Ulysse Nardin

Was just trawling through Ulysse Nardin's website recently, and if one clicks on the marine line, a whole lot of Marine Torpilleur pop up.  I actually quite like the Marine Torpilleur line, and am still hoping that the thread on a special Torpilleur designed for WPS members will come into reality.  I have one myself, being the Torpilleur military with the sand/bead-blasted case which I like very much, although I do find that the watch is a bit big for me.  I wish they would make a non-limited smaller version at 42mm or even smaller, say, 40mm.  What I don't like about the Torpilleur is that its water resistance is rated at 5ATM.  I noticed also that this fact is not specifically highlighted in the UN website when looking at the specs of the Torpilleur line.  Which got me thinking, is water resistance that important?  Particularly for a UN marine watch?

I guess if one looks at the design base of the Torpilleur, being a carry over I guess from the original Marine Chronometer and then Maxi Marine series, it is/was based on the chronometer of the ships of old.  Hence, one would not expect water resistance of any sort since those things were always top deck.     Nonetheless, in the modern world, although most watch buyers are desk divers (this statement is not backed by hard empirical evidence, but I guess, looking at the discussions/forums about divers, probably would be backed by empricial evidence if a survey was ever undertaken), I have always tried to go for watches with a 10ATM resistance if they were not fully "dress" or highly complicated watches as, understandably, such watches are more often than not worn for an evening rather than the outback.

However, with the Marine line, and the way it is advertised by UN, there is some close association of the Torpilleur watches being worn when engaged in water activities, or just doing some rugged stuff around water, besides it being also a sleek dress watch.  So, from that perspective, should not the water resistance be at least 10ATM?  Or, like Panerai's approach to marketing - a diver (like) watch, but only with water resistance of 3ATM is sufficient?  Whilst UN cannot be compared in its entirety to lesser watch brands, yet some of this lesser watch brands offer comparable watches with water resistance of at least 10ATM, if not 20ATM, for comparable or better prices.

If the WPS special Torpilleur ever came into being, I would ask for water resistance of at least 10ATM and luminous hands or marker on the hands to tell time at night. 

For those who celebrate, Eid Mubarak.  HAGWE all.

  login to reply