Ulysse Nardin, the leader in mechanical timepieces, and SCI Innovations, a pioneer in uniting leading technologies and elegant design into heralded consumer products, have come together to create the world’s first and finest hybrid-powered smart phone under the Ulysse Nardin brand.
Titled the Chairman, this innovative hybrid smart phone embodies Ulysse Nardin’s core values of expert craftsmanship, heritage and timeless style, while incorporating the world’s most technologically advanced applications. A marquis product for the heralded brand, this groundbreaking partnership is a first for Ulysse Nardin.
“Ulysse Nardin has resisted the many offers received over the years to produce other products under the Ulysse Nardin label. We have never found an opportunity that matched the prestige and standing of our brand,” said owner and President of Ulysse Nardin, Rolf W. Schnyder. “I am absolutely thrilled that Ulysse Nardin has partnered with SCI Innovations to release the first hybrid smart phone into the market. The resulting design is a perfect complement to our catalogue of historic timepieces. Many of the striking aesthetical and technical elements Ulysse Nardin is renowned for are incorporated in the Chairman.”
The Ulysse Nardin Chairman is the culmination of rigorous research and development to create the pinnacle in luxury phone design. This new hybrid smart phone is made from the finest materials available and is hand-assembled by some of the world’s best engineers. The Chairman visually shares many of Ulysse Nardin’s iconic elements including the symbolic anchor on the screw-mounted pusher and, most significantly, the customized Ulysse Nardin winding rotor located on the reverse side of the device.
“We are proud to partner with one of the most prestigious horological enterprises in the world,” said Morten Nielsen, co-founder of SCI Innovations. “I am confident the Chairman will transform the marketplace and how consumers regard their mobile devices.”
A first for the mobile phone industry, the Chairman features a functioning mechanical watch rotor that is also incorporated into its aesthetic design. This crucial component was specially designed by Ulysse Nardin for the Chairman smart phone. Similar to an automatic watch that receives power from the force of a rotor, the Chairman does the same: charging a built-in battery using the kinetic energy of the moving rotor to supply supplemental power to the Chairman.
“The incorporation of unsurpassed horological expertise with cutting-edge cellular technology truly sets the Chairman apart from any and all competition. In the more than twenty years that I have been in the jewelry and luxury industry, I have never been more excited about such an unprecedented partnership,” said Bobby Yampolsky, co-founder of SCI Innovations.
The Chairman is an open smart phone compatible with most GSM networks around the world. Built from the ground up with the C-Level executive in-mind, ease of use is a primary focus. The customized user-interface is easily navigated with a 2.8” touch-screen and oversized numeric buttons for quick reference and seamless typing. The Chairman is an advanced smart phone that incorporates a highly specialized fingerprint recognition security feature, only permitting the specified owner access. The Chairman also features a high-resolution digital camera and is capable of capturing digital videos.
Like a classic collectable, these new mobile devices are timeless. The Chairman and its various iterations will have limited production. Additionally, a first-rate service plan is included with the purchase of a Ulysse Nardin Chairman. This extensive product service agreement, unlike anything in the marketplace, includes internal and external repairs whenever necessary.
Similar to complicated timepieces, each Chairman is expertly assembled and rigorously tested before shipping to the buyer. SCI Innovations is committed to Ulysse Nardin’s strict quality control guidelines and therefore will only produce a limited number of the Chairman each year to meet these requirements.
The Ulysse Nardin Chairman hybrid smart phone will be introduced at BaselWorld 2009 and will be available for purchase in the fall of 2009. The Chairman will be offered in solid gold, steel/gold and steel versions. SCI Innovations has accepted pre-orders from its clientele base who wish to obtain the first Chairman.
For further information, please visit www.unchairman.com.
About Ulysse Nardin:
Since the manufacturer’s earliest days more than 160 years ago when its founder, Ulysse Nardin, began making marine chronometers from a mountainous location in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, the watch making powerhouse has continually proved that challenges present intriguing opportunities worthy of exploration. It is these explorations that have resulted in Ulysse Nardin’s unprecedented inventions in horology. Here, science, innovation and imagination are its muses and technological advancement combined with stellar artisanship is its beacon. From the time when Ulysse Nardin opened its doors in 1846 in Le Locle, it has been the recipient of 4,300-plus awards in watch making--eighteen of them gold medals--and has received the greatest number of patents in mechanical watch making.
About SCI Innovations, Ltd.:
Founded in 2007 by Morten Nielsen and Bobby Yampolsky, SCI Innovations has changed the corporate paradigm by adding new concepts to heralded brands and extending their product portfolios while maintaining their pedigree. SCI Innovations works with firms to enter new marketplaces in which the same craftsmanship, precision and care can be applied to a new genus of products.
