Urwerk UR-FREAK

The UR-FREAK marks the first formal meeting of two of Switzerland’s most imaginative independents, Ulysse Nardin and URWERK. Long admired for tearing up the rulebook in their own distinct ways, the duo fuses the Freak’s kinetic, movement-as-display philosophy with URWERK’s wandering-hour satellite architecture. The result is a fully integrated caliber that unites a three-hour rotating carousel with a satellite hour display, fortified by Ulysse Nardin’s Grinder® system and its pioneering silicon technology. Both materials the brand championed long before the rest of the industry caught on.

The UR-FREAK feels like a conversation between two generations of horological iconoclasts. Ulysse Nardin’s Freak, which shocked the establishment in 2001 with its exposed silicon gear train, meets URWERK’s futuristic visual language, born in the late ’90s during a wave of creative liberation that empowered independents to experiment boldly. This limited edition of 100 pieces pays homage to that era’s optimism while delivering a mechanism the industry has genuinely never seen before.

What makes the UR-FREAK compelling is not just its dual heritage but its shared ethos of independence, freedom to innovate, to ignore trends, and to build machines that exist simply because no one else dared to. It’s a rare collaboration where both voices remain unmistakably intact, yet the watch itself speaks an entirely new language.