The Urwerk x Ulysse Nardin UR-FREAK, An Unexpected Collab with a Stunning Result

Not many contemporary watchmaking creations have influenced our perception of time display as dramatically as the 2001 Ulysse Nardin Freak and Urwerk’s wandering-hour satellites. Both were born from the late-1990s creative surge, when mechanical horology strongly demonstrated its experimental and innovative spirit. Ulysse Nardin’s Freak redefined the mechanical wristwatch by eliminating the dial, hands, and crown, turning the entire movement into a time-telling carousel, as well as pioneering the use of silicon in horology. Urwerk, founded in 1997 by Felix Baumgartner and Martin Frei, reimagined the display of time itself with its orbiting satellite hours.

Now, in 2025, these two paths converge… And surprisingly, it all feels natural, familiar… The UR-FREAK is the first collaboration between Ulysse Nardin and Urwerk, a 3-year project that fuses the Freak’s kinetic architecture with the Freak ONE’s Calibre UN-240 used as a base, together with Urwerk’s signature orbital hour satellites, built into a single, fully integrated movement. It is not a co-signed cosmetic crossover, but a technical synthesis, a new mechanism born of shared philosophies: independence, creative audacity, and a refusal to compromise. Enough praise, let´s discover the exceptional timepiece that is the UR-FREAK.

The casework

Housed in a 44mm sandblasted titanium case, the UR-FREAK fuses the design codes of both Ulysse Nardin and Urwerk into a single, cohesive form. Its rounded silhouette copies the Freak ONE, and the fluted titanium bezel and exposed mechanical layers nod to Urwerk’s angular geometry and kinetic architecture. Despite the complex movement inside, the case boasts a slim perceived height of 12mm, all thanks to an integrated construction and a compact automatic winding system.

In keeping with the Freak’s founding principle, the UR-FREAK has no crown. Time is set via the rotating bezel, secured by a small locking tab at six o’clock marked UR-FREAK. When released, the bezel engages directly with the minute satellite, allowing precise, tactile adjustment. Winding is handled through the rotating caseback, another ergonomic hallmark of both collaborating brands. Despite its dynamic construction (moving parts), the case still provides 30m of water resistance.

Time display

Beneath the sapphire crystal, there is no traditional dial. Instead, the entire mechanical display orbits around an exposed silicon oscillator. Three arms carry domed hour discs that glide along a 60-minute arc on the right-hand side of the display. Each disc features engraved, luminous numerals, while the ruthenium-finished baseplate doubles as a movement chassis and visual backdrop, giving the composition both structure and depth. All in all, it is a surprisingly coherent mix of both UN’s and Urwerk’s signature elements.

Legibility, often compromised in concept pieces, remains crisp. The active hour is shown digitally on the current satellite arm with a yellow luminous pointer in Urwerk’s signature electric hue, tracing a linear minute scale that merges the feel of an analogue glide with digital precision.

The mechanics

At the core of this mechanical fusion is the Calibre UN-241, developed jointly by Ulysse Nardin’s engineers in Le Locle and Urwerk’s Geneva atelier. Using the UN-240 as a starting point, comprising 263 components, with around 150 newly created for this project, the UR-FREAK’s movement integrates Ulysse Nardin’s micro-engineering and silicon expertise with Urwerk’s orbital time-display.

The rotating carousel at the centre of the UN-241 is a direct evolution of the Freak’s mechanism, completing one full revolution every three hours. But unlike earlier Freak models that relied on a fixed bridge to carry the gear train and escapement, the UR-FREAK integrates Urwerk’s three-armed wandering-hour satellite system directly into the rotating platform. Each arm turns to display the current hour, advancing instantly via a set of Geneva crosses and star wheels that choreograph a seamless sequence of motion.

Mounted on the same mobile platform is the regulating organ: an oversized silicon (what else…) oscillator, 25% larger than standard for enhanced inertia and stability. Its continual rotation, much like a tourbillon or carousel, averages out positional errors, improving timekeeping precision. The oscillator beats at 21,600 vibrations/hour and is regulated by a variable-inertia balance with four gold weights. Both escapement wheel and anchor are crafted from DIAMonSil, Ulysse Nardin’s proprietary diamond-coated silicon composite, which provides ultra-low friction and exceptional wear resistance, eliminating the need for traditional lubrication.

Power is supplied by a single mainspring barrel offering an impressive 90-hour power reserve, despite the energy demand of the rotating assembly. Winding efficiency comes from Ulysse Nardin’s Grinder system, a four-blade, spring-mounted rotor that captures even the slightest wrist motion and converts it into torque. Compact, efficient, and nearly twice as effective as a conventional rotor, the Grinder system ensures consistent energy delivery with minimal effort.

The UR-FREAK’s show unfolds in full view as the wandering-hour satellites dramatise time’s passage. Still, the innovation lies in the invisible precision of its materials. Ulysse Nardin brought the use of silicon to watchmaking with the original Freak in 2001, and this 2025 collaboration carries that legacy forward. Silicon’s amagnetic properties, lightness, and self-lubrication make it ideal for high-frequency escapements, and the addition of DIAMonSil (a diamond-coated silicon composite) enhances these qualities, creating components that are nearly frictionless, corrosion-proof, and durable.

Together, silicon and DIAMonSil form the unseen foundation of the UR-FREAK’s performance, ensuring the watch’s longevity matches its avant-garde mechanics. The engineered materials guarantee precision and permanence, and UR-FREAK becomes a seamless synthesis of visible art and hidden science.

Thoughts

The UR-FREAK is a meeting of two autonomous creative minds. Urwerk’s Felix Baumgartner and Martin Frei approach watches as kinetic sculptures, where engineering and emotion are inseparable. Ulysse Nardin treats the Freak as an ongoing laboratory, testing new materials and movement concepts. Both brands prize the same thing: the freedom to invent without concession, whether that means machining silicon components in-house or rethinking how hours traverse a dial. The UR-FREAK is the product of that freedom: a true technical partnership rather than a surface-level co-branding exercise.

Mechanically, it sits precisely at the crossroads of legacy and innovation, fusing Urwerk’s wandering-hour satellites with the Freak’s rotating carousel into a single, integrated calibre. Visually, it distils the futuristic minimalism each brand has refined over decades.

Availability and price

The UR-FREAK is a statement that the spirit of innovation that defined the early 2000s independent revolution is not just alive but accelerating, set to become a collector´s item. It will be produced in a limited run of 100 pieces, and the price is CHF 100,000 (taxes excluded).

For more information, please visit www.ulysse-nardin.com and urwerk.com.