Dubai Watch Week 2025: Ulysse Nardin And Urwerk Reinvent Avant-Garde In Their Debut Collaboration For The UR-FREAK

Generally, ground-up innovation is a rare commodity in modern watchmaking spaces. Much of what births is a re-invention of what’s already there. As with everything, exceptions aren’t absent in this discipline and two brands with an audacious obsession with avant-garde have been the flagbearers of a genre which realizes future mechanical artworks in the now. These are Ulysse Nardin and Urwerk.

At Dubai Watch Week 2025, their identical obsession with mechanical innovation is realized in the form of the UR-FREAK - a 100-piece limited edition that fuses the iconoclastic spirit of the Ulysse Nardin Freak with Urwerk’s celebrated wandering-hour satellite display. More than just a watch, the UR-FREAK is a manifesto on the future of mechanical art.

A first of its kind collab between Ulysse Nardin and Urwerk, the UR-FREAK is a deep, technical, and philosophical partnership that has birthed a completely new movement, redefining what a collaborative horological yield can be.

Genesis Of A Modern Marvel

The creation of the UR-FREAK weaves together decades of pioneering spirit from both brands. Ulysse Nardin, founded in 1846, set a bold technological course in the late 20th century, culminating in 2001 with the release of the original Freak, a watch that truly lived up to its name by turning traditions inside out. That same period saw the birth of Urwerk, established in 1997 by Felix Baumgartner and Martin Frei to challenge the very conventions of time display.

Both brands flourished amid a renaissance in independent watchmaking, leveraging cutting-edge CAD design, novel materials, and innovative mechanical concepts. The Freak became a “wrist-worn laboratory” for Ulysse Nardin, while Urwerk, with its groundbreaking satellite hour displays, reimagined how time could be read and experienced. Their shared drive: inject traditional watchmaking with uncompromising creativity.

The Art Of Creative Fusion

While collaborative efforts are part and parcel of the luxury watch world, the partnership behind the UR-FREAK sets a new standard. Unlike superficial team-ups that merely remix colors or dials, this union dives deep, melding Urwerk’s avant-garde hour satellite mechanism with the boldly unconventional movement architecture of Ulysse Nardin’s Freak. This is a full-fledged, in-house feat, combining mechanical wizardry and imaginative aesthetics in a way that has never before been attempted.

Urwerk and Ulysse Nardin each define independence not as marketing politics, but as artistic and technical freedom. Urwerk maintains a boutique size to fiercely protect vision and originality, while Ulysse Nardin channels independence into relentless R&D and in-house material innovation. Their collaboration allowed both teams to realize ambitions that would be unreachable alone.

Mechanics As Art

At the heart of the UR-FREAK is a one-of-a-kind in-house movement - the UN-241 caliber, marrying a rotating 3-hour carousel (inspired by the UN Freak) with a satellite hour display (a signature of Urwerk). Over 150 new components were devised to manifest the distinctive “wandering hours” system and case architecture. Time is read via three domed, rotating hour discs, as one completes its trip down the minute track, the next hour rises to prominence. At the center stage sits an enlarged, silicon-based balance wheel, visible on the dial as a nod to Ulysse Nardin’s historic innovation.

The 44mm case, based on the Freak ONE and cloaked in anthracite sandblasted titanium, incorporates iconic Urwerk cues such as the fluted bezel sections, acid-yellow highlights, and a functional, crownless silhouette. Time-setting is accomplished not via a crown but through a bezel and caseback system with a distinctive “locker” feature bearing the “UR-FREAK” name for this exclusive edition.

Revolutionary Movement And Materials

The UR-FREAK isn’t just about showmanship, it’s a mechanical milestone. At its core, the caliber UN-241 delivers 90 hours of power reserve and showcases a silicon oscillator that is a full 25% larger than conventional designs, all for maximum stability and spectacle. The display of time is both poetic and practical, as the entire satellite system rotates like a slow-motion carousel, minimizing positional errors and maximizing kinetic drama.

Winding is handled by Ulysse Nardin’s revolutionary Grinder system. Unlike typical automatic mechanisms that require significant wrist motion, Grinder extracts energy from even the faintest movements, marking a rare leap in winding efficiency. Incorporated here is DIAMonSil, a proprietary Ulysse Nardin material which features diamond-coated silicon components for extraordinary durability and performance. As a reminder, silicon in watchmaking was first introduced by Ulysse Nardin in the 2001 Freak to resist temperature shifts and magnetic forces.

A Statement Of Independence

Only 100 examples of the UR-FREAK will be produced, making it not only a landmark collaboration but a rare opportunity to own a watch that represents the very best of contemporary independent horology. For collectors and enthusiasts, it stands as a mechanical marvel and as a celebration of craftsmanship unrestrained by convention.

The UR-FREAK is a vivid reminder that the future of watchmaking belongs to those willing to reinvent it.