The 30-piece limited-edition Ulysse Nardin Freak X Enamel Seddiqi marries Métiers d’Art techniques with state-of-the-art watchmaking and celebrates the partnership between elite Swiss watchmaker Ulysse Nardin and Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons, the Middle East’s leading luxury watch retailer. Ulysse Nardin, the independent Swiss watch maison that has been disrupting haute horlogerie since 1846, is delighted to introduce the new Freak X Enamel Seddiqi, a watch that celebrates shared cultures, traditions, and artistic passions that span continents. The Freak X Enamel Seddiqi is based on the design and movement properties of a 21st-century watchmaking icon, Ulysse Nardin’s Freak, which rewrote the horological rulebook when it was introduced in 2001 by pioneering the use of silicon technology in watchmaking.
The exclusive new watch builds on the timeless story of the Freak’s ‘no hands and no dial’ movement architecture and tells it afresh with an exquisite guilloché and enameled hour disc that highlights Ulysse Nardin’s mastery of Métiers d’Art. Colored in “Yas Blue” enamel to echo the piercing electric blue of the evening sky as the sun sets over the waters of the Gulf of Arabia, the Freak X Enamel Seddiqi’s hour disc is the work of very skilled artisans at Ulysse Nardin’s Donzé Cadrans Manufacture in Le Locle and the result of a complex, painstaking process.
First, the gold guilloché hour disc has a texture that gives the watch an additional visual dimension, resulting in a geometric pattern that gives it a balanced, modern feel. Then Ulysse Nardin’s enamellers add four layers of water-based enamel to it. The enamel begins as a solid, which is then broken down with a pestle and mortar into a fine powder before it is transformed into a paste with water. Between each layer, the disc is fired at temperatures of 800 degrees Celsius and then cooled. Cooling takes just one minute. A final, crucial layer of translucent ‘fondant’ enamel gives the disc surface a glossy finish that will be immediately recognizable to Métiers d’Art connoisseurs.
For the enamellers, there’s jeopardy in every layer. The disc will be fired at least five times and the kiln is merciless: each time, the risk is that the enamel will bubble and spoil, at which point, the process must start again. This tension is one of the reasons skilled enamellers are such a rare breed, and why only the very finest watches carry enamel decorations.
Visible via the display case back is the manufacture calibre UN-230, an automatic movement composed of 206 parts, 21 jewels, a flying carrousel movement rotating around its axis, a balance wheel and escapement in silicon, and an oversized oscillator. While beating at a frequency of 21,600 vph, the movement provides a power reserve of 72 hours when fully wound.
The Ulysse Nardin Freak X Enamel Seddiqi ref. 2303-270LE-3AE-SED/3A is cased in a 43 mm titanium case and delivered on a black rubber ballistic strap with white stitching and a titanium folding buckle. A second white rubber strap is also delivered with the watch. Due to the technical and artisanal complexity of this beautiful horological object, only 30 pieces will be made, and they will only be available through Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons, the United Arab Emirates’ largest and most pioneering luxury watch and jewelry retailer.
Sticker Price AED 154,000 United Arab Emirates Dirham —approx USD 42,000. More info on Ulysse Nardin here.
