THE FLAMBOYANCE OF THE ROOSTER

To celebrate moving to the Year of the Rooster at the end of January, Ulysse Nardin is offering a version of his Classico model with a galliform bird crafted in champlevé enamel

The Chinese horoscope, which has a particular importance mainly in Asia but also in Europe consists of twelve astrological cycles embodied by twelve animals. The end of the month of January 2017, the 28^th to be precise, will mark the beginning of a new cycle, that of the Fire Rooster. According to Chinese astrology, this new year will be marked by success and triumph achieved by hard work, continued perseverance and iron discipline. Traditionally, each year Ulysse Nardin presents a limited series of timepieces with the animal featured in the horoscope pictured on the dial. After the Classico Goat in 2015, then the Classico Monkey in 2016, the watchmaker from the Locle in Switzerland has designed the Classico Rooster, issuing only 88, since 8 is a lucky number in China.

The dial of the Classico Rooster model has been created in champlevé enamel by Donzé Cadrans, a company belonging to the Ulysse Nardin group. This disc, previously hollowed out with a burin tool to create indentations that are then enamelled, baked, then polished to bring out the silhouette of the rooster and the background, made up of blue thistles and pebbles. Here the bird is pictured with a greyish white head and hackles, topped with a carmine-red comb, ear-lobe and wattle. His breast, back and abdomen, as well as his lesser and main sickle feathers, are in petrol-blue enamel, getting close to black or blue-green in certain areas of the plumage. The feathers at the base of the tail and the thighs have a delicate shading which starts as navy blue and gradually lightens towards white.

It is over the largest area – the wing of the bird – that a couple of hands appear. Curved and leaf-shaped, golden and luminescent, they lie above a beaded hour marker that displays the hours and minutes. A seconds hand, also in the centre of the dial, shows the seconds.

The Classico Rooster timepiece is brought to life by the UN-815 calibre, a self-winding movement that is a COSC-certified chronometer providing a 42-hour power reserve, lying in the heart of the 40mm-diameter rose gold case.

Price on demand

 By Sharmila Bertin