ULYSSE NARDIN – history of marine chronometers

The company was founded in 1846 by Ulysse Nardin in Le Locle, Switzerland. Ulysse Nardin is considered the founder of the Swiss marine chronometer industry along with Louis Jean Richard Bressel and Henry Grandjean. Born in 1823 in Le Locle, Ulysse Nardin initially trained as an apprentice watchmaker under his father, Léonard Frédéric Nardin, before honing his skills under Frédéric William Dubois and Louis Jean Richard Bressel, two master watchmakers who were experts in precision watchmaking and whose fame transcended the borders of Switzerland. In 1846, at the age of 23, Ulysse Nardin founded his own company in Le Locle, where its headquarters are still located. Although Ulysse Nardin grew up in the mountains of the Jura, he was fascinated by the sea and produced nautical timing devices at an early age. His company became one of the first to produce marine chronometers and precision marine instruments for merchant ships and navies around the world. Its pocket and marine chronometers have become reference products of civil, military and scientific service. Ulysse Nardin acquired a very precise astronomical regulator, built by Jacques Frederic Houriet in 1768, which was used to evaluate pocket chronometers. It is currently housed in a museum in Le Locle. The company’s reputation was built on, complicated watches, pocket chronometers and minute repeaters. At the time, the most famous watchmakers were French and English, so Ulysse Nardin went to London to face the best pocket chronometer manufacturers. At the 1862 International Exhibition in London, Ulysse Nardin received the highest honor for watchmaking in Britain, the top prize in the category of “complicated watches and pocket chronometers.” In 1867, Ulysse Nardin obtained the first series of certificates from the Neuchâtel Observatory for its marine chronometers. In 1876, Ulysse Nardin died at the age of 53, and his son Paul David Nardin succeeded him as head of the company, which continued to grow. In 1889, Ulysse Nardin won a gold medal at the World Exposition in Paris, and in 1890 he was awarded two Swiss patents and won first prize at the 1893 World Exposition in Chicago, as well as many other awards. In 1902, the company began supplying marine chronometers to the US Navy. The brand regularly won Washington Naval Observatory competitions and became the official supplier to US Navy torpedo boats. Since then, the company has already supplied watches to the navies of the United States, Britain, Russia and Japan. In total, more than 50 navies and international shipping companies have been equipped with Ulysse Nardin marine chronometers since the 1870s. In 1975, the Neuchâtel Observatory published the last official edition of its report on the quality of chronometers from 1846 to 1975. According to the report, Ulysse Nardin received 4324 quality certificates for mechanical marine chronometers out of 4504 total sent (95%). Later, Rolf W. Schnyder became president and owner of the company. He took over the company in 1983. Thanks to the cooperation with watchmaker and inventor Prof. Ludwig Oechslin created many famous astronomical models, such as the astrolabe, planetarium and Johannes Kepler tellurium.