Sailing your super yacht on the high seas? A limited edition Ulysse Nardin timepiece is the perfect accessory. Baroque Access has all the details
Ulysee Nardin is a Swiss-made timepiece manufacturer renowned for its legendary marine and pocket chronometers. One of the most famous of these is the limited edition Grand Deck Marine Turbillon, already causing ripples because of its impressive engineering and unique design. The timepiece was inspired by the era of classic super yachts, and utilizes a patented time display with a unique mechanism.
The watch itself has been designed to resemble the teak deck of a magnificent sailboat and features a boom being pulled across the wooden dial using high-tech nanowire around a series of winches that literally look like a ship’s rigging. Aside from causing waves in the industry, the Grand Deck has received major attention from the media.
At the recent Baselworld in March this year, Ulysse Nardin featured its new concept ‘From the movement of the sea, to the motion of haute horlogerie’, which explores the brand’s maritime heritage and how this has inspired them to create such innovative and forward-thinking timepieces.
These new timepieces are horology taken to an entirely new level, where the brand has forged ahead of the rest in the design stakes. The Grand Deck epitomizes everything about sailing, whilst offering mechanical advancement at the same time. These limited edition watches – only 18 have been made – have been designed with meticulous attention to detail. Aside from the hand-crafted wooden marquetry that resembles a ship’s deck, the timepiece also boasts an original device to tell the time crafted from nanowire that is much thinner than a human hair.
The entire design incorporates elements of the sea. In fact, the watch motor mirrors the mechanics of a ship’s sails and the minute hand has been replaced with a boom, the horizontal spar used to angle a vessel’s head sail. A wire pulls the boom across a graduated arc, in the same way that the halyard cord is used on a ship to hoist its sails. You can see these intricate workings through the back of the watch case if you want to marvel at this masterpiece.
Of course, the Grand Deck has been designed to perform well in every possible sailing eventuality: this white-gold wonder is also water resistant to 100 meters. It does, of course, work perfectly on land, as well! And with only 18 on the market, you had better make sure you get your order in early.