For its 100 and seventy fifth anniversary ultimate yr, Ulysse Nardin launched a strong fleet of Marine Torpilleur restricted editions. On this latest go to to our esteemed archives, WatchTime models sail with the Marine Tourpilleur Chronograph, which moreover has the added complication of an annual calendar onboard.
The French time interval torpilleur stands for a small boat designed to carry torpedoes into battle in the direction of greater, additional carefully armed battleships. The title was reintroduced at Ulysse Nardin in 2017, fittingly chosen for a combatively priced watch with an in-house movement. For 2021, Ulysse Nardin’s 100 and seventy fifth anniversary, the Swiss watchmaker is feeling combative as soon as extra, and has launched an entire fleet of Torpilleur watches as a horological tribute to its storied earlier as a supplier of chronometers to a lot of the world’s navies inside the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Ulysse Nardin President of America François-Xavier Hotier outlined, “Chronometry has been our mantra for 175 years. These new Marine restricted editions are designed for our mates and collectors worldwide. We pay tribute to our earlier as supplier of quite a lot of the admiralties on the planet. It’s a wonderful method to showcase this chapter of the manufacture’s earlier, and a turning into addition to the quite a few cutting-edge gadgets we’ve launched inside the ultimate two years. Briefly, we are going to now journey once more in time with this assortment, consider the present with the most recent releases, and even look into the mannequin’s future with the UFO deck clock.”
Speaking of time journey, established in 1846 by a 23-year-old Ulysse Nardin (Jan. 22, 1823 – Feb. 20, 1876), the Le Locle-based agency shortly seen the rising demand for pocket and marine chronometers which may measure time with the perfect diploma of precision. As a consequence, Ulysse Nardin was awarded over 4,300 distinctions, along with 18 gold medals, for the precision of its timekeepers over the subsequent a very long time. Amongst its buyers was moreover the U.S. Navy. In 1905, the Washington Naval Observatory began organizing a contest to find a producer which may present its torpedo boat officers with superior chronometers. Ulysse Nardin gained the rivals various years in a row, and established an ongoing relationship as an official supplier to the U.S. Navy that lasted until the Fifties.
The seven new fashions of the Marine Torpilleur anniversary assortment (which we lined at their launch right here) highlight completely totally different options of the mannequin’s current competencies: in-house actions, silicon elements, tourbillon and moon-phase, enamel dials and, inside the case of the chronograph confirmed proper right here, moreover the additional measurement of elapsed time and an annual calendar. Ulysse Nardin has decided to equip solely the watches powered by the automated UN-118 (Enamel Blue and Panda) and UN-119 (Moonphase) with a COSC certificates. Hotier commented, “With the invention and use of current provides in our timepieces, equal to silicon, we predict it’s additional essential to test the effectivity of the movement in its ready-to-wear state, i.e. as quickly because it has been put into the case with the dial and arms on it, within the equivalent circumstances the proprietor will placed on the watch. That’s why we principally consider our private Ulysse Nardin certification; not solely [do] we check out the movement’s effectivity, however as well as the additional capabilities equal to calendar, chronograph and power-reserve indicator. We would get just a few of our watches COSC-certified, nonetheless take into account me, our private UN certification must be way more reassuring for collectors.”
The Marine Torpilleur Chronograph with annual calendar is obtainable with each a varnished white or a matte blue dial, and is powered by the UN-153 manufacture movement that has modified the earlier UN-150 movement. The dial is adorned with silvered counters at 9 and three o’clock, with the annual calendar being positioned at 9 o’clock. The date at 6 o’clock changes routinely (in sync with the month), and the annual calendar system (first used inside the perpetual calendar model of 1996) is adjustable every forward and backward by the usage of the huge crown (which signifies that the month and day will likely be conveniently adjusted in every directions, must its proprietor have unintentionally gone too far). Ulysse Nardin’s Caliber UN-153 is seen by the use of a sapphire exhibition caseback, and the partially openworked rotor is embellished with the mannequin’s nautically impressed anchor motif surrounded by a frosted, textured ground.
The mannequin confirmed proper right here (Ref. 1533-320LE-0A-175/1A) boasts a crisp white dial showcasing Roman numeral hour markers, blued “pear” steel arms, and a well-balanced bicompax chronograph construction. The watch is mounted on a brown leather-based strap with 4 outsized white stitches; a blue strap might be on the market for this mannequin (Ref. 1533-320LE-0A-175/1B).
With a diameter of 44 mm for its 50-meter waterproof stainless-steel case, the chronograph is the most important member of the Torpilleur assortment, nonetheless doesn’t placed on too enormous on the wrist, on account of a comparatively compact dimension (lug-to-lug) of 49 mm. On prime of that, its white dial and blued arms make it pretty versatile, crusing merely between an elegant and an just about sporty look. Dial legibility is usually good (and most likely increased as with the blue dial mannequin), nonetheless, unsurprisingly, the scarcity of luminous supplies on the arms and dial does reduce its performance for a cruise after darkish.
As in contrast, the Torpilleur Chronograph is 0.66 mm taller than an IWC Portugieser chronograph measuring 13.00 mm, and has a diameter of 44 mm as compared with the 41-mm steel case from IWC. Its foremost profit, nonetheless, is perhaps the added annual calendar function, which is, subsequent to the power-reserve indicator, an equally user-friendly along with a helpful attribute. Add to that an in-house movement, a specific nautical design, and a comparatively small number of watches produced, and in addition you’ll get a great deal of causes to embark on a horological cruise with Ulysse Nardin this yr.
For nostalgic causes, we are going to absolutely not have been towards a ship christening ceremony with a “Chronometer” on the dial of the chronograph, given the company’s stellar effectivity on the Neuchâtel Observatory, nonetheless, whole, the chronograph and the model new Torpilleur assortment do appear to have hit their objective.
SPECS:
Producer: Ulysse Nardin SA, Rue du Jardin 3, 2400 Le Locle, Switzerland
Reference amount: 1533-320LE-0A-175/1A
Options: Hours, minutes, small seconds, date and annual calendar; chronograph: minutes and seconds
Movement: Self-winding mechanical Caliber UN-153, 406 elements,
escapement wheel, stability spring and anchor in silicon, 28,800 vph (4Hz), 52-hour vitality reserve
Case: Polished steel case (the curving lugs and the bezel are satin-finished) with clear caseback, sapphire crystal on all sides, screw-down crown, dial with silvered subdials and blued arms, waterproof to 50 m
Strap and clasp: Brown alligator leather-based strap with folding clasp
Dimensions: Diameter = 44.0 mm, peak = 13.66 mm, lug to lug = 49 mm
Variations: With blue leather-based strap (Ref. 1533-320LE-0A-175/1B); with blue PVD-coated dial (Ref. 1533-320LE-3A-175/1A on brown strap, 1533-320LE-3A-175/1B on blue strap)
Worth: $12,100
