was not just a marketing stunt.? This flexible frame is part of the new radically redesigned automatic winding system in InnoVision 2.
Hoffmann briefed WatchTime...