Executive Tourbillon Free Wheel – Ulysse Nardin

Ulysse Nardin’s most spectacular innovation to date literally turns watchmaking upside down: free-floating components under space-age crystal. The Executive Tourbillon Skeleton “Free Wheel” has a sapphire glass box that took months to research and develop. Under this dome 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.

 

 

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 Nardin Anchor, 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.  Unlike other Ulysse Nardin tourbillons, the Executive Tourbillon Skeleton “Free Wheel” is not a limited edition, but a full-run production launch.

This superb timepiece will be competing in the Chronometry category at the 2018 edition of the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève. The 44 mm case is made on grey gold; manual winding, reference 1760-176. Price: 99,000 CHF.