From a less technical point of view, what lends a sense of floating and intangible lightness to this otherwise heavily complicated movement is the implementation of sapphire panes, with blued ones used as covers for the movement, and perfectly transparent ones set as the underpinnings of the tourbillon. The image above nicely depicts the floating effect that can be achieved by these extremely thin plates of sapphire, as you can see through the watch and discover that visible in the background is actually the strap of the watch. And while we have seen an increasing number of haute horlogerie brands incorporate sapphire in their halo-pieces, this forming trend takes nothing away neither from the difficulties linked to working with sapphire at such levels, nor from the beauty that it ultimately creates.

When looking at the watch’s case back you will see a little slider, integrated tightly into the white gold case, used to silence the sonnerie function hence preventing it from chiming as an hour passes. On the other side of the case, just by the crown is the quick-setting pusher of the date indication; which (as we have seen in the case of some other similarly complicated watches) is your ordinary date function, lacking any further modifications that would make it a perpetual or annual version. This is understandable, as while most certainly a perpetual calendar could have been included, packing a more complicated date into the movement would have meant an unjustifiable sacrifice in the thickness of the watch.

Any and all chiming functions are infamously fragile, containing incredibly finely crafted components which are subjected to substantial wear as the sonnerie or the minute repeater functions are operated. With Ulysse Nardin’s experience in creating chiming watches (some other great examples by the brand include the Jaquemarts Minute Repeater and the “Stranger” music box watch) it is no surprise that they went the extra mile and created a safety system that protects the chiming complications by stopping the sounding of the passing hours while the time is being corrected through the crown. A small but important addition, as we can only wonder how many delicate repeaters have been damaged by an unfortunately or carelessly timed setting of a watch.

With its impressive list of features, the Imperial Blue is a novelty that is – beyond a shadow of a doubt – worthy of carrying on the expansive tradition of Ulysse Nardin’s chiming watches. It tastefully combines the immense complexity of a sonnerie with the seemingly weightless aesthetics made possible by the creative and technically impressive use of sapphire, ultimately creating a blend of modern and traditional watch making that is as entertaining to look at as it is to unfold its mechanical complexities. Limited to only 20 pieces ever produced, the Imperial Blue will come at a most definitely not-so-weightless price of around $857,000. ulysse-nardin.com