Ulysse Nardin Blast Hourstriker Review

It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of Ulysse Nardin and have been for well over two decades. When I first started collecting watches a few years prior to entering the industry I didn't know the brand too well, but after building a resale site that heavily featured Ulysse Nardin I started to become enamored with the brand.

During this time I had access to wear tons of watches from Ulysse Nardin and particularly favored the Aqua Marine Perpetual Calendars and early versions of the Freak. I've spent countless hours with those watches on my wrist, but the models from Ulysse Nardin that really captivated me were the chiming watches from the brand. Ulysse Nardin didn't just put together simple chiming watches, but incorporated the chiming complication into the dial with releases like the Genghis Khan minute repeater and Hourstrikers which featured character animations including figures hitting bells, blacksmiths or in erotic positions.



Chiming watches come in hosts of different complications from minute and quarter repeaters to hourstrikers. Even within the hourstriker complication there are variations from simple executions like the Christopher Ward Bel Canto that just gives off a single chime on the hour to more complicated versions like the Hourstrikers from Ulysse Nardin that chime the count of the hour along with a single chime on the half hour. Originally chiming watches were useful when the time was needed without being able to see the dial of the watch. This typically occurred with a pocket watch being worn inside of a pocket or before lighting in houses was common and the time needed to be known at night. Today the chiming complication is more of a novelty and also a way for a brand to show off their watchmaking prowess.

Before we go into detail about the Hourstriker I'll be reviewing today from Ulysse Nardin, let's first go over the history of the brand. Ulysse Nardin was founded in Le Locle, Switzerland in 1846 by Ulysse Nardin. Nardin, a son of a watchmaker, was only 23 years old when he established his brand. Nardin had trained as an apprentice under his father Leonard-Frederic Nardin and further refined his skills under master watchmakers Louis JeanRichard-dit-Bressel and Frederic-William Dubois.

Nardin had spent his life in the Swiss mountains but was always fascinated by the sea, this led to the brand focusing on producing the world's finest marine chronometers. At the time marine chronometers were not simple time telling devices but instead crucial navigation instruments allowing sailors to determine longitude at sea. As you could imagine, if the marine chronometer was off the results could be catastrophic.



Early chronometers from Ulysse Nardin began winning coveted awards in the 1860s really establishing the manufactures ability to produce extremely accurate timepieces. Ulysse Nardin passed away in 1876 and his son, Paul-David Nardin, took over the company. Under Paul-David, Ulysse Nardin continued to grow and kept on racking up more and more awards and gold medals in timekeeping competitions. By start of the 20th century more than 50 navies and shipping companies were depending on marine chronometers from Ulysse Nardin to help guide their ships, including the United States Navy. To demonstrate how much more accurate marine chronometers were from Ulysse Nardin over competitors, by the time the Neuchatel Observatory stopped publishing reports on the performance of chronometers in 1975, Ulysse Nardin was awarded 95% of all the performance certificates issued to marine chronometers.

Like most manufactures of mechanical watches, the 1970s and 80s were tough decades for Ulysse Nardin. The introduction of cheap Japanese quartz watches meant that watches that only cost a few dollars now blew away the accuracy of even the finest mechanical watches from Switzerland. In this climate Ulysse Nardin was purchased by businessman Rolf Schnyder in 1983. Schnyder recognized the value and historic significance of the brand and along with watchmaker Dr. Ludwig Oechslin set out to revive Ulysse Nardin, especially concentrating on haute horlogerie.

The first major releases from Schnyder and Oechslin were a trio of astronomical watches featuring the Astrolabium Galileo Galilei (1985), the Planetarium Copernicus (1988) and finally the Tellurium Johannes Kepler (1992). We recently did a review on a spiritual successor to these pieces in the Blast Moonstruck and were blown away by the complications of the watch as well as its overall build quality.



Ulysse Nardin didn't rest on its laurels and to kick off the new millennium the brand released the Freak in 2001. The Freak was groundbreaking on many fronts but probably most important was the extensive use of silicium (silicon) for many of its components. This was unheard of at the time, but in modern watchmaking silicon is now widely used and seen as superior in many instances. The Freak also did not have a traditional dial, hands or crown and instead the entire movement rotated on itself to indicate the time. The Freak is the most important model in the brands current lineup and we've spent a lot of time with the original pieces as well as two of the newer models in the Freak X and Freak ONE OPS.

The era of Schnyder and Oechslin also saw the release of the brands first perpetual calendar along with the Marine Chronometer 1846 wristwatch. Unfortunately tragedy hit when Schnyder suddenly passed away in 2011 and the company was taken over by his wife Chai Schnyder. Under Chai Schnyder, Ulysse Nardin dramatically bolstered its enamel abilities and released their first fully in-house automatic caliber along with a host of other in-house movements.

In 2014 Ulysse Nardin was acquired by the French luxury group Kering who appointed Patrick Pruniaux as the brand's CEO in 2017. Five years later Pruniaux would lead a management buyout that would restore Ulysse Nardin and sister brand Girard-Perregaux statuses to independent watchmakers. Today's Ulysse Nardin shows the same willingness to innovate that Schnyder and Oechslin had in the 80s and 90s. The brand continues to unveil new releases that seem to push what is possible in modern watchmaking while still refining brand staples like the Freak and high horology pieces.



Initial Thoughts

Today we're going to be looking at the newest Hourstriker in the series for chiming watches from Ulysse Nardin in the Blast Hourstriker. This version of the Hourstriker has a skeletonized dial and also features a flying tourbillon in addition to the hourstriker complication. These complications are housed in a rose gold and titanium Blast case that I'm already familiar with from the Blast Moonstuck which used a similar case made out of titanium and ceramic.

I first saw the Blast Hourstriker in person at an event Ulysse Nardin did with One More Wave here in Austin to release their newest collaboration piece with the charity. Of all the watches Ulysse Nardin brought with them, the Blast Hourstriker caught my attention the most. I asked good friend FX, president of the Americas for Ulysse Nardin, if it would be possible to review the Blast Hourstriker and he said of course.

When I was able to examine the watch in a more controlled environment, the first thing I noticed about the Blast Hourstriker was how you could actually hear the watch running. I mean besides the chime you can hear the movement ticking away fairly easily. When you pick up and handle the watch you can also hear the winding rotor swing around. I actually find this refreshing since most watches are pretty much silent until you put them up to your ear. This of course is done for a reason, which is to allow the chime the least amount of material to get through to produce the clearest sound possible.



The next thing I noticed about the Blast Hourstriker was the flying one minute tourbillon found at 6 o'clock. When I first got into collecting watches around twenty-five years ago the tourbillon was viewed as the end all be all of watchmaking. It was extremely rare to see a tourbillon in a watch and they were mostly featured in extremely high end pieces from brands such as Breguet and Blancpain. Advances in production have made the tourbillon much more obtainable with some Swiss tourbillons being in the four figure range and some Chinese versions under one thousand dollars. Even with that being the case, it's always a treat to see a tourbillon from a top Swiss manufacture like Ulysse Nardin doing its dance. After spending a lot of time with various Freak models, I do have to say that I prefer the superior visual interest the Freak's carrousel provides to the more reserved tourbillon cage.

The final thing I noticed about the Ulysse Nardin Blast Hourstriker during my initial time with the watch was its stunning rose gold and titanium case. The Blast case uses so many facets and angles that it's pretty hard to describe. The Blast Moonstruck we had a few months ago had an all black Blast case made out of titanium and ceramic so it was pretty hard to get the full effect of the case. In rose gold the case just looks amazing and like nothing else. There is a mixture of polished and brushed areas that also play well with all the various angles found on the case. The mid case is constructed out of black DLC coated titanium which is slightly sunken in compared to the rest of the gold case giving the case an extra sense of depth.

Technical Specifications

Now that we've gone over the history of Ulysse Nardin as well as my initial thoughts of the Blast Hourstriker, let's now talk about the technical specifications of the watch. The case of the Blast Hourstriker is made up of 18 ct rose gold and DLC coated titanium. The watch has a case diameter of 45.1 mm and a lug to lug length of 53.7 mm. At its thickest point the case measured at 16 mm tall and on our scale it weighed in at 156 grams on the rubber strap and rose gold deployant clasp.



The Blast Hourstriker uses a glass box style sapphire crystal that is slightly domed on top. The sapphire also has an anti-reflective coating applied to it that does a good job of keeping glare and reflections down. This type of crystal provides an un-matched view of the intricate dial and movement below, and what a view it is.

Around the outside of the dial is a rose gold ring affixed to the dial with 4 exposed case screws that houses the polished gold stick hour markers. Moving in is another gold ring that contains a printed minute track made out of small black hash marks. This ring also features the Ulysse Nardin branding and logo at 12 o'clock. Expanding on a more recent design trend from Ulysse Nardin is the "X" pattern alluded to at 1, 5, 7 and 11 making up a partial X pattern on the dial by large gold markers.

There are two centrally mounted hands on the Blast Hourstriker being the hour and minute hands. Both hour and minute hands are done in polished rose gold and are inlaid with Super-Luminova which glows a bluish green in low light. Being the only lumed elements on the dial, the Blast Hourstriker isn't exactly a lume monster, but does provide enough lume to decipher in lower light conditions. At 8 o'clock you also have the small polished rose gold hand that signals if the hourstriker is on or off.



At 6 o'clock you have the flying tourbillon which is nicely framed by the dial. This tourbillon completes a full rotation in one minute and adds some nice movement to the otherwise static (when not chiming) dial. The upper tourbillon cage is done in black metal and is attached with four exposed screws. The balance is done in untreated metal and features gold balance screws. The center of the tourbillon also features a gold jewel setting that holds the jewel bearing. The purple colored components of the silicon escapement are also visible just below the tourbillon. In all the look of the tourbillon mimics the black and gold look of the case and other dial elements.

The DLC coated mainplate serves as the dial on the Blast Hourstriker. The black background acts as the perfect backdrop for the exposed gear train and striking elements which are done in untreated metal. The main components including the hammer are found between 10 and 2 o'clock and are a treat to watch when either triggered by the pusher at 10 o'clock or on the hour and half hour.

The Blast Hourstriker is actually a sonnerie au passage, meaning that the watch will chime the time as it passes the new hour. This feature can be enabled and disabled by pressing the pusher at 8 o'clock. This will then move the hand on the dial to "On" or "Off" signaling if the chime is active or not. Unlike most sonnerie au passage timepieces the time chime can also be called on demand by pressing the pusher at 10 o'clock.



While talking about the chime, it's now important to skip other elements of the watch and go straight to the caseback. I'd say typically on a watch of this caliber you'd expect to have a display caseback that shows off the beauty of the in-house tourbillon movement, but not here. Even though the movement inside of the Blast Hourstriker in striking (I had to…), it is not the most important aspect of the watch. Prime billing of the Blast Hourstriker goes to the chime and with that being the case, the case needs to be designed in such a way that best amplifies the sound produced. The Ulysse Nardin Blast Hourstriker uses a solid caseback made out of rose gold. This caseback features the two part Devialet developed amplification system. The double case is the first part of this system containing the exposed outer case with a double X cutout that allows sound to leave the case. Underneath this layer is a super thin titanium membrane that allows sound waves and the air created by them to deform the membrane amplifying the sound. This is why you can hear the ticking of the movement as well as the rotor so well. Naturally this also increases the volume of the chime dramatically.

The second part of the Devialet system is the torsion lever which connects the chiming gong directly the amplification membrane. This ensures the optimal transmission of sound to the membrane and then out through the cutouts in the back of the case. This second part of the system is what sets the Blast Hourstriker apart from other chiming watches. This system works wonders and makes the Blast Hourstriker one of the loudest chiming watches I've heard in recent memory. The watch always seems to have enough volume to announce itself over any background noise or music that might be present when it chimes.



With so much going on, it might be easy to overlook the movement beating away inside of the Blast Hourstriker. Powering this watch is the in-house Swiss Made Caliber UN-621 which is based off of the UN-128 which is Ulysse Nardin's in-house automatic movement with a flying tourbillon. The movement is partially skeletonized and features hours, minutes, hourstriker and a flying tourbillon. The UN-621 beats away at 28,800 vph and has a power reserve of 60 hours. On our timegrapher the movement showed an accuracy of +/- 0 seconds per day when averaged out over several positions, which is pretty much as good as it gets.

The case of the Blast Hourstriker was inspired by stealth aircraft which use a pattern of body panels set at different angles to achieve their ability to evade radar detection. This inspiration is evident on the Blast cases where it seems like the case is made of endless facets. The use of alternating brushed and polished finishes just accentuates this design. The caseback and upper case are crafted out of 18 ct rose gold while the mid case is made out of DLC coated titanium. The black mid case gives a great contrast to the warm rose gold and having the mid case set deeper than the upper and lower case creates a nice void adding nice depth to the case.

The left hand side of the case features to the gold pusher to turn on and off the chime and also the pusher to activate the chime on demand. At 9 o'clock there is also a rose gold plaque that has the individual case number of the watch. The right hand side of the watch features the large non-screw down gold crown flanked by large gold crown guards. The crown is nicely scalloped and features the Ulysse Nardin anchor logo on top. The crown really doesn't affect the water resistance in the case of the Blast Hourstriker, the main detractor to water resistance is the open caseback. Even with the open caseback and non-screw down crown the watch is still good for 30 meters of water resistance. This absolutely does not mean you can submerge or go swimming the Blast Hourstriker, but more means the watch will be able to survive life in damp and humid climates.



In the resting position the crown is able to manually wind the automatic movement. Since the Blast Hourstriker doesn't have any calendar complications there is only one crown position. Pulling the crown out to position one allows you to set the time and does not hack or stop the tourbillon which kind of acts like the seconds hand. Although technically you could use the tourbillon as a seconds hand, that's really not the purpose of it, so hacking to set the precise time is not of high importance on this watch. Pushing the crown back in causes no jump in the minute hand as is to be expected with a watch of this caliber.

The Ulysse Nardin Blast Hourstriker has a lug width of 27 mm and features slotted strap design where the strap fits in-between three lugs. The strap is locked into place using screws which is probably a good idea since the thoughts of a cheap spring bar failing on this watch is the thing of nightmares. This design also means that there are not aftermarket strap options for the Blast Hourstriker. Ulysse Nardin does offer three strap variants for the watch and I believe straps from other Blast models could work on the Hourstriker. The strap that came with the watch we are reviewing is a black rubber strap with a leather pattern on top. The strap is extremely supple and tapers down to 20 mm at the rose gold deployant clasp featuring Ulysse Nardin branding. The clasp once again is brushed and polished and requires both buttons to be depressed to allow the clasp to open. The rest of the double fold clasp hardware is made out of DLC coated titanium. These types of Ulysse Nardin clasps use a hooked pin that can be tricky to figure out on first use, but really lock the strap into place when set.

On The Wrist

Having my formative watch collecting years falling firmly in the 2000s, my preferences tend to skew towards larger watches. My goldilocks lug to lug range tends to be between 50 and 55 mm. The Ulysse Nardin Blast Hourstriker falls right between those ranges at 53.7 mm. On my 7.25 inch wrist with a 55 mm flat area the Blast Hourstriker looks just perfect. The subtle texturing on the back of the rubber strap helped keep the watch in place on my wrist and it never favored on side over the other.



When you think of gold watches the first thing that comes to mind is heft. Surprisingly the Blast Hourstriker only weighed in at 156 grams on our scale and I believe a lot of that has to do with the titanium mid case along with the large sapphire crystal used on the dial in place of a metal bezel. Over extended wear times the watch never became a bother and no hint of wrist fatigue ever set in. Also the watch didn't seem top heavy at all, I'm wondering if the extra wide lugs had something to do with that.

I kind of went into this review thinking the Ulysse Nardin Blast Hourstriker was not well suited to be a good daily wearer. The main concerns were the weight and the flashiness and softness of gold. The weight is really no concern and honestly the watch is fairly subtle in real life, especially for being a gold watch. The skeleton dial and generous usage of blacks in the case and dial really help with this as well. As for the softness of the gold, I can't really attest for that, but more than likely if you daily wore this watch, it would pick up some scratches.

To test the legibility of a watch I like to use a simple test of seeing how easy it is to tell the time at just a glance while driving. The two ends of the spectrum when it comes to this test are dive watches doing the best while skeletons do the worst. Going into this test I felt the Blast Hourstriker wasn't going to do that well. In all honesty the watch did rather decent, there is good contrast between the black "dial" and polished gold hands. One thing that does take some getting used to are the four large sections making up the "X" motif on the dial getting confused for hands at a quick glance… but hey no dive watch I know of can chime the current hour, so who needs legibility anyway? With the minimal usage of lume on the dial, telling the time in low light or near dark situations was just adequate. The Blast Hourstriker is all about its chiming mechanism, so making changes to increase legibility would probably have been a detriment to the design aesthetic of the watch.



I wore the Blast Hourstriker out and about sparingly mainly due to its price and also it being crafted out of soft gold. So I mainly wore the watch out while running simple errands and out to dinner and drinks. Like I mentioned earlier the watch is very comfortable on wrist and does very well when just being worn as a watch. It was mostly there only when I needed it and was never an annoyance. The watch did attract a lot of attention, but that is pretty commonplace for watches from Ulysse Nardin. I still have never got as much attention while wearing a watch as the rose gold Freak X attracted. The Blast Hourstriker was a close second or third here. I noticed a ton of people looking at the watch and had more than a few people compliment or ask questions about it. Also in quiet environments you'd get a lot of looks when the chime would go off and state the hour. In a world with so many digital notifications, I think people are surprised and pleased to hear an analog chime. Everyone I showed the watch to was blown away by just how nice the Blast Hourstriker was in hand. Most people commented on the stunning skeleton dial and flying tourbillon, and of course the tonal quality of the chime.

Value and Position in the Market

Now like in our last review of the Oris Aquis Pro 4000m and its case size, we have come to the elephant in the room with the Ulysse Nardin Blast Hourstriker… price. I'm guessing if you're reading this review that you are pretty versed in the watch collecting hobby, so maybe for our strange little hobby the price of the Blast Hourstriker isn't that crazy, but to most of the public it is an unimaginable number to pay for a watch. The Blast Hourstriker retails for $137,300. For that price you're getting an amazing rose gold and titanium case featuring an in-house movement with a flying tourbillon and a chiming hourstriker. For us in the know that price actually is more than justified for what you're getting packaged inside of the Blast Hourstriker. Now would be a good time to look at other watches with comparable features and specifications and see how the Blast Hourstriker holds up in terms of value.



First up we have the Royal Oak Concept Supersonnerie from Audemars Piguet which has a 44 mm case crafted out of titanium. The Royal Oak Concept has a more aggressive look to it like that of the Blast Hourstriker. The Royal Oak Concept is a more complicated timepiece featuring an in-house movement with a minute repeater, tourbillon and chronograph. The Royal Oak Concept has a similarly low water resistance of 20 meter and retail price a few times more expensive than the Blast Hourstriker at $597,400.

Next up is the Octo Finissimo Minute Repeater from Bulgari with a 40 mm case diameter crafted out of titanium. The Octo Finissimo has a very unique look to it with a multi-layered square case that is incredibly thin. The Octo Finissimo is powered by an in-house movement featuring small seconds and a minute repeater. The watch has a little bit more water resistance at 50 meters, but probably isn't intended to go swimming with. The Octo Finissimo Minute Repeater retails for a good deal more than the Blast Hourstriker at $225,000.

Moving on we have the Big Bang Integral Minute Repeater from Hublot which has a 43 mm case crafted out of ceramic. The Big Bang has more of a traditional sports watch look to it and features an in-house movement featuring a tourbillon and a minute repeater. The Big Bang has the same kind of splash proof water resistance of 30 meters and cost more than two times as much as the Blast Hourstriker at $295,000.



Finally we have the Minute Repeater Tri-Axial Tourbillon Earth to Sky Edition from sister brand Girard-Perregaux. The Tri-Axial Tourbillon has a 48 mm case crafted out of pink gold and has the same 30 meters of water resistance as the Blast Hourstriker. The Tri-Axial Tourbillon features a minute repeater along with a tri-axis tourbillon. The Tri-Axial Tourbillon is much more expensive than the Blast Hourstriker at $559,000.

Looking at the four watches we compared to the Ulysse Nardin Blast Hourstriker all of a sudden the watch seems to be a great value. Hourstrikers are not commonly found or used complications, so honestly minute repeaters are the easiest complication to compare them to. Minute Repeaters do add a few levels of complexity to a hourstriker, so that needs to also be considered when comparing value. Either way, I'm not sure a minute repeater is worth two or more times what Ulysse Nardin is asking for the Blast Hourstiker. Crazy as it sounds, the Blast Hourstriker is great value for the money priced where it is when comparing other chiming watches from top Swiss manufactures.

Closing Thoughts

So in the end is the Ulysse Nardin Blast Hourstriker for me? I've been a fan Ulysse Nardin chiming watches for a very long time and the Blast Hourstriker is just a modern refinement and re-imagination of these watches. The Blast case is just stunning with all of its various angles and facets and being crafted out of rose gold really lets the light play with the case architecture. The added use of titanium in the mid case really helps keep the weight down to a very respectable number as well, making it great for longer wearing sessions.



Using a skeletonized dial also makes the watch seem much more modern then older Ulysse Nardin chiming watches. The overall package of the Blast Hourstriker really is a masterclass in design and something that never gets old looking at. The sizing of the watch also falls perfectly in line with my ideal proportions and covers my wrist perfectly. I've always been fascinated by the tourbillon, so the addition of one to the Blast Hourstriker is a very nice added bonus. While many will say the tourbillon doesn't do much to help with the accuracy of a wrist watch, the average accuracy of +/- 0 seconds per day is amongst the best we've every tested proving the opposite.

Finally the hourstriker complication has always been a favorite of mine, loving it so much that we even named our site after the complication. Typically I'm not the biggest fan of complications that I have to put effort into using like the chronograph or GMT. With the hourstriker the watch will actually interact with you, letting you know when the hour is reached. It's very cool to just be sitting at your desk or out and hear the current hour chime without you having to do anything. Also unlike a minute repeater, a hourstriker requires less attention to decipher than listening for all the different tones for the hour and minutes chimed by a minute repeater. The Blast Hourstriker is really culmination of years of chiming watches from Ulysse Nardin combined with a flying tourbillon resulting in one if not the favorite watch I've ever had on my wrist. Now if Ulysse Nardin could figure out how to integrate the hourstriker complication on a Freak S or Freak One, we'd really have something out of this world. Would I recommend the Blast Hourstriker to somebody looking for a chiming watch? It really depends on what that person is looking for and of course their budget. There are simpler, and much cheaper, hourstrikers available like the Christoper Ward Bel Canto, but those are on a completely different level then the Blast Hourstriker and only chime a single chime no matter what the hour is. These watches are often based off of base movements from ETA or Sellita as well. Then you have the minute repeaters which for the most part will not automatically chime on the passage of time but only on demand. Minute repeaters also tend to be done in more formal designs and typically cost a lot more than hourstrikers as I illustrated earlier.



If you're already in the market for a minute repeater level watch and like the more modern look of the Blast Hourstriker I feel the watch could be a great fit for you. Not only is the watch just stunning to look at, but it pairs a hourstriker with a flying tourbillon at just over one hundred thousand dollars. Minute repeaters with tourbillons will be much more than that. Also the Blast Hourstriker allows you to have the time chimed automatically on the hour as well as on demand, a feature not offered on most minute repeaters. As you can also tell, I am a huge fan of Ulysse Nardin and the people running the brand. That goes a long way with the recommendation of a watch, knowing if anything was to come up with the watch that there are people at the brand to take care of you.

In the end, I'd really like to say thanks to FX and his team at Ulysse Nardin for allowing us to review the Blast Hourstriker. I've been a long time fan of chiming watches from the brand and getting to spend some real quality time with the newest chiming watch in the family was a real treat. Together with the Freak ONE and Diver X Skeleton, the Blast Hourstriker has really blown away what I thought about Ulysse Nardin before starting Hourstriker. The level Ulysse Nardin is able to achieve with their watchmaking and case production is mind-blowing and I'm having trouble thinking of another brand that marries the two so well together. I have an idea for a few other watches I'd like to review from Ulysse Nardin in the near future, so let's see where the cards fall.

For more information about the Blast Hourstriker please visit : Ulysse Nardin

Technical Specifications

Reference Number: 6215-400/02

Retail Price: $137,300

Case Size: 45.1 mm

Lug to Lug: 53.7 mm

Thickness: 16 mm

Weight: 156 grams

Case Material: 18 ct Rose Gold and DLC Titanium

Bezel: DLC Titanium

Strap: Black Rubber Strap with Rose Gold and DLC Titanium Deployant Clasp

Movement: Swiss Made In-House Calibre UN-621 Automatic Movement

Functions: Hours, Minutes, Flying Tourbillon and Hourstriker

Power Reserve: 60 Hours

Water Resistance: 30 Meters