Infoluxo: As grandes mentes da Ulysse Nardin O moderno Ulysse Nardin é toda sobre uma incrível colaboração entre duas pessoas muito diferentes, diz James Gurney

Ulysse Nardin Black Ocean 2008 (Photo credit: kitchener.lord)

Ulysse Nardin has a fine heritage in marine chronometers stretching back into the 19th century, but to anyone who follows the watch world, the brand means the incredible collaboration between two very different people: Rolf Schnyder was a free-wheeling businessman whose career ranged from photo-journalism during the Cultural Revolution to organising charter flights to Angkor Wat before returning to the watch business and ultimately taking over the bankrupt Ulysse Nardin in 1983. Polymath Dr. Ludwig Oeschlin could hardly be more of a contrast save in his catholicity of interests. Possessor of diplomas and doctorates in a multitude of disciplines that includes archaeology and astronomy, Oeschlin is not your average master watchmaker.

The pair came together soon after Schnyder had taken over Ulysse Nardin and produced a string of watches that were both horologically daring and commercially successful, starting with what was the most complex wristwatch yet made, the Astrolabium Galileo Galilei and including the boundary defying Freak (so named for having neither hands nor a crown) that set off a wave of steampunk watch designs in the early 2000’s. But the pair’s, and Ulysse Nardin’s, most important and influential concept was the perpetual calendar launched in 1996 (the Perpetual Ludwig), which was the first to make easy to adjust and set either forwards or backwards, something that almost all companies now try to achieve.

Shown for the first time earlier this year was the Ulysse Nardin’s new successor, the UN32 Perpetual Manufacture. This movement features a new silicon escapement and hairspring, meaning that the heart of the watch is both a-magnetic and will not need servicing for decades (in theory at least). More importantly it has one of the most advanced perpetual calendars available, which allows the date to be easily adjusted both forward and backward, and a similarly clever GMT function.

Ulysse Nardin are making the watch in limited editions of 250 in either platinum or rose gold 43mm cases. The clarity and intuitiveness of the dial design speaks for itself.