Last week I got the chance to play with the Ulysse Nardin Chairman, a goofy, expensive phone with a small, built-in mechanical rotor for manual winding. I interviewed the head of UN’s cell division, Paul Williams, about his experience building the phone as well as his background at Nokia’s Vertu line. The phone will run Android and will be available next year. If anything can be said of this phone it’s that it is real, it is a serious piece of electronics, and yes, someone will probably buy one or one thousand.
I apologize for the sub-par video quality as the guy shooting me was, shall we say, not very good at holding the camera still.
Newly re-engineered to ensure its position at the pinnacle of smart phone design, the Chairman is now available with enhanced specifications. Most notably, the phone’s screen will allow the user to choose which iconic Uylsse Nardin watch he would like to see projected on the home screen, a complement to the iconic mechanical watch rotor which is visible on Chairman models and creates kinetic energy to supply supplemental power to the phone. Compatible with GSM and 3G networks around the globe, the Chairman also offers 32GB of memory, a 3.2’’ touch-screen with thumb print recognition and an 8 megapixel camera. In honor of Ulysse Nardin’s founding year, only 1846 pieces of each Chairman style are available.
