How many times have you chipped your nail polish – or even broken a nail – trying to release the crown of your watch to adjust the time or the date? It’s a pretty common occurrence, and Ulysse Nardin has tackled the problem with the Classic Lady Dual Time watch featuring a manicure-friendly crown that women on the move will appreciate. This could come across as a slightly frivolous point to some of you, but I can assure you that this watch is packed with some very clever innovations that will make consulting the time on your travels a breeze.
For globetrotting women
Making something complex in nature simple to use is notoriously hard, and Ulysse Nardin is exceptionally good in this department. A fusion of one of the most user-friendly dual time zone (GMT) movements in the industry and the unique nail-friendly crown concept from its Jade line of watches, the Classic Lady Dual Time is designed for women who travel across time zones and want a watch that is simple to set, easy-to-read and stylish. Consulting local time, home time and the date on your watch is a cinch: the home time indicator is nestled in a porthole bubble at 9 o’clock, local time is read off the main hands, and the big date window display at 2 o’clock is large enough to read without having to reach for the reading glasses.
A first-class travel companion
Ulysse Nardin’s Classic Lady Dual Time is a contemporary classic combining its vocation as a GMT watch with a smart, cosmopolitan appeal. Available with a chic grey or navy blue coloured dial, the 37.5mm case is made from stainless steel and set with 60 diamonds on the bezel. Further feminine details extend to the dial, with diamond hour markers and a spray of smaller diamonds set in random formation, almost like a mini constellation.
How it works
Instead of having to fiddle with the crown to set local time – and possibly break your nails in the process – all the functions of the watch can be set with pushers. Two pushers on the left side of the case let you quick-set the watch to local time without having to remove the watch from your wrist and without interrupting the timekeeping functions.
What’s more, the hour hand can be deployed forwards and backwards without disturbing the 24-hour cycle of the home time indicator. Unlike conventional crowns that have to be pulled out to different positions, the nail-friendly watch features an integrated pusher in the crown that lets you select the function you want to manipulate. On the dial at 3 o’clock are the letters T, D, and W indicating Time, Date and Winding. To change the date, for example, depress the crown to set the indicator on D and then move the lateral pushers backward or forward. If it’s the time that needs adjusting, by selecting the letter T with the crown the second hand will stop so you can adjust the time precisely.
The call of the sea
Like many watches at Ulysse Nardin, the call of the ocean is echoed in certain details of its character like the home time display bubble, which evokes the shape of a ship’s porthole, and the sloping lugs that recall the anchor logo of the brand. And that’s because the story of Ulysse Nardin is intimately related to the sea. Named after Homer’s hero, the young Swiss watchmaker from Le Locle gained a solid reputation for his precision marine and pocket chronometers despite living miles from the ocean. By the 1870s, over 50 navies and international shipping companies were decked out with Ulysse Nardin chronometers.
You might not guess this by the classic look of most of the watches at Ulysse Nardin, but this company is at the forefront of horological innovation and has over 4,300 awards and countless patents under its belt. Perhaps the most famous of its breakthroughs was the pioneering use of silicium (silicon), a material that is now widely used by Swiss watchmakers thanks to its ability to improve the precision and durability of a movement.
Complications below deck
Equipped with a superlative in-house Ulysse Nardin calibre (UN-324), the movement in Ulysse Nardin’s Classic Lady Dual Time watch features a silicium hairspring and escapement and comes with several patents, like the quickset second time zone function.
