Ulysse Nardin

Bill1
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Caliber 160

Indeed, Bernard.  The Caliber UN-160 uses the Dual Elysse Escapement, which was first introduced in The Freak.  Said to be essentially friction-free, the caliber actually doesn't need lubrication.  And the ceramic ball bearings used, also eliminate the need for lubrication in the rotor. 

While I'm no techie, I was attracted to the clear technical innovation in the watch, as well as the caliber's potential importance to UN as a company.  In this case, my attraction really is more than skin deep.

I'm still waiting for the large book on the making of the caliber.  I'm keen to find out more about UN's R&D effort.  The book is actually hundreds of pages long, so UN obviously put a lot behind their first in-house engine.  But, the sales guy from UN actually neglected to bring along the packaging for my watch!  That makes my purchase somewhat incomplete, given that the packaging is something to see even apart from the watch.  It looks more like an expensive jewelry box than a watch box.  They even include a precision desktop barometer, which takes up about a third of the box, if you can believe it.  Based on what I saw, I'd say the box is a good 15" long.  Crazy.

bill