Ulysse Nardin - Blast Moonstruck

3 0 Monday, 7 February 2022 Edit this post

Ulysse Nardin is launching the Blast Moonstruck, a new model featuring the brand's renowned Moonstruck astronomical complication in an all-black Blast case.

This timepiece faithfully reproduces the moon’s rotation, the apparent movement of the sun around the globe as we observe it from Earth and a tidal chart which makes it possible to predict the dates of the spring tides at a glance by observing the sun and moon aligning on their respective ellipses.

Thanks to its sophisticated mechanism, the Blast Moonstruck can display the time in any place chosen from among the 24 conventional world time zones.

The two rectangular pushers on the left-hand side of the case can be used to set the main time display forward or back in leaps of one hour to adjust to another time zone.

At the center of the sapphire crystal protecting the dial, we find part of the northern hemisphere as seen from the North Pole.

To increase the three-dimensional effect, the domed crystal, with the land masses micro-engraved on the inside, is set in the protective sapphire crystal box encircled by an 18 ct rose gold ring engraved with the 31 days of the month, which has for a pointer a small triangle loaded with luminescent material.

The moon phases are represented in a round aperture located at the apogee of an ellipse portraying its orbit, which is depicted as being in the same ecliptic plane as Earth for practical reasons. This aperture, carried by a disk, is associated with an elaborate gear train. It causes the moon phase indicator to make one complete rotation per day to follow the course of the sun, here made of bronzite, while also causing it to make a full circle of the dial in 29 days, 12 hours, 41 minutes and 9.3 seconds, representing the duration of a lunar month, also known as a synodic rotation, which has an astronomical duration of 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes and 2.9 seconds.

To conserve its accuracy, the aperture showing the representation of the moon retreats every 24 hours on its circle of revolution by an angle corresponding, in degrees, to 1/29.53 of a lunar month to occupy a new position in relation to the sun. At the same time, the representation contained in this small mobile aperture also evolves to appear a little brighter or dimmer in line with the lunar calendar.

The Blast Moonstruck’s mineral black dial is decorated with glittering golden particles that create the effect of a starry sky.

Made in black ceramic and black DLC- treated titanium, the 45 mm case reveals the automatic Manufacture caliber UN-106 and its 5N rose gold oscillating weight through the sapphire crystal case back. Beating at a frequency of 4 Hz (28,800 vibrations per hour), it offers 50 of autonomy.

Matched to a black alligator leather strap and water resistant to 30 metres / 100 feet, the new Ulysse Nardin Blast Moonstruck ref. 1063-400-2A/1A has a price of CHF 75,000. ulysse-nardin.com