Twenty-Five Years of the Ulysse Nardin Freak: No Crown, No Hands, and the Silicon That Changed Everything
In 2001 the Ulysse Nardin Freak threw out the crown, the hands, and the dial, and became the first production watch to use silicon, a material now found across Rolex, Omega, and Patek. For its 25th anniversary in 2026, Ulysse Nardin released the CHF 320,000 Super Freak and a more wearable new Freak X. A working dealer's read on watchmaking's great outlier, and why a market obsessed with flips keeps overlooking it.