Ulysse Nardin’s story

1846 Ulysse Nardin established the company of the same name in Le Locle, after serving his apprenticeship first under his father, Léonard-Frédéric, then under William Dubois, a specialist manufacturer of marine chronometers and astronomical watches.

1862 Ulysse Nardin was awarded the Prize Medal at the World’s Fair in London in the complicated watches and pocket chronometers category.

1876 Ulysse’s son Paul-David Nardin took over the family firm. As a specialist in precision marine chronometers, he supplied naval ministries and scientific institutes.

Ulysse Nardin mechanical marine chronometers would be awarded over 4,300 performance certificates. Numerous distinctions were also won at international fairs, including 18 gold medals at World Fairs and, between 1889 and 1964, 8 Grands Prix.

Following Ulysse Nardin’s death in 1920 and the Second World War, the company specialised in highly precise self-winding watches and ultra-thin watches.

1983 Ulysse Nardin was taken over by a group of investors led by Rolf W. Schnyder.

1985 The Astrolabium Galileo Galilei, named after the great physicist, astronomer and humanist. This astronomical wristwatch indicates the position of the Sun, Moon and stars at any given hour as seen from Earth. It also shows sunrise and sunset, moonrise and moonset, moon phases, solar and lunar eclipses, the month and the day of the week.

1988 The Planetarium Copernicus, in honour of the Polish astronomer. This astronomical wristwatch combines Ptolemy’s geocentric concept of the universe with Copernicus’ heliocentric concept.

1992 The Tellurium Johannes Kepler, a tribute to the German astronomer. This astronomical wristwatch shows the Earth as seen from directly above the North Pole. It also shows which part of the Earth is lit by the Sun at any one time, in addition to where the Sun rises and sets. With the Astrolabium and the Planetarium, the "Trilogy of Time" was thus complete.

1994 The GMT ± with rapid time-zone change and permanent home time. The Dual Time function instantly adjusts each of the calendar indications by means of a single crown, both backwards and forwards.

1996 The Perpetual Ludwig, named after its inventor Dr Ludwig Oechslin, with perpetual calendar.

2000 The first prototypes using silicon technology for the Dual Direct escapement, innovative in that it functions entirely without lubricant.

2001 The Freak 28,800 seven-day Carrousel-Tourbillon with neither hands, dial nor crown.

2002 The Gengis Khan, the first Westminster Carillon Tourbillon Jaquemarts Minute Repeater

2005 The Freak 28,800 V/h Diamond Heart with the new Dual Ulysse escapement in diamond. The first prototypes for a diamond escapement grown on silicon.

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