ON THE WRIST: Ulysse Nardin Diver X 44 Limited Edition Automatic Watch

 

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Watches of Switzerland Boutique / Regent Street, London 23rd Sept 2023

I've only ever tried on one Ulysse Nardin before as far as I can remember, that was also here in the Regent Street branch of Watches of Switzerland and a good few years ago to boot. In fact, despite visiting this store many times this was the first time I ever managed to get up to the top floor - where UN's boutique is now situated, alongside the Patek Phillipe store and a selection of pre-owned watches.

Well I say 'watches', mostly it was just 'Rolex'... perhaps unsurprisingly. There were a few other things, including a steel Nautilus for nearly £100,000 and a solid gold version of the same for nigh on £140,000. Neither of which I can get overly excited about if I'm honest. The Nautilus doesn't have anything like the presence of the Royal Oak (even though it's a bit passe to like it these days), and paying 2.5x list for a watch that starts at £35,000 is hilarious.

ON THE WRIST: Ulysse Nardin Diver Chronometer

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Watches of Switzerland / London, 9th March 2019

I'm pretty sure this was the first time I'd had a Ulysse Nardin on my wrist, and even the salesman seemed a little surprised at my interest. He confided in me that the brand isn't very popular in the UK and I must admit from what I'd seen in the past at their Bicester Village outlet store I was never overly impressed. Sure, I have seen some higher end pieces that were interesting but as for their affordable models... well, let's just say this one made a nice change!

This one caught my eye because I rather like the bold but simple styling and the colour scheme, those little splashes of red really add something to the overall aesthetic without spoiling the monochrome effect. I rather like the power reserve indicator as well, which is not something I often say, (particularly when talking about Grand Seiko...) but here it's well placed and I like the fuel gauge inspired design.

That said, it's a little unusual to find a power reserve indicator on an automatic watch, and as it's a little while since I tried this on now I just had to double check that this watch was indeed an automatic - it is, which renders the gauge a little less necessary than I thought. But then I guess it's handy for people like me who don't tend to wear their mechanical watches regularly and have to wind them when they take them out of the safe / watch box. For that reason I would appreciate a power reserve indicator on my Heuer 01!

I know it's a Ulysse Nardin 'thing' but I could live without the odd metal part on the rubber strap, it seems a bit pointless and is surely going to look scratched after a while. The bezel is very stylish and definitely plays a big part in making this look quite a classy piece, it's slightly reminiscent of the Rolex Yacht Master that I tried on early the same day albeit a fair bit less expensive with a list price of 7,900CHF (£6000ish), 

As you'd expect, Ulysse Nardin have produced their new 'Diver Chronometer' in a variety of colours and finishes as seen below. The one on the white rubber strap looks particularly interesting to me and on further investigation it seems it is a limited edition of 300 pieces with a slightly higher list price of 8,900CHF. Unfortunately Ulysse Nardin's website gives the barest minimum of information so I don't know why it is limited and more expensive, but I notice the brand logo on the strap has been replaced with a shark design so perhaps this is some kind of tie in with a shark protection charity or something?

All these watches are 44mm with a titanium case and I have to say the one that I was able to try on felt very good on the wrist. It didn't feel as big as 44mm sounds, and obviously being titanium it wasn't a big heavy lump on the wrist either. I've never been a fan of Ulysse Nardin, but this watch has changed that to some extent. I'm still not crazy about that metal part on the strap and I wouldn't spend £6000 on this, but if the resale value is as weak as I expect it to be this could become a bit of a bargain in a few years when it trickles down to the second hand market. Worth keeping an eye out anyway... after all it's good to keep an open mind and to try something new now and again.

FEATURE: Another Trip to London to Look at Watches...

Long time readers may remember that almost exactly a year ago my friend Rich and I made a day trip to London with the express intention of visiting as many watch stores as possible... well, we decided to do it all over again, only this time we really went for it!

Our first port of call was the Omega boutique at the top of Regent Street, and strangely enough I'd never tried on an Omega before, so it really was high time I did. I ended up trying on six different pieces, including the Speedmaster and Speedmaster 2, three Planet Oceans and 300M Chronograph. We ended up staying in there nearly an hour, which I really hadn't been expecting or intending to do.

I must say, the service we received in this boutique from Lin Lin was superb and seeing that I was noting down the pieces that I had tried on she offered to print me spec sheets for everything. I'll probably never buy an Omega, but if I did, I would make a point of going back to this boutique and asking for Lin Lin, she is a credit to the company!

Next we headed down Carnaby Street and happened to stop off at the Swatch boutique. I've never been overly sold on Swatch, but I know Rich likes the collectability of them and it was interesting to see the System 51 models on display. We didn't stay too long before heading down a few doors to G-Shock.

I didn't actually try anything on in G-Shock, but it was quite interesting to see the wide variety of styles and prices on offer. They even had some steel models that were over £1000 which I wasn't really expecting.

We popped into the Karl Lagerfield store on Oxford Street so I could pick up a little gift for my wife. It's a shame Karl has died recently and I love that his cat is worth $3.5M. Crazy! After picking up this cute (if somewhat overpriced keyring), we headed a couple of doors up to Watches of Switzerland.

I've been in this store several times, but I've still never been up to the top floor. I always head for the basement first since that's where the LVMH brands are to be found, and this time I tried on a couple of TAG Heuers and my first Hublot. Then we headed back up to street level and I tried on my first Ulysse Nardin, it was to be a day of firsts, with more to come...

Mindful of the long day ahead and our poor feet, we decided a brief stop at the Slug and Lettuce on Hanover Street was in order. I had ideally planned to get in there before 12 as I feared it might be rather busy on a Saturday lunchtime, but it was actually rather quiet and we passed a pleasant half hour in there before moving on.

Our next stop was Oris on South Molton street, where I discovered the rather exciting 'Dive Control Limited Edition 1000M Chronograph', a real beast at 51mm but one that you could actually wear due to it's very short lugs and non-flaring strap. Can't honestly say there was much else in the store I was interested in, but that one got a big thumbs up from me.

Selfridges was next, and after wasting half an hour going around in circles trying to find the toilets, we finally hit The Wonder Room, where I tried on my first ever Rolex. Not only that, but I managed to find one that I actually liked... which was a surprise to me, as I find most Rolexes hideous!

Also in The Wonder Room, we looked at a couple of TAG Heuer Monacos, a couple of Aquaracers and a Breitling Exospace B55 on a blue rubber strap. Our server 'Alan' seemed to think that Rich and I were an 'item' and he suggested we might like to 'share' a Pepsi GMT Aquaracer!

Alan was clearly desperate for some commission as despite telling us he was heading off for his lunch he kept hovering as we moved around the room, terrified that the minute he left we might buy something from a different salesman. In the end he gave up and I tried on the Brietling assisted by a truly charmless chap who demanded to know what was stopping me committing to the £6000+ Exospace!

I had hoped to try on a steel non-Offshore AP Royal Oak on this visit, but it was not to be, Selfridges and Harrods were a steel Royal Oak free zone, which makes me wonder if they are now playing the same silly games as Rolex?

With time knocking on, we crossed Oxford Street to visit the TAG Heuer boutique and catch up with the lovely Aneta (who I already knew from the Bicester store). There wasn't much in store that I hadn't already seen, but I did have a good natter with Aneta and managed to try on the new Senna Carrera Heuer 02T. Also Aneta told me they are expecting the Nanograph in store soon, so hopefully I will be able to see that in the near future!

From here we took a walk down New Bond Street (completely missing the Victorinox shop we had hoped to visit), before stopping off at Charbonel et Walker to pick up some hideously expensive chocolates (£95 per kilo, I kid you not!), good job I only bought a few...

After a nice lunch in Richoux on Piccadilly (if you like Carrot Cake, this is the place for you) we crossed the road to Burlington Arcade, only to find that at 5:45pm the shops were shutting up for the night. Next time we will go there before we go to Richoux... but that wasn't the end of our day, because while Bond Street closes at 6pm on a Saturday, thankfully Knightsbridge does not!

And so we headed into the Seiko boutique where I was unimpressed with the both service and the overall attitude. A complete contrast to some of the places we had visited today, especially the Omega and TAG Heuer boutiques which had been exemplary.

And so we made it to our last destination for the day, Harrods. It was a shame to see that the enormous Lange & Sohn display piece had been removed (perhaps headed to Baselworld?) but we spent a good forty five minutes chatting with Mahmoud in Hublot while trying on some very nice watches. And then finally a good little while with Harry in the mixed brands room where we had a look at the new Tudor GMT Pepsi and a couple of rather striking Zenith Defy El Primero 21s.

Needless to say I will be reporting on each of the 27 watches I tried on in due course, I will probably spread them out a bit though as this blog is supposed to be focused mainly on TAG Heuer and only 7 of the watches I tried on were TAGs. I've made a start, and the Rolex, Oris and Seiko reviews should be up soon...

I wonder how many watches I'll manage to try on next March...?