The Decision

It was the first days of the year 2003, and my 12 year old mongrel dog had been lost for over 3 days...I thought I'd never see her again.

I was totally morose and depressed ... and then one morning, she returned!

Overjoyed and euphoric I wasted no time in deciding to celebrate the occasion by the long time realization of purchasing the Ulysse Nardin FREAK.

Wanting to buy this piece for over a year or even two now .... distracted by the FP Journe Remontoir in 2002, enough was enough.

I called the retailers for Ulysse Nardin in Singapore, The **** ***** and Alan Teo was introduced to me for the first time. They had one piece in white gold, a number 56, and after examining it ..... I was absolutely taken by the heft and weight of the piece .... the lugs were also enormous, there was just so much GOLD! I knew I had to have it in a red or pink hue to bring out all that gold!

And the COLOUR....the face of the "watch"... actually it resembled a leather bracelet with an amulet .... was so deep and lustrous, no photograph can do this watch justice .... again I decided that gold against a blue dial would be much more dramatic.

So it was decided ... I had to have the watch, sooner better than later. In red gold. Pink gold, whatever they call it.

Alan Teo had to call the factory and let me know what serial numbers were available and when. Number 98 in red gold would be available by March ... a three month wait.

Going back in time 12 months earlier in 2002, I was looking at buying myself a tourbillon to elevate my collection to a slightly more esoteric level. To cut a long story short. I narrowed the field down to the FP Journe Remontoir and the FREAK. To someone at my point in collecting, over a decade, and being in my mid forties, I was looking for a tourbillon that best represented the age of watchmaking at the turn of the twentieth century and the beginning of the twenty first.

Both Mr Journe and the Oechslin team were shortlisted by my research into their visions and the objectives of their creations.

The Journe and FREAK tourbillons were the most unique pieces I could find in serial production that were totally new and original in execution. They both stretched the envelope of engineering and lateral thinking so far that it was inconceivable that these watches made it to production at all!

What also impressed me was the integrity and honesty of the marketing behind these two tourbillon designs!

These pieces could have been hyped up much more and sold for higher prices with the "application" of some colorful fanfare and thick wads of techno mumbo jumbo ... as we have all been so tired of reading from so many other brands.

The awesome design of the Journe deserves a totally separate writeup elsewhere.

Suffice to say ... I chose the FREAK. It was young, new born, daring, bold, it represented my coming into the new century as a collector .. it represented my "find". Something that I can tell my grandchildren that we were the FIRST people on earth to have it .. just like the generations before us that were the first to see a pocketwatch!

To those who read my earlier postings on the Journe Remontoir in January, I have to say that I was most fortunate to be presented with that watch in red gold by several associates for just "being a friend".. but that's a longer story. I guess I spoke too much on that watch that they thought I wanted them to buy it for me.

The long wait for the FREAK was made bearable by the presence of the Journe.

The Arrival

6th of March 2003, I receive a phone call from Alan Teo at 11am. I was in the middle of a heavy work day ... a Thursday ... patients with all sorts of ailments, and I was already tired, having been at work for only 2 hours.

The FREAK had arrived from Switzerland, and even Mr Rolf Schnyder had apparently called to ask about the watch ... this must be special for that to happen ... I wondered.

I immediately called my wife, Dolly, also a wristwatch junkie, fortunately.

Unlike me, she had only seen the watch in magazines ... and she was not to taken by it .... too gaudy, she had pronounced.

It was a packed day for me at the clinic and I was swamped till 11pm …. I had worked for over 14 hours and I was still happy and my mood was really good! I took the next day off just to collect the FREAK.

First thing in the morning, I called my art dealer to take a break from her office and meet me at the **** **** at 2pm …. I wanted her to have a look at this piece of solid gold techno sculpture … it's gotta blow her mind that people make watches like these!

Lunch was a good Japanese sushi with generous helpings of Chardonnay …. MTF writes better about these.

I wanted to prolong the anticipation of having the watch … a bit of foreplay, so to speak.

2pm and we were at the mall … and Alan Teo and lo and behold, Michael Tay … the "man" himself is here … surprise, surprise … the arrival of a FREAK must be special! I later learn that only 3 FREAKs have passed thru this island, and this is the first to stay here in sunny Singapore! In contrast to the 27 Journe remontoirs that have sojourned here.

And so over several cups of ceylonese tea ... the "blue box" with the words "Ulysse Nardin" was brought in.

Unwrapping

We were ushered to a more private place and around a small comfortable wooden table, the tea was served …. AND the blue cardboard box with the gold letters "Ulysse Nardin" … it was sooo heavy, within this blue box was a solid red wood box with a frosted glass top that allows a peek inside to see a red gold watch gleaming out deep in the case.

A thick creamy felt cloth was placed above the frosted glass … it reeked of quality and indulgence! The FREAK is not a humble timepiece ...

My art dealer gasped in astonishment at the sheer colour of the watch. And the presentation … the box had a slim drawer that pulled out to reveal a faux leather pouch that contained the plastic guarantee card, and a slim booklet on the technical aspects and instructions on how to wind and use the watch … absolutely worth reading.

The red wood had a thick rich polymer coat, and it was massive and heavy …. my tactile senses were overloaded with the experience of unwrapping this beauty!

Alan had slowly removed the gold watch from its black leather cushion and began to peel away the blue plastic protective cover from the deployant buckle.

Cradling the watch in his hand carefully, he passed it to me for its maiden voyage on my wrist

hmmmm, my small wrists demand the last hole to be used on the strap.

Relieved that it looked good on my wrist, I passed it to my wife for an inspection. This was such a masculine design that there was no way that she would ever get to wear it … (we do share watches).

"There is just so much gold here!" she remarked.

The huge gold bezel with the large indentations made it look as if it was a diving watch .... but the fascinating twinkling movement beneath the crystal said otherwise ... but it was so individual that we could find no reference to compare it with.

It seemed to be alive! Could see the "heart" beating away inside.

The art dealer who dealt with contemporary art, was actually quite taken with its apperance, and most certainly agreed that it was in many ways a little piece of technical sculpture .... like a modern day ALPA 6x6 camera, or a golden Rollei 35 ... or even a BMW skateboard (I actually have one of those) ... to me, it was like a Mercedes Gullwing 300SL from the 50s … audacious, daring, and totally individual … it was even comparable in price, from that era.

Before I even begin to describe this watch … I want to thank Mr Ed Tonkin, the oldest Ferrari dealer in the USA, for his influence in my decision to buy the FREAK.

I was very intrigued by this watch for over two years, but I was always of the mind that it looked ugly and well freakish ... in a bad way. Also the watch looked quite tasteless in the magazine photos. And unfortunately, this watch takes time to grow on you, in fact, some time ago I had the chance to examine it for all of 30 mins by myself ... and yet the beauty was never evident.

However, by grace alone, and undisplaced modesty on my part … I assumed Mr Tonkin had impeccable taste thru his musings on this particular watch and his rather colourful life (as presented in the magazines) …. I mean … could a man who lives and breathes Ferraris and even has a Ferrari roar on his phones answering machine be aesthically wrong?

I want to thank Dr Marcus Hanke for his help and knowledge. JAW for his invaluable advice. MTF and Peter Chong for their sense of perspective in this wonderful world of wristwatches.

So … even though I had many misgivings on the physical appearance of the watch, I bought it because it was a technical tour de force, I make only a modest living, and this was a BIG decision.

I WAS SO VERY WRONG! (no I don't mean my finances…I am still a pauper)

The Ulysse Nardin FREAK was both a beauty of stunning proportions AND a technical tour de force.

HOLDING THE FREAK

The heft and weight of the FREAK is evident even before you lift it from the box. It feels as heavy as it looks. The weight is due to the sheer amount of gold on the case as well as the lugs and a thick bar of gold that runs between each pair of lugs. The very laws of physics of so much golden metal!

In a very masculine way, the watch is also very thick, as would be expected from having the barrel mounted beneath the movement … although the technical guys have minimized this effect.

From looking at the curves placed on the lugs, and the large dimples on the bezel, it resembles a Greek medallion or amulet … again in my mind, if Panerai had to make a tourbillon, this would be the case design it may have chosen.

There is so much to describe that is NEW! I will try slowly … the only thing boring about this watch is my writing ... because it is so difficult to describe such a piece and do it justice.

The crystal

The crystal is a concave sapphire that is wonderfully unique in several ways.

It is CONCAVE! And the designers being quite mischievious have chosen to multicoat the inner surface of the crystal and leave the outer surface uncoated. This gives the effect as if one is looking thru a drop of clear water over the watch … and deepens the dial right down into the case …! The design team had actually worked on this to create this optical illusion, instead of just putting a crystal to cover the movement. And there is evidence of the designers having free creative reign!

I have to stop here to salute the leaders of the team and the head honcho, Mr Schnyder, I believe, for having the VISION and COURAGE to let a project like this to go to full scale serial production! … those in the automobile industry know full well how many wonderful concept cars are aborted simply for practical reasons that they won’t make money … or that they were afraid that mere mortals may not appreciate their work.

Then … the crystal is pierced right thru the center with a gold pivot transforming the entire sapphire into a full plate for the balance bridge below!

It is a demonstration of lateral thinking and imagination that is rarely found outside the corridors of a George Lucas film lab.