Description
In sumptuous white gold, with a brand-new movement that seems to defy gravity and a startlingly innovative box-domed sapphire crystal built on a sleek black honeycomb grid. The most astonishing features are the dial’s tourbillon bridges and the 7-day power reserve indicator at four o’clock, which are shaped like boomerangs and look like they are miraculously floating in the air. So too do the other ‘skeletonized’ components, the hour and minute indicators and the gorgeous gear trains. The sapphire glass box housing these ‘flying’ elements is another standout achievement. The structure’s complexity and finish, especially the polishing of the box angles, were extremely difficult to achieve, requiring lengthy and painstaking experimentation. The caseback too, is in sapphire, except there’s nothing to see inside, as, in a complete reversal of watchmaking convention, all the exquisite components are visible on the dial side. The mechanical movement powering all this beauty is the brand-new UN-176, entirely developed in-house in La Chaux-de-Fonds. Its flying tourbillon is the ‘Ulysse Anchor Escapement’, a pioneering technology that replaces the traditional Swiss lever escapement system and uses Ulysse Nardin’s signature low-friction silicium instead of metal or synthetic rubies. The strap is carbon leather in matte alligator, exceptionally soft and silky to the touch. Unlike other Ulysse Nardin tourbillons, the Executive Tourbillon ‘Free Wheel’ is not a limited edition, but a full-run production launch. Visually stunning, it is a true technological marvel, destined for those who take delight in the leading-edge of engineering and aesthetics.
