Ulysse Nardin El Toro Limited Edition Blue

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Ulysse Nardin

The founder of the company is Ulysses Nardan, an experienced watchmaker. Born January 22, 1823. He studied watchmaking in Switzerland with his father, Leonard-Frederic Nardan, as well as with Frederic-Villaume Dubois and Louis-Jean-Richard-Richard-Bressel - two of the most experienced craftsmen of the time. Dubois specialized in the manufacture of astronomical clocks and marine chronometers necessary for navigation. Therefore, later the company specialized specifically in the production of marine chronometers.

In 1846, the first watches bearing the name Ulysse Nardin were born. This year is considered the year the brand was founded.

Prior to the invention of quartz chronometers, high-precision mechanical chronometers were used in merchant and military ships. This was necessary to determine the exact location of the vessel. The connection of the brand with navigation continued until the second half of the 20th century. The most popular model of the company was the marine chronometers of the M, GR.F Ulysse Nardin models. A similar model was supplied by the American company Hamilton on the ships of the US Navy, and the Japanese company Seiko - on the ships of the Navy of Japan. In its history, the Ulysse Nardin watch brand has received 4,324 certificates for the accuracy of its chronometers (out of 4,504 certificates ever issued to marine chronometers).

After the death of Ulysses Nardan, the affairs of the company were headed by his son Paul-David.

In the 1970s, the company, like other Swiss manufacturers, faced serious problems caused by the invasion of cheap quartz movements. Mechanical marine chronometers could not compete with their more accurate and cheaper quartz counterparts. In the 1980s, the Ulysse Nardin brand was on the verge of extinction.

In 1983, the company was acquired by businessman Rolf Schneider. Together with watchmaker Ludwig Oechslin and other investors, they restored the brand to its former glory. Now the company has factories in Switzerland and Hong Kong. Under the leadership of Schneider and Oxlin, the company’s staff developed and produced sophisticated watches using new assembly technologies and materials. All models of complex watches used ETA mechanisms.

The first instance of the updated brand Ulysse Nardin was the Astrolabium Galileo Galilei model (1985, the name is given in honor of the astrolabe and astronomer Galileo Galilei), which shows the local and solar time of the orbits of stars, solar and lunar eclipses, as well as the position of several main stars. This watch was included in the Guinness Book of Records of 1989 as the most complex wristwatch in the world. After Astrolabe, Ochslin released two more models of astronomical clocks - Planetarium Copernicus (1988, by the name of the planetarium device and astronomer Copernicus) and Tellurium Johannes Kepler (1992, by the name of the tellurium device and astronomer Johannes Kepler). These three chronographs make up the Trilogy of Time collection. All 3 watch models are based on ETA calibres.

In 1999, the “GMT ± Perpetual” model was released, in which there is a perpetual calendar and the GMT time display option is GMT ± (a key that translates the hour indicator in the second time zone, which is convenient for travelers), and in 2001 - “ Freak ”tourbillon watch without a crown.

Since 2014, the company belongs to the French group Kering.