Ulysse Nardin’s most significant announcement at SIHH this year was the launch of the new Freak Vision, a revamped version of its most famous ? and at the same time most off-the-wall ? timepiece, the groundbreaking Freak. This week, the Swiss manufacture with its identity firmly rooted in nautical timekeeping released two one-of-a-kind Freak Vision watches with decorative faces that evoke the maritime beauty of Australia’s Coral Bay snorkeling reef. Here’s what you need to know about the Freak Vision Coral Bay models and the first-in-horology artistic techniques used to create them.
Ulysse Nardin Freak Vision Coral Bay “Bonding” (Ref. 2505-250LE/CORALBAY-1)
To create the first of the Coral Bay pieces, Ulysse Nardin’s watchmakers turned to an electronic technique called bonding, in which thousands of 24k gold threads are employed to create a meticulous decorative motif. The watch’s golden coral reef patterns, which are applied directly to the movement’s barrel spring bridge, start with a bonding machine squeezing gold threads of different sizes, one after another, to “draw” the motif; each thread is tied at the top and bottom but not in the center. The artisans then use a chemical vapor disposition (CVD) process to color the entire surface of the bridge blue, except for the departure and arrival points of the yellow-gold threads, which are laser-cleaned. When this process is completed, the threads are bonded to the...