Ulysse Nardin - Astrolabium (1985)

The close encounter, in 1984, of two of Swiss watchmaking’s most atypical personalities - Rolf Schnyder, owner of Ulysse Nardin, and the extraterrestrial Ludwig Oechslin - immediately bore fruit. The former provided the resources and the framework for the latter to express his extraordinary creativity, while propelling his brand into an orbit where there was virtually no competition. The very next year saw the launch of the first "volume" in the Trilogy of Time. The Planetarium Copernicus offers a vision of the solar system and allows the reading of the planets’ position in relation to the Sun and Earth. The second in the trilogy, the Tellurium, shows the Earth from above the North Pole, together with a series of astronomical indications including eclipses of the sun and moon. And finally the most celebrated of all, the Astrolabium Galileo Galilei indicates the position of the Sun, Moon and stars from any point on Earth, together with an unprecedented array of astronomical indications. This très grande complication movement is housed inside a 40 mm-diameter case that is just 12.8 mm high including the crystal, a far cry from any layer upon layer of added complications. And the watchmaker with an encyclopaedia for a brain did not stop there. He went on to develop several other original mechanisms for Ulysse Nardin, among them the novel escapement which since 2001 has powered the Freak watch. Today he is the curator of the Musée International d’Horlogerie in La Chaux-de-Fonds. His parting gift to the watchmakers at Ulysse Nardin was enough projects to keep them busy for many years to come.