Throwback Thursday: Ulysse Nardin Marine Chronometer

Ulysse Nardin’s Marine Chronometer is one of the rare iconic models that evolved from neither a wristwatch nor a pocket watch. In this case, the original was closer in function to the name of the collection: it was an actual series of marine deck chronometers, used for navigation in the early 21st century. The brand has an illustrious past as a maker of marine chronometers, the accuracy of which had to fall within a certain standard. As early as 1900, Paul-David Nardin had made nine pocket chronometers fitted with tourbillon escapements, and in 1904, it supplied marine chronometers to both the Russian and Japanese admiralties. The movements of these pieces were frequently submitted in chronometer competitions. In 1906, the company’s marine chronometer won First Prize and Gold Medal at the Milan International Exhibition. In the same year, Nardin chronometers took the first seven places in the observatory chronometer competition at the Naval Observatory in Washington, DC. A Nardin chronometer also broke all performance records at the Hamburg Observatory trials during that time.