Ulysse Nardin Dresses Up the Avant-Garde Blast Watch in Textured German Silver Dial

Ulysse Nardin is back with The Blast. The model, first introduced in 2020, is reserved for limited editions featuring some of the watchmaker’s avant-garde designs. The latest ultra-modern versions, The Blast Free Wheel Maillechort, is yet another edgy take on the concept of displaying watch works on the dial side. Conventionally, dial-side movements are simply reversed, with the gear train and bridges exposed and decorated, often resulting in a jumble of gears and wheels that make indexes difficult to read. The Blast Free Wheel is a much cleaner design, with each exposed component isolated and seemingly floating over the dial. In this case, they are made of textured maillechort (also known as German Silver) for an extra cool effect.

The trick to this design is that Ulysse Nardin made everything fly. The flying tourbillon is visible at 6 o’clock, while at 12 o’clock there is a floating double barrel (only one barrel is visible) that appears to levitate with no visible attachment to the surface. Other “flying” components include the intermediate wheel, power reserve differential, and reduction gear, all seemingly suspended on the left side of the dial. On the right is a fully exposed view of the winding system and, just below it, an unconventional power reserve indicator, which remains static, while a rotating disc beneath it reveals three bands when fully wound and a single band when the reserve is nearly depleted. The double barrel system delivers a seven-day power reserve.

The arrangement is new, but the movement, manual-wound caliber UN-176, is not. It garnered Ulysse Nardin the Tourbillon prize at the 2015 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève, particularly for its anchor constant force escapement. It was one of the first silicon tourbillons, with an unusual construction that incorporates a circular frame with a pallet fork fixed in the center, supported in space on two blade springs less than a quarter of the thickness of a hair in diameter. Mounted perpendicular to each other, the blades are subjected to a bending force that curves them, creating a perfectly even impulse on the balance wheel. The silicon hairspring and escapement render the jewels of the usual escapement wheel superfluous. The result is an exceptionally accurate tourbillon, and a cool-looking component to showcase on the dial.

Ulysse Nardin’s silicon technology is an industry pioneer. It was the first to develop an escapement made of silicium, in 2001, and the first to use silicium for its Dual Ulysse escapement in 2005. The 2015 GPHG award for its silicon tourbillon, which was two years in development, was the culmination of its research.

Here, the UN-176, resurfaces on a sleek new surface: maillechort. The metal, also known as German Silver—which A. Lange & Sohne famously uses for its plates and bridges instead of brass—is an alloy of copper, zinc, and nickel. It’s more challenging to work with than brass because of its hardness and complex composition, but it has a warm silvery glow that patinates over time. Maillechort is also used to decorate the mainspring barrel, along with the plate on the back of the case.

The case, made of white gold, is called the Blast because of its bold, angular design, aimed at having an “explosive” impact, which it does at 45 mm. The ultra-glass box crystal was carved from a single block of sapphire so that it wraps round the front and sides off the case—there’s no bezel—creating a view of the dial and its components from all angles, a must for showing it off. There will only be 50 pieces, priced at $126,600, so if you’re lucky enough to get one, chances are pretty high that you’ll be the only one in the room wearing it.