Twenty-five years after the original Freak rewired watchmaking's definition of possible, Ulysse Nardin is marking the anniversary in the most Ulysse Nardin way imaginable—by building something that has never existed before. The Super Freak is not a celebration edition. It is a culmination: a four-year-in-the-making, 511-component declaration that the Freak family has still not reached its ceiling.
Things to Know About the Watch
The Super Freak carries the full weight of the Freak lineage in a 44 mm white gold case—with a total weight of 53 grams—, yet the architecture inside bears no resemblance to any predecessor. The watch simultaneously deploys two flying tourbillons, each inclined at 10°, mounted on a flying carousel that rotates around its own axis — a visual spectacle that doubles as a genuine anti-gravity solution.
Underpinning all of it is the world's smallest differential, measuring just 5 mm across and assembled from 69 components, including ceramic ball bearings manufactured to micron-level tolerances. A patented gimbal system—also the smallest of its kind—ensures the twin regulators operate in continuous equilibrium regardless of wrist orientation. Production is limited to 50 pieces in this nanosital transparent blue dial variant.
The Movement
Powering the Super Freak is the calibre UN-252, a self-winding manufacture movement—grinder winding system—that required four years of development and comprises 511 parts. Two independent silicon balance wheels and balance springs each beat at 2.5 Hz (18,000 vph), synchronized via the vertical differential. Both escapements use Ulysse Nardin's proprietary DIAMonSIL technology—diamond-coated silicon components that run without lubrication. Power reserve is 72 hours. Ulysse Nardin calls this the most complicated time-only watch ever made, and on mechanical grounds, the claim is difficult to contest. The rotating seconds cylinder in itself is a feat of horology.
What makes the UN-252 particularly remarkable is the orchestration required to keep its competing systems in harmony. One single watchmaker works on it, and 70% of the movement is hand-finished. The two tourbillons do not operate independently; they are coupled through the vertical differential, which continuously averages their outputs to deliver a single, corrected impulse to the hands. The carousel adds another layer of three-dimensional motion, rotating the entire tourbillon assembly as a unit while each regulator spins on its own axis. Titanium bridges keep the overall weight in check without compromising structural rigidity. The result is a movement that functions less like a collection of complications and more like a precision instrument engineered around a single obsessive goal: accuracy.
On the Wrist & Price
The Super Freak represents the most ambitious chapter yet in the Freak story. This is a watch-collecting game-changer and one that treats horological complexity not as an end in itself, but as a language for pushing what a time-only watch can articulate. Simply amazing on the wrist.
Sticker Price CHF 320,000. For more information on Ulysse Nardin, click here.
