Impressed by new Freak S Nomad watch from Ulysse Nardin, balancing avant-garde styling with traditional craft and innovative watchmaking. | Ulysse Nardin

Freak S Nomad Hands-on

I got a chance to try the recently released Freak S Nomad on the wrist and came away very impressed. Pairing the highly technical movement and overall avant-garde styling with the traditionally-crafted guilloche hour plate really works well and I found the watch very appealing.

I have always been a fan of the skeletonized technical look of watches from brands like Richard Mille and Hublot, but when it came to spending my own money I’ve primarily went with watches demonstrating more traditional craft and watchmaking approaches. The avant-garde brands’ pricing rarely lines up with how I assign value to watches. What I love about this new Freak S is how it does balance avant-grade styling with innovative watchmaking and traditional craft. I am not sure if I will be adding one of these to my collection as there are only 99 pieces and I would need to wait until later in the year, but either way I hope UN keeps going down this path of bringing guilloche and enamel dials to the Freak line.