Established in 1846 in Le Locle, Switzerland by Ulysse Nardin, a 23 year old watchmaker who had been trained in watchmaking by his father and later apprenticed with famed watchmakers Frederic William Dubois and Louis JeanRichard-dit-Bressel, the Ulysse Nardin company initially achieved success as a manufacturer of pocket chronometers and other highly complicated watches including minute repeaters. In 1862 Ulysse Nardin was awarded 1st Prize at the London International Exhibition for the category 'Pocket Chronometers and Complicated Watches'.
Following the death of Ulysse Nardin in 1876, the watch company was taken over by Ulysse Nadin's son, Paul-David Nardin. Despite the death of its founder, the watchmaker didn't lose a step as Paul-David was awarded a Gold Medal at the Paris Universal Exhibition for his Pocket and Marine Chronometers in 1878.
As it entered the 20th Century, Ulysse Nardin had become a leading manufacturer of extremely precise marine chronometers, used on merchant and naval vessels for timing and navigation. The company continued breaking and setting performance records throughout the first half of the 20th century.
In 1906 alone, Ulysse Nardin was awarded First Prize and a Gold Medal at the Milan International Exhibition, the first seven places at a watch competition at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, DC and a Ulysse Nardin chronometer broke all performance records in trials at the Hamburg Observatory.
By 1983, the legendary watch company had been reduced to a skeleton staff following the advent of inexpensive quartz watches and subsequent decline of Swiss watchmaking. A Swiss entrepreneur named Rolf Schnyder acquired Ulysse Nardin at this, the lowest point in its history. Mr. Schneider would probably like to say he absolutely foresaw the resurrection of the Swiss watchmaking industry at that time, but as a good Swiss, a sentimental and partly blind attachment to traditional watchmaking may also have led him to acquire Ulysse Nardin.
There are interesting biographies for both Rolf Schnyder and Dr. Ludwig Oechslin, the brilliant watchmaker, philosopher and scientist behind so many of Ulysse Nardin's stunning horological accomplishments on the Ulysse Nardin website. It would be difficult to separate the present history of Ulysse Nardin from the lives of these two men.
Current core collections for the brand include the Marine collections including the Ulysse Nardin Marine Diver watches, the Marine Chronometer and Marine Chronograph collections as well as the series of dive watches, chronometers and chronographs including the Marine Annual Chronograph. The Ulysse Nardin Marine Diver collection of watches are all water resistant to minimum 200 meters depth, have unidirectional rotating dive bezels, are available with stainless steel bracelets, rubber straps or both and can be had in stainless steel, 18k rose gold, or 18k white gold. Notable models include the Maxi Marine Diver Limited Edition, an 18k white gold dive watch with a brilliant blue lacquered dial and bezel with matching blue lacquer inlay, as well as the 'Blue Surf' in 18k rose gold with a unique blued movement.
The Ulysse Nardin Marine Chronometer and Marine Chronograph collections are a popular and highly versatile selection and are available with a leather, rubber or metal bracelets and straps.
The Ulysse Nardin Michelangelo collection includes models with big dates, dual time and chronographs; all in tonneau shaped cases.
The San Marco collection are perhaps the most elegant of Ulysse Nardin collections. Ulysse Nardin revived the art of the cloisonnes dial, an enamel dial with colored fields separated by thin gold wires with this collection. The effect is stunningly beautiful and extremely difficult to produce, even by a highly skilled artist. Outstanding examples include dials with architectural illustrations such as the tower of Pisa, Saint Peter's Square at the Vatican and the Kremlin. Other examples include 19th century sailing vessels.
The GMT Dual Time collection features watches for men and women with big date displays and a second time zone diplayed digitally in a magnified window at 9 o'clock.
In the past decade, no other watchmaker has registered as many patents as Ulysse Nardin. The driving force behind Ulysse Nardin is a desire to produce watches that have never been made before. They are loathe to recreate the efforts of others and will only produce a common complication if they can do it in a new and innovative way that has not yet been done.
The Time Zone is proud to be an authorized dealer of Ulysse Nardin watches. Please feel free to contact us at 1-866-909-8463 Monday through Saturday 10am to 8pm EST with any question, or to purchase a Ulysse Nardin watch.
All Ulysse Nardin watches sold by The Time Zone are authentic, in their original packaging with serial numbers intact and come with the full Ulysse Nardin factory warranty.
