A 23 year old Ulysse Nardin founded his company of the same name in 1846 in La Locle, Switzerland. Already an accomplished watchmaker, he first trained under his father and then under Frederic William Dubois and Louis JeanRichard-dit-Bressel - two master watchmakers. The company has been known for it's high-accuracy and high-quality craftsmanship, since that time. They are most well known for their Marine Chronometers, which have a precision of about a tenth of a second per day and are the most accurate mechanical clocks ever made.
In their Exceptional collection of watches, there are several families - one of which is the Freak. These timepieces are totally unique creations and do not have traditional hands - the gear train and escapement are visible on the dial side, rotating around the central axis to indicate minutes. The escapement has a orbital flying tourbillon cage, and on the other end of the gear train is a grey arrow shape which works as the minute hand. The disk in the center of the watch rotates once every twelve hours and includes an arrow shape - which is painted on - as the hour indicator. The seconds are indicated on a transparent half-circle and an arrow in the cage. The "flying" function of the minute movement and the seconds tourbillon, without any need for a supporting bridge, is made possible by two ball bearing systems.
A Tourbillon is a complication that was designed to improve the accuracy of pocket watches by protecting the tiny, gravity-vulnerable parts inside. Gravity could distort these pieces and cause accuracy issues. In the latter part of the 20th century the amazing feature became more prevalent, in mechanical watches, which became almost an exclusively luxury item. Watching these movements in action is certainly a thing of wonder and awe.
Ulysse Nardin Freak Phantom is very similar to the Freak Diavolo. The Freak Phantom has no crown, two rotating bezels, and is available in white and rose gold (this option is a Limited Edition of only 99 pieces) and, although it can be difficult to read until you get used to it, is one of the coolest and most unique timepieces on the market. This watch has a tourbillon where the escapement usually is on the other Freak models. It is a tourbillon in a secondary orbiting carousel-style tourbillon - making the entire system move as the minute hand. This offers an amazing view of the entire movement. It uses silicon in its hairspring, and throughout most of the escapement and has a 8-plus day power reserve.
