The Freak has always been Ulysse Nardin's way of saying a watch does not need a dial or hands in the usual sense. The 2001 original, designed by Ludwig Oechslin, told the time by rotating its whole movement around the case, with no crown and no conventional display. The Freak X arrived in 2019 as the accessible version: a normal crown, a fixed outer ring of indices, and a price that brought the idea within reach of more people. With the brand marking its 180th anniversary and the 25th of the Freak, Ulysse Nardin has now rebuilt the X from the movement out, and the changes are structural rather than cosmetic.
The movement is the point
The new calibre is the UN-232, replacing the UN-230, and it took more than two years to develop. The headline is the winding. For the first time in any Freak, the automatic winding is handled by a micro-rotor, made of rose gold and set into the movement rather than swinging over it. That is what allows the watch to get smaller without losing the automatic convenience, and it is visible through the sapphire caseback.
The escapement is the other technical change. The UN-232 uses Ulysse Nardin's DIAMonSIL, a silicon component given a diamond-like coating to harden the surface and cut friction, which the brand first put in the Freak DIAMonSIL in 2007 but has not used in the X until now. The oversized silicon balance and silicon hairspring, both made by SIGATEC, carry over. The movement runs 216 components and 27 jewels at 21,600 vibrations per hour, and the 72-hour power reserve is unchanged despite the smaller dimensions. It still shows only hours and minutes, the carousel turning for the minutes and a disc rotating for the hours.
A smaller, better-built case
The previous Freak X was 43mm. The new one is 41mm, with the lug-to-lug down from 49.6mm to 47.3mm and the height, crystal included, at 13.6mm. More important than the numbers is how the case is made. The old model used a modular construction; the new one is a monobloc, in either 80% recycled steel or rose gold. Ulysse Nardin says the single-piece case is more rigid and damps the mechanical noise the movement makes, which is a real consideration on a watch whose entire calibre is in motion.
A screw-down crown takes water resistance from 50m to 100m, which is the difference between careful and unbothered around water. The glassbox sapphire has a wider opening for a clearer view of the carousel, and the markers are now applied indices filled with Super-LumiNova rather than printed. Straps are quick-release, and for the first time the X can be had on an integrated steel bracelet.
Three to start
The collection opens with three references, all in the permanent line. The Freak X Grey pairs a recycled steel case with a grey sandblasted hour disc on a light brown calfskin strap, reference 2323-500-1A/0A, at CHF 33,500, EUR 37,500 or USD 41,200. The Freak X Blue puts a blue gradient disc in recycled steel on the new integrated bracelet, reference 2323-500-3A/7A, at CHF 34,500, EUR 38,600 or USD 42,400. The Freak X Gold uses a rose gold case and a black sandblasted disc on black alligator, reference 2322-500-2A/1A, at CHF 52,000, EUR 58,200 or USD 64,000.
The read
The 2019 Freak X made the concept affordable by simplifying it. This one keeps the lower entry point but spends the engineering where it shows: a new in-house movement, a winding system that genuinely enables the smaller case, and a better escapement. The recycled steel and the bracelet option read as the brand bringing a strange watch a little closer to daily wear without filing off what makes it strange. For a Freak that someone actually intends to wear rather than display, the 41mm steel version on a bracelet is the obvious one to want.
