Very few things put a smile on my face quite like the Ulysse Nardin Freak. It?s one of the first haute horlogerie watches I can remember encountering, well before watches were ever a hobby or preoccupation,  in a glossy magazine advertisement that I probably saw while waiting for a doctor?s appointment or something else similarly trivial and forgettable. The Freak, though, has stayed with me. How could it not" It?s one of the most cleverly named watches ever made, for one. And its ?no dial, no hands, no crown? concept continues to endure, and even after multiple decades of horological innovation surrounding Ulysse Nardin (which they very much had a role in kicking off) it remains every bit as avante-garde, insane, and completely delightful as its always been. 
For the third straight year, Ulysse Nardin has brought just one watch to show at Watches & Wonders. The Freak S Nomad, a follow up to 2022?s Freak S, is a futuristic tour-de-force that pays tribute to classical watchmaking at the same time as it shows us something we?ve never quite seen before. The movement, an imposing flying carousel that rotates around its own axis, features two balance wheels posted at a 20 degree incline linked to a vertically integrated differential mounted to ball bearings. Every Freak movement, no matter how advanced or comparatively simple (this one is the most advanced there is) is an exercise in problem solving. When the movement itself is in motion, it adds a whole layer of ...