- Ulysses Nardin diver's watches bring a daring retro style that agrees to the aesthetics of vintage divers.
- Titanium case covered with 44 mm PVD with 300 m water resistance and a light sensation despite its size.
- Powered by the internal movement of the UN18, offering 60 hours of power reserve and the Diamonsil® exhaust technology by Ulysse Nardin.
Cartier did it. Vacheron Constantine too. Even Jaeger-LeCoultre participated in the act this year at Watches & Wonders. The new rule of modern watchmaking seems to be: “Look back to move forward.” And it works a treat.
The last Hammerhead diver shark And Diving air certainly are no exception. The new versions take the diving watch formula, inject it with a retro orange and blue attitude and the attack on your wrist with modern shameless materials. The result is a high-specification underwater watch with just the right amount of nostalgic flair … the perfect daily diver for your collection.
Vintage diver vibrations, less rust
The bright blue dial of the hammer shark, the red signature “X”, the orange keys on the chapter ring and the rubber strap are catchy. It is certainly more subtle than some of the more daring and daring novelties of Ulysses Nardin in previous years, but I would not call it a subtle diver either. But it is in a way the point.
The diver is recovering at the golden age of adventure watches when the saturation diving was sexy and Orange was the international signal of “do not lose this if your life depends on it”.
Brands like Doxa have made a name for themselves with vibrant diving watches; Bell & Ross also included this aesthetic for its timpani – perfect for a pragmatic instrument built to bring you back to your home in complete safety. Hermès even participated in the act with its growing catalog of contemporary outings.
Now, it's Ulysse Nardin's turn, and they did it with a routine fanfaron.
The future of Ulysses Nardin is very much like the past
By breaking down the watch, the titanium case with 44 mm blue PVD PVD PVD Ulysse Nardin Hammerhead is not a light weight.
It is a daring setting for a tool watch that offers serious capacities such as 300 meters of water resistance, a sapphire crystal and a high horology movement of the UN18 with 60 hours of power reserve and a Diamonsil® exhaust technology, all inside a package weighing only 104 grams. Not bad for something that can survive a shark diving.
What is interesting is that Ulysse Nardin, better known for his strange bizarre like The Freak, The Blast or the perpetual calendar with a front / rear date, opted for something relatively classic here. Of course, it's beefy. But there is a restraint. Elegance, even. The old -fashioned coloring compensates for technological materials, such as rubber and titanium, in a way that feels both playful and determined.
The air of the Nardin Ulysse diver is more aerospace than nautical
The air is slightly high. Of course, this is three times the cost of the Hammerhead diver shark, so you hoped for it.
Instead of simply changing steel for titanium, the diving air is the result of a radical rethink. Born from the concept of net diven and powered by the fully redesigned UN-374 caliber, it is a MasterClass in light engineering. Only 52 grams, including the strap is a fantasy flight and concerned about technology.
To remove it, Ulysse Nardin did not simply call their titanium supplier either. They collaborated both with players and start-ups established to integrate unconventional materials such as recycled silicon in the exhaust and the oversized oscilator to produce a skeleton movement with 90 hours of power reserve, locked in a design that seems more aerospatial than nautical.
Each diver is shipped with two fabric straps feather, orange and white, both weighing less than 6 grams. Add the R layer or the classic rubber for more flexibility, but don't expect to add a lot of weight. It is a diver who floats, in all directions.
This may be why the retro design has such a moment. It is more pragmatism than to harden nostalgia. When everything is connected, automated and over-designed, something like the new diver feels tangible. It is a tool watch, yes, but it is also a return to a time when the form really followed the function … and that the function has never been so beautiful.
