Massimo Bonfigli, Head of Heritage at Ulysse Nardin (Le Locle, Switzerland)
Jean-Christophe Sabatier, Chief Product Marketing Officer at Ulysse Nardin (Le Locle, Switzerland)
November 1, 2021
Video recordings of lectures are available to members immediately (using your membership password), and to the general public with a two-month delay.
For the November 2021 Horological Society of New York (HSNY) lecture, Massimo Bonfigli, Head of Heritage at Ulysse Nardin, and Jean-Christophe Sabatier, Chief Product Marketing Officer, lectured how the brand’s heritage played a part in the realm of chronometry.
EXPLORATION & CHRONOMETRY BACKGROUND
Bonfigli started the lecture with The Longitude Issue. Longitude was problematic due to the earth’s rotation and two key issues with the environment at sea: 1) Vessel are always moving due to the waves, and 2) A cloudless sky is needed to navigate. Between 1550 – 1650, 1 in 5 ships were destroyed and 1 in 10 crew members lost their lives. In 1714, the British parliament enacted The Longitude Act to address the issue. Due to the limited number of watchmakers who had the knowledge to produce marine chronometers (and who only made two to three per year), it became an expensive piece of technology.
EXPLORATION & CHRONOMETRY ULYSSE NARDIN
Ulysse Nardin (1823 – 1876) had the opportunity to apprentice under Frédéric-William Dubois who was a specialist in precision timepieces. In 1846, Nardin created his workshop starting with pocket watches then complicated chronographs and chronometers. At the 1862 World Exhibition in Paris, Nardin won “The Prize Medal – The Highest Distinction of the World Fair”. This was a remarkable feat due to the dominance of the French and British in the industry of watchmaking. Winning the prize ignited notoriety and recognition for Nardin.
According to Bonfigli, 1876 – the year Ulysse Nardin passed away – became a pivotal point for the brand. At 21 years old, Nardin’s son, Paul David Nardin (1855 – 1920), began a new era by winning first prize at the Concours International de Reglage Genève for the Pocket Watch no4982 and produced the 1st Marine Chronometer Admiralty format. The following year, Paul David Nardin experimented with varied materials such as palladium, and the brand would go on to win gold medals in 1889 and 1893 in Paris and Chicago, respectively. Overall, the brand acquired a total of 18 gold medals:
London – 1862
Neuchâtel – 1868
Paris – 1889 – 1900 – 1937
Chicago – 1893
Milan – 1906
Berlin – 1907
Buenos Aires – 1910
Bern – 1914
Geneva – 1914
Liège – 1920
Tokyo – 1922
Brussels – 1939
Barcelona – 1938
New York – 1939
Zurich – 1939
Lausanne – 1964
Bonfigli handed the second half of the lecture to Jean-Christophe Sabatier who talked about the brand’s connection with the navy.
ULYSSE NARDIN & ADMIRALTIES
Between 1876 – 1900, production of Marine Deck chronometers amounted to 100. However, from 1900 – 1975, the production increased to 10,000. For 100 years, Ulysse Nardin made 77% of marine chronometers by the Astronomical Observatory of Neuchâtel. The brand was number one in Chronometry not only in the canton of Neuchâtel but in all of Switzerland.
ULYSSE NARDIN & US NAVY
In 1904, the Washington Naval Observatory announced a competition to be the official supplier to the U.S. Navy. In 1905, Ulysse Nardin answered the call and won, becoming the brand that supplied battleship and torpedo vessels during World War I and the vessels USS Martha Berry and USS Fayette in World War II. As a commemoration, Ulysse Nardin launched the Marine Torpilleur Military Semper Fortis (U.S. limited-edition) in 2018.
ULYSSE NARDIN 175TH ANNIVERSARY
Currently celebrating its anniversary, Ulysse Nardin stands by its core value of exploration – of the oceans, astronomical watches, descriptive watchmaking concepts and design proposals. Furthermore, the marine chronometers, astronomical watches, the Marine and Freak timepieces, and the X timepiece embodies that value.
CHRONOMETRY SINCE 1846
From November 1st to November 15th, the new Marine Anniversary Collection was on display at Wempe on Fifth Avenue in New York City. The seven timepieces showed a link to the brand’s heritage.
HSNY thanks Massimo Bonfigli and Jean-Christophe Sabatierfor their fascinating lecture!
Submitted by Melody Benloss, Recording Secretary