Ulysse Nardin

bernard cheong
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Uniquely Ulysse Nardin will be a part of my life forever, why?

Well.

It is the generosity of Rolf and his wife who built me an otherwise quiet, insignificant person into what I enjoy today. I always will be grateful.

My total amount of knowledge was 5% of any of the top 10 bloggers and moderators here.

After I saved enough money to buy the FREAK from Singapore's retailer, I was introduced to Rolf at his request, this was a decade or more ago. I met people who were far above me, I was surely younger and much poorer in money.

The journey which continues, as Rolf would have liked, and Chai who called me almost as it was announced, are people I respect in this industry.

Let me say something before you click away this possibly boring essay, and I don't blame you. Unless you are free of budget, and wealthy, think of how expensive and how much money a good watch is. Well, to me, the price of a Freak is today, my salary/income for a month. Possibly more than 50% of the readers here earn more.

Singapore is about the most expensive city in the world. When a watch is sold in Singapore, often the buyer is placed into a category which is either of influence or of money.

That is OK and logical.

But to me, it is the relative budget he/she spent on that purchase that must be determined.

Max Busser and Rolf, and earlier Gunther Blumlein explored this. It was rightful and correct.

Imagine if you will, how often you bought a watch which devoured all the spare money you have for 12 months. Painful.

No more holidays.

No more toys.

If you are married, it will affect your wife.

But.for sure, you really must have liked that watch very very much.

For another, it was nothing....he could have paid it off in 1 nano second.

Usually, he/she will get the full VIP treatment. It is well, business wise correct too.

But in a nascent historical event, like the birth of a new big financially changing thing, like watchmaking is.........who are the "relevant" influences that matter.

It is extremely difficult for me to write this, because it may come across boastful. I have to trust you that you know me well enough that it is not so.

The people are you guys. If you read a post like this, it means you care about watchmaking and its future.

You care enough to read a personal post, which may or may not mean anything to you.

In Singapore, we are changing, it is now much less about who will buy, but who will explain and influence someone who can afford it. And why it costs so much. Why, just on philosophical grounds, we must admit to ourselves that like the car, it is still a status symbol. Probably the most useful status symbol on earth.

Even I am sort of affected when a patient who wears a bloody beautiful timepiece walks in...not that he/she gets better treatment, but I get a bit stressed, being the lousy doctor I am. Kidding. But you know.

I write this now, because of the post I made an hour ago about screws here on thepurists. This is the link:

http://home.watchprosite.com/show-forumpost/fi-17/pi-6540183/ti-944748/s-0/t-horological-meandering-why-so-expensive-this-wristwatch-question-is-asked-but-what-about-a-chair/

because you may find rounded screws on many watches including the high end UN models.

Because in context, the times and needs of the market was not as defined in the early 2000.

Rolf made decisions that would allow the unusual and often original works affordable to lower income people like me.

Without compromising function.

Today, the Freak cost 3 times as much. The screws are top end flat and bevelled.

I had also played a very small role in explaning the Freak, because it meant a lot to me, even before I met Rolf.

It was, as I had posted here...google "Bernard Cheong and how to buy a freak", an extremely important watch that will double your money within a decade. I was right about that.

Now the Freak has to move on, and take its rightful place among the important works of industry and engineering.

How the Freak brought silicium into the world of watchmaking.

It deserves all of the best parts UN will make.

In case, UN makes almost everything, except for less than 5 components of any watch from basic to complex.

So....like many honest brands...UN makes purpose intended watches. To keep prices low enough, reasonable enough, you will find a few screws not flat or bevelled. It will double the price.

The Freak however, has outgrown purpose, and moved to historical.

Rolf, was one of my few my role models.

He had overcome extraordinary obstacles and had come into wealth at an age that I myself have not arrived as yet. The only people I respect more, are my own parents, who had survived and participated as victims in the Pacific theatre of World War Two.

The story of Rolf Schynder is a topic for a book beyond the purpose of this one.

Even publicly, his accomplishments rose above business and the building of a company. Many will remember him for those deeds. However, he defined a generation of adventurers, with conviction and honour, and unspoken friendship above personal gains.

In writing this, I am also writing for other children and yet unborn grandchildren, and those who wish to discover themselves.

In the quiet fields of Switzerland, Russia, Singapore and Malaysia, I had the opportunity to share many hours, even days, with Rolf. He had too much perspectives, wisdom and experiences that I dare not assume that I really knew him well enough.

He was incredibly honest. He never created any image of or for himself. He was, privately, very generous, which may be a perplexing quality to his friends who may have thought him to be frugal.

He made a company that reinvented an already perfected machine, the clockwork. In 2003, I bought a wristwatch called the FREAK. That tiny one square inch of real estate on my wrist led to friendship and a total change in my own, already colourful life.

I drew much from Rolf's experiences with business, marriage, having a family, love, and respect for the less fortunate. He made a business in the late sixties, only to see it crumble as the quartz industry rose up to crush it all.

The story of Ulysse Nardin is a lesson in hard work in a modern world. It is MOST important because it is a testimony that three ingredients are relevant in equal proportions for happiness. These are hard work, provenance and family. Money has no primary part, and is secondary.

I wear two watches on my wrists, and with no false humility that my wrists are endorsements for many companies. For those who know me well, what and when I wear has never been for sale.

On my left wrist, is only one of two watches, both because of a love for life, from opposing relevant perspectives. From this year 2011, my left wrist will always be the last and most important watch made in my lifetime. The Diavolo Tourbillon FREAK numbered 0.

This watch remains a celebration of human life and purpose.

That one should enjoy life, by bringing happiness and reconciliation, to create wealth for others, inspire to charity, and higher aspirations.

Rolf lived a life of the old world in a technological age, but created designs, and used materials and machines that have yet to be realised or seen by the industry. I have been privy to only less than 1 % of the secrets of the research of his business, probably much less.

Good Bye Rolf.

If you are looking for one really interesting, conversation piece, historical artefact.....the Freak will be well worth the time.

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