In 2021, Ulysse Nardin celebrated its 175th anniversary by creating a limited-edition UFO (Unidentified Floating Object) table clock. The collection drew from the brand’s rich history in the way of marine chronometers and table clocks and reinvented those historical codes to create something thoroughly modern and, dare we say, futuristic.
The dark blue limited run of just 75 pieces quickly sold out, and later that year, a bright-orange one-off variation went on to crush its estimate, fetching over $400,000 at the biannual Only Watch charity auction. Two years later, Ulysse Nardin launched the final iterations of its UFO table clocks. Each one of the three unique colorways is produced in a limited run of just 30 pieces each and has been designed exclusively for a particular retailer—ice blue for Bucherer, champagne for The Hour Glass, and green for Yoshida.
The distinct design of Ulysse Nardin’s UFO table clocks is inspired by the structure of nautical buoys as a call back to the brand’s marine roots. Here, a spherical varnished aluminum base holds the movement, which is covered by a hand-blown glass dome.
The movement itself, on full display, is the showpiece of the high-tech clock. It took two years of research and prototyping to develop the “unidentified floating object” that would defy gravity thanks to a whopping 675 components and the perfect ratio of weight and height (7.2 kg, a height of 263 mm, and a diameter of 159 mm to be exact). This combination, along with the tungsten mass in the base, gives the UFO table clock the properties of a roly-poly toy and allows it to always return to an upright position.
Another impressive element of the UFO table clock is its power reserve of one entire year. Ulysse Nardin achieves this with a balance wheel that beats at the low frequency of 0.50 Hz and the considerable energy stored by the six extra-large barrels. The one-of-a-kind table clock offers the display of three time zones on three trapezoidal dials and a deadbeat seconds mechanism marking home time.
The numbered, limited-edition UFO table clocks are available today exclusively from Bucherer, The Hour Glass, and Yoshida. Each variation will set you back $68,600. A pretty penny for a product that’s definitely out of this world.
