URWERK's wandering hours on a Freak carousel

The original Freak of 2001 told the time by turning the movement itself on the dial. Ulysse Nardin’s own history describes it as a one-hour carousel, with the far end serving as the minute hand. URWERK, founded in 1997, has spent almost as long moving the hours around on satellite arms.

The UR-FREAK puts the second idea on top of the first. The release calls it the first time the two independents have worked together, and the first time Ulysse Nardin has built a watch with another watch brand.

The three-hour carousel

The three-arm platform completes one turn every three hours, one third of the original Freak carousel’s speed. The active arm carries a domed disc with the current hour and travels along a 60-minute arc on the right of the display. When it reaches the end, the next arm is already at the start with the next hour.

The Freak’s old trick, the movement’s far end doubling as the minute hand, is replaced by the active satellite’s pointer reading against the arc. The release says over 150 entirely new components were developed for the satellite display and for the bezel mechanism, and calls the result a single integrated calibre, the UN-241, based on the Freak ONE’s UN-240.

Freak architecture, URWERK display

The release divides the work inside the UN-241 this way:

• Ulysse Nardin: the Freak architecture and manufacture, with a silicon oscillator turning at the centre of the carousel.
• URWERK: the three-arm wandering-hour satellite.
• Escapement and winding: DIAMonSil and the Grinder system from the Freak ONE, with manual winding through the turning caseback.
• Setting: there is no crown. Lift the locking tab at six and turn the bezel to set the time.

The display and surfaces carry URWERK’s part of the drawing:

• Hour discs: three domed satellites travelling around the centre.
• Minute scale: a yellow pointer moving along an arc at the right.
• Colour: electric yellow on the pointer, luminous accents and strap.
• Case edge: three fluted sections around the bezel and caseback.

On its Special Projects page, URWERK describes the finished watch in terms of wandering hours, Super-LumiNova tracks, crownless setting and Grinder winding. The case is deep-grey sandblasted titanium.

In the photographs the sandblasting reads as a flat, almost cast texture, closer to a tool than to a polished watch, and the yellow rubber strap has a fine woven pattern moulded into it. The bridges under the crystal are ruthenium-plated and carry yellow luminous accents in the same colour.

On the wrist the display is busy at the centre and empty on the left, where a conventional dial would have its nine o’clock. The minute arc only occupies the right-hand side.

Dimensions and movement

Ulysse Nardin gives the following figures:

• Case: 44 mm, in sandblasted titanium.
• Power reserve: 90 hours.
• Movement: 3 Hz, 263 components and 25 jewels.
• Water resistance: 30 metres.
• Height: a “perceived” 12 mm. That is the release’s own word, so we treat it as a description of the profile rather than a measurement.

The P8/100 plate

The piece we photographed carries a screwed plate on its case flank reading P8/100. The edition is 100 pieces. The release does not say what the P denotes, and we have not asked.

Price and availability

Production. The release and the official page both state a limited edition of 100 pieces.

Retail. €117,600 / CHF 108,100 / £100,340, as of Nov 2025 (launch prices, German release; CHF/EUR/GBP incl. VAT 8.1/21/20%; USD on request)

The German-language release in the press kit states the launch prices with their tax bases. The English release states none.