Ulysse Nardin Unveils Its 2026 New Collection, Bolstering Mechanical Innovation and Artistic Collaborations on Its 180th Anniversary | Frontline
In June 2026, the Shanghai Jinghua Art Space was transformed into a "Whimsy Laboratory." The Swiss luxury watch brand Ulysse Nardin held its 2026 New Product Tasting Event titled "Boundless Whimsy, Infinite Creation" here, displaying the brand-new [Super] Freak Whimsy Super Watch, the gilded series "Make Waves" co-branded watches in collaboration with Chinese contemporary artist Liu Rendao, and several representative timepieces.
For this independent watchmaker founded in Le Locle, Switzerland, in 1846, this was a carefully chosen time - the 180th anniversary of the brand's establishment coincided with the 25th anniversary of the iconic FREAK Whimsy series.
Amid the overall pressure on global luxury consumption and the structural adjustment of the high - end watch market in China, why did a Swiss brand with a 180 - year history choose Shanghai for this important anniversary event, and why did it decide to collaborate with a Chinese artist known for traditional Chinese paintings? The answers lie in the dual lines of product structure and narrative strategy.
From a commercial structure perspective, the tasting event presented a "pyramid" - style product portfolio. At the top of the pyramid is the [Super] Freak Whimsy Super Watch, a commemorative gift for the anniversary. According to the brand, the new model took four years to develop. It is the world's first self - winding watch that combines a double tourbillon and a carrousel structure. It is equipped with the in - house UN - 252 movement, composed of 511 parts, integrating 8 patented technologies, and is limited to 50 pieces. Ulysse Nardin calls it "the most complex 'pure time' watch in the brand's watchmaking history."
According to the brand, more than 70% of the parts of this watch are hand - decorated and polished, and about 97.46% of the movement parts are in motion. It takes a single master watchmaker 60 hours to assemble. The middle part of the pyramid is the more culturally - oriented "Make Waves" co - branded series - four models named "Soulmate," "Melody," "Mystic Rhyme," and "Elegance." All of them use a 40 - millimeter 5N rose gold case and the in - house UN - 320 movement, equipped with a silicon hairspring and escapement mechanism. Each model is limited to 25 pieces, with a total of 100 pieces in the whole series.
Image source: Brand
The high - complexity "halo products" are responsible for setting the ceiling for technology and price, while the cultural co - branding is responsible for opening the emotional gateway to the local market. This is a common strategy for high - end watch brands. The other half of the co - branding, artist Liu Rendao, provides an Eastern touch to this narrative.
Liu Rendao's resume spans multiple labels: sending traditional Chinese paintings into space, holding exhibitions at the Forbidden City, and being proficient in the "Six Arts." However, the ocean was originally an unfamiliar subject for him. "My hometown is in Xinning, Hunan, an inland area with 'eight mountains and half water,'" he recalled. He saw the sea for the first time when he went out for sketching after entering college. A female classmate fell into the water, and he jumped in to save her, choking on several mouthfuls of seawater. "At that time, the sea felt extremely vast, boundless, and desolate to me." This impression inspired his later creations on ocean - themed works such as "Viewing the Sea."
The encounter with Ulysse Nardin was accidental. According to Liu Rendao, in 2024, he held a personal art exhibition in Suzhou. The person in charge of Ulysse Nardin in China visited the exhibition and was interested in his landscape and ocean works, and the two sides started a dialogue. An earlier connection came from an oral history - his friend, the nephew of Qu Qiubai, once told him that Qu Qiubai pawned his Ulysse Nardin watch in his early years to support the revolution.
What brought the two sides together was a consensus on "movement." "Time is a flow, the ocean is also in motion, and the movement of Ulysse Nardin watches is also in a state of motion," Liu Rendao told 36Kr. Ulysse Nardin started with marine chronometers, and the ocean is the spiritual origin of its brand history. In his paintings, the sea is an image of fluidity, inclusiveness, and endless vitality in the Eastern context.
When asked how he would like to be defined in this collaboration - as an "ocean painter," a "space artist," or something else, Liu Rendao's answer was "an all - round painter."
"Art is interlinked," he said. When painting landscapes, one has to paint people, and be able to handle flowers, birds, mountains, rivers, the ocean, and the climate. "When painting landscapes, there should be a grand momentum, and the same goes for painting the ocean." In his view, being all - round means having a macro - control of the whole painting; otherwise, "painting anything is just a part." This self - positioning of "interconnectedness" echoes Ulysse Nardin's "boundary - breaking" narrative that spans mechanical structures, materials, and time - display methods to some extent.
The naming of the co - branded series was also carefully crafted. The English phrase "Make Waves" means "to create a stir," and it is translated as "Make Waves" in Chinese. Liu Rendao said that the naming preceded the creation: "Many things actually depend on a 'fate,' which is both a coincidence and a 'fulfillment.'" In his view, the world's oceans are inherently integrated, and the four paintings aim to express this "wholeness," which includes the ocean as well as reflections on the cycle of the four seasons and life. The names of the four watches also have a meaning of integrating the East and the West: "Soulmate" not only refers to a bosom friend in the Chinese context but also implies the sound of the watch's operation; "Mystic Rhyme" means "the highest realm of science is metaphysics"; the "elegance" in "Elegance" echoes "Ulysse Nardin."
An inevitable technical and aesthetic challenge is how to translate the "blank space" in traditional Chinese paintings onto the watch face, whose primary duty is precision. "The most difficult part of painting the ocean is not the whole sea but the waves," Liu Rendao explained. The waves are crystal - clear under the sunlight. If painted directly with white, the picture will "look stiff and lack vitality." He compared the vitality of the waves to different stages of a person's life - lively in childhood, unrestrained in middle age, and calm in old age. "The most classic state of the sea, like our lives, is most beautiful when its vitality is at its most unrestrained." According to the brand, the miniature painting masters of Ulysse Nardin condensed his original ink paintings on the watch face, preserving the layers, light, and charm of the waves within millimeters.
Image source: Brand
So, who is the target audience for this co - branded series with high - cost materials and extremely low production? Liu Rendao's answer doesn't stop at the labels of "collectors" or "new middle - class." "Whoever meets it and can regard it as their soulmate is its target audience," he said. In his description, these four watches represent the collision between the rational mechanics of watches and the sensibility of Chinese paintings, ultimately targeting "those who are willing to think about 'what the shape of time really is'" - when the hands sweep across the waves on the wrist, "they can feel that time is not just cold scales but surging waves and the blue confined in a small space."
For Ulysse Nardin, this "Eastern soulmate" narrative is a part of its larger picture. According to brand information, since 1846, the Nardin family has gone through five generations, creating marine chronometers trusted by navies of many countries, and has won more than 4,300 technical and design awards so far. The FREAK Whimsy watch launched in 2001 redefined mechanical watches with "no crown, no hands, and no dial." Its FREAK [ONE] won the "Best Iconic Watch" award at the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG) in 2023. The brand also jointly established an independent watchmaking system with Girard - Perregaux and has flagship stores in Geneva, Silicon Valley, Dubai, and Shanghai.
From a financial perspective, this combination reflects a common choice of independent high - end watchmaking in recent years: Create scarcity through extreme complexity and ultra - low production, and then lower the narrative threshold for entering emerging markets through cultural co - branding. The issuance of 100 co - branded watches and 50 super watches means they are more like "narrative carriers" rather than mass - market products. Their commercial returns come from both the high premium of single products and the re - confirmation of brand assets at the anniversary node. Ulysse Nardin did not disclose the relevant pricing and sales targets at the tasting event, and the actual market response remains to be seen.
180 years of nautical heritage and 25 years of "boundary - breaking" narrative now meet the ink paintings of a Chinese artist in Shanghai. Whether this encounter can translate into long - term market recognition still needs time to test; but at least on the small watch face, Ulysse Nardin has completed a combination of Eastern and Western vocabularies. As Liu Rendao said, what he wants to paint is never just the ocean itself, "but more about self - reflection, fluidity, and the rhythm of life."