Ulysse Nardin’s $275,000 Freak [S] Combines Twin Oscillators with Purple Enamel

By Elliot Nash - News

Updated: 12 November, 2026

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Readtime: 6 min

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• Ulysse Nardin has unveiled the Freak [S Purple Enamel], a 50-piece limited edition celebrating 25 years of the Freak and 180 years of the Swiss watchmaker.
• The 45mm titanium watch features two inclined silicon oscillators, a rotating movement that doubles as the minute hand and a purple enamel hour disc crafted from 18-carat white gold.
• Powered by the automatic Calibre UN-251 with a 72-hour power reserve, the Freak [S Purple Enamel] costs AUD $275,000 and launches on 12 November 2026.

You don’t exactly need a conventional dial when the movement itself tells the time. Wild, I know, but that’s been the thinking behind Ulysse Nardin‘s Freak collection since 2001, and 25 years later, the Swiss watchmaker is still finding new ways to make its unconventional approach to watchmaking stand out – we’ve certainly taken notice. And its latest creation, the Freak [S Purple Enamel], combines a pair of inclined silicon oscillators with a striking purple enamel hour disc, all housed in a 45 mm titanium case. If you thought Seiko took the colour to the next level with its Edo purple collection, then you ain’t seen nothing yet.

Limited to just 50 pieces worldwide, the new AUD $275,000 Freak [S] arrives as Ulysse Nardin celebrates its 180th anniversary and a quarter-century of the collection that helped pioneer silicon technology in mechanical watchmaking. It’s also the final titanium Freak [S] edition to feature an enamel hour disc, closing an all-important chapter of the collection.

Ulysse Nardin isn’t afraid to experiment with unusual materials. We’ve seen it time and time again, most recently with the Freak [S Howlite], which featured a rotating hour disc made from Canadian stone. This time, the watchmaker has turned to traditional enamelling, pairing an established mechanical marvel with a centuries-old decorative technique.

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Two Oscillators, No Conventional Hands, and a Whole Lot of Purple

If you’re unfamiliar with the Freak, the first thing to understand is that it doesn’t tell the time like a conventional watch. That would be too easy. You won’t find traditional hands or a conventional dial, nor will you find a crown sticking out of the side of the case. It’s all very unorthodox, which makes these “Freaks” all the more intriguing.

Instead of telling time the usual way, the 373-component Calibre UN-251 uses a flying carousel movement that completes one rotation every 60 minutes, with a pointer at its tip indicating the minutes. Beneath the carousel, a separate disc rotates once every 12 hours to display the hours. To adjust the time, you unlock the safety mechanism at six o’clock and rotate the bezel.

You might want to study the manual before plopping one of these on your wrist, but the Freak [S] takes it further still with two oversized silicon oscillators, each inclined at 20 degrees. Most mechanical watches rely on a single balance to regulate their movement, but Ulysse Nardin uses two, connected by a vertical mechanical differential. Think of it as a system that averages the two oscillators’ rates rather than relying entirely on one, helping keep the watch running more consistently.

You can’t help but be impressed by what they’ve achieved here. Ulysse Nardin’s engineering has gone so far that about 95 per cent of the movement’s components are in motion. And even with all that mechanical activity, the automatic movement delivers a 72-hour power reserve through the brand’s patented Grinder winding system.

Now, none of this is entirely new to the Freak [S], which first appeared in 2022. What makes this edition different is what’s happening underneath that constantly moving machinery.

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A Purple Enamel Finish With a Mechanical Job to Do

The real centrepiece of the Freak [S Purple Enamel] is its rotating hour disc, crafted from 18-carat white gold and finished in guilloché-flinqué purple enamel at Ulysse Nardin’s in-house Donzé Cadrans workshop. How exquisite.

But it’s more than just a pretty face. Unlike a conventional enamel dial, this disc isn’t merely decorative. It’s a functional part of the time display, so the craftsmanship must meet the precise tolerances of a moving mechanical component. There’s not much room for error when the decorated disc still has to rotate accurately.

The process begins with a geometric pattern stamped into the white-gold disc. Enamel pigments are then ground, mixed with water and applied in three to four layers, each fired at approximately 800°C. A final hand-polishing stage brings out the depth and texture of the purple finish. When a watch costs this much, you’d expect the finer details to take a while.

It’s familiar territory for Donzé Cadrans, which also produced the enamelled hour disc for the Freak [ONE Blue Enamel] we covered earlier this year. The difference here is the more elaborate Freak [S] movement working above it, with its twin oscillators and exposed mechanical architecture competing for attention.

Completing the watch is a 45mm titanium case with a purple calfskin leather strap, contrasting white stitching and a titanium folding buckle. Water resistance is rated at just 30 metres, so despite the titanium construction, this Freak is staying out of the deep end.

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Ulysse Nardin Freak [S Purple Enamel] – Key Specs

• Reference: 2513-500LE-7AE-PURP/0A
• Case: Titanium, 45mm
• Thickness: 16.65mm
• Movement: Automatic Calibre UN-251
• Oscillators: Two silicon oscillators inclined at 20 degrees
• Power reserve: 72 hours
• Hour disc: 18-carat white gold, guilloché-flinqué purple enamel
• Water resistance: 30 metres
• Strap: Purple calfskin leather with titanium folding buckle
• Limited edition: 50 pieces worldwide
• Availability: 12 November 2026
• Price: AUD $275,000

The Ulysse Nardin Freak [S Purple Enamel] makes its global debut at IAMWATCH in Singapore on 12 November 2026, with The Hour Glass serving as the brand’s exclusive retailer across Australia, New Zealand and several Southeast Asian markets.

With just 50 examples available, this is very much a collector’s piece. Still, it feels fitting that Ulysse Nardin is celebrating 25 years of a watch that broke tradition by putting so much effort into decorating the mechanical component that replaced the dial. The times they are a changing.