UR-FREAK: When Ulysse Nardin and URWERK Tear Up the Rulebook

When rumor first spread that Ulysse Nardin and URWERK were collaborating, it sounded like a horological urban legend. But the UR-FREAK is refreshingly—and perhaps defiantly—real. It’s the gleeful misfit of Dubai Watch Week 2025, a mechanical fever dream that merges everything wild about the Ulysse Nardin Freak with URWERK’s sci-fi satellite hour antics.

The UR-FREAK isn’t just a mashup; it’s a bold statement. Here, you get a 44mm sandblasted titanium case with all the architecture and crownless swagger of the original Freak, but the dial? It’s organized chaos in the best sense: a satellite hour carousel shuttling time around a 25% oversized, silicon-based balance wheel, the whole thing alive with acid-yellow flashes. There’s no crown (as if that would be too traditional). Instead, time is set by turning the bezel, locked into place with a “UR-FREAK” signed mechanism at six o’clock.

Ticking away inside is the new caliber UN-241, built jointly for this project—automatic, three-hour carousel, wandering hours, 90 hours of power reserve, and enough DIAMonSil (diamond-coated silicon) tech to handle whatever wrist acrobatics you throw at it. And the finishing touch? Ulysse Nardin’s “Grinder” system, so sensitive it charges up energy from the faintest movement. The result is maximum spectacle, minimum compromise.

Here’s the thing: this isn’t a watch for everyone. Some will see audacity; others, an affront to tradition. But that’s the magic. The UR-FREAK doesn’t just bend the rules—it doesn’t care about them in the first place. It’s an instant conversation piece, a feat of independent watchmaking that raises eyebrows and pulses.

If your wrist craves stories—and you’re tired of “safe”—this is a wild, brilliant answer. The rest is just timekeeping.

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