Ulysse Nardin SA is a Swiss luxury watchmaking company founded in 1846 in Le Locle, Switzerland.

The company became known for manufacturing highly accurate marine chronometers and complicated precision exclusive timepieces used by over 50 of the world's navies from the end of the 19th century till 1950. According to the last official report of Neuchâtel Observatory in Switzerland, Ulysse Nardin had won numerous awards and honors for its marine chronometers from 1846 to 1975, including 4324 certificates, 2411 special prizes and 18 gold medals at International exhibitions.

The company was taken over and re-invigorated in 1983 by Rolf W. Schnyder who transformed it into a profitable business. From 2014, it was a subsidiary of the French luxury group Kering. Ulysse Nardin has operated out of the same building headquartered in Le Locle, Switzerland since 1865. Ulysse Nardin is now owned by Sowind Group SA following a management buyout.

The company today designs and manufactures luxury watches, dual-time watches, and marine chronometers, During the long and snowy winters, inhabitants used to produce timekeeping instruments to survive, as they couldn't live from farming alone. Ulysse Nardin first trained as an apprentice horologist under his father, Léonard-Frédéric Nardin, and perfected his skills under the tutelage of Frédéric-William Dubois and Louis JeanRichard-dit-Bressel, two master watchmakers who were experts in precision watches and whose fame extended beyond the mountains of Neuchâtel, Switzerland. and high-precision seafaring instruments It is now in a museum in Le Locle. Minute repeaters, complicated watches and pocket chronometers carried the reputation of the company.

In 1902, the company started to deliver marine chronometers to the United States Navy. The brand regularly won Washington Naval Observatory competitions and became the official supplier for the US Navy's torpedo boats. The company has since provided timepieces to the navies of the United States, United Kingdom, Russia and Japan. Rolf Schnyder served as its chief executive and transformed the company into a healthy business. Schnyder and Oechslin would aim to produce complication timepieces using modern materials and manufacturing techniques. Ulysse Nardin has introduced several innovations. Chai Schnyder, his wife, took over the company that has provided the brand the opportunity to use enamel in its watch dials. In 2012, Ulysse Nardin launched its first automatic caliber, entirely conceived and manufactured in-house: UN-118. In 2019, Ulysse Nardin has released three new calibers (UN-230, UN-371 and UN-631).

The company still occupies its original headquarters in Le Locle, and has three manufacturing plants in: La Chaux-de-Fonds (R&D and movement production site), Le Locle (Donzé Cadrans site, which belongs to Ulysse Nardin but also produces enamel dials for other companies) and Sion (Sigatec site, which produces micromechanics components in silicium).

While marine wrist chronometers are still a specialty for the brand, it also produces luxury complicated timepieces

The company sells its products through a network of distributors and several boutiques around the globe, as well as through retailers in Europe, America, Middle East, Asia, Africa, Australia, China and Russia.

Ulysse Nardin is part of the exclusive circle of Swiss watchmaking the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie.

Watch manufacturing

The company has an integrated production system. The majority of the work is done in-house, from conception, design, development and crafting through to production. This requires hours of work.

Engineers, drafting technicians, technical and caliber designers develop new technologies, and design movements. In 2020, the company developed a model made of plastic ocean waste.

Quality control experts perform checks on everything: aesthetics, watch functions, waterproofing, etc. Ulysse Nardin has also its own quality certification, the Ulysse Nardin Certificate, with standards for quality higher than the COSC. The movement contains silicon escapement components, and would rotate on itself to indicate time.

In 2007, the company presented a new material, Diamonsil, The same year, the brand released "Innovision 1" watch, featuring 10 innovations.

In 2017, the brand presented ten innovations, gathered within a new Freak watch, named "Innovision 2". One year later, the company launched the "Freak Vision" with three patents out of "Innovision 2" : "Grinder" winding system, constant power escapement and balance wheel in silicium with micro palets.

The current Freak model includes two series: Freak Out and Freak Vision (introduced in 2017).

In October 2025, Ulysse Nardin released the Freak S Enamel, offered with a brushed and polished titanium case and two colors: ruby red and turquoise blue. One month later, in November 2025, Ulysse Nardin unveiled their collaboration with URWERK releasing the watch UR-FREAK, a watch developed with a new movement, called UN-241 which is based on the movement UN-240.

Trilogy of Time

The first major advancement of the company after quartz crisis was the launch of "Trilogy of Time". This collection incorporated three different astronomical pieces starting in 1985 with the release of the Astrolabium Galileo Galilei, named after Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei. The Astrolabium displays local and solar time, the orbits and eclipses of the sun and the moon and the positions of several major stars. It was named by the Guinness Book of Records in 1989 as the world's most-functional watch (with 21 distinct functions).

  • Michael Jordan, American former basketball player
  • Mohammed Salah, Egyptian football player, playing now at FC Liverpool
  • Tony Parker, French former basketball player
  • Yuvraj Singh, Former cricket player

Celebrities

  • Larry King, American TV host

Entrepreneurs

  • Jeff Bezos, founder, chairman & CEO of Amazon

Russian Oligarch

  • Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder, mercenary leader of Wagner Group

Sponsorship

Every two years, the brand participates in Only Watch, a charity auction operated under the patronage of Prince Albert II, where watchmaking companies create timepieces to raise funds for research on neuromuscular diseases. On the hour, the watch plays Queen’s “We are the Champions” thanks to the copyright granted to Ulysse Nardin for its participation to the charity cause association. First introduced in 2013, the Stranger was named after Frank Sinatra’s 1966 song “Strangers in the Night” that the timepiece reproduced through a musical box mechanism. The brand is also the official sponsor of Monaco Yacht Show and the Miami Yacht Show.

See also

  • List of watch manufacturers
  • Manufacture d'horlogerie

References

  • Official website