Ulysse Nardin Grand Deck Marine Tourbillon: the dial miniaturizes elements of the deck of a classic racing yacht, including a wood deck, winches, lines and a mainsail boom. A blued aluminum minutes hand represents the boom, the horizontal spar used to angle the mainsail on a racing boat. It swings down from the 12 o’clock position, sweeping across a retrograde minutes scale that extends from 3 to 6 o’clock. It is literally pulled across the scale by strong high-tech fibers that wrap around two “rigging screws” and two pinions designed to resemble – and function as – the winches on the deck of a racing yacht. The winches use a drive gear, a spiral tensioning spring, and two lock pins to “tack” the boom. The lines are thinner than a human hair, measuring 0.0357 mm in diameter, and are capable of withstanding traction of 1.41 kg (about 3.10 pounds) without stretching. They are made of polyethylene Dyneema®, a fiber used in ship’s rigging that is many times stronger than steel. Once the boom reaches the 60-minute position, it jumps back to zero in about 4 seconds – a delay that is calibrated with a special regulator that maintains the accuracy of the minutes. The mechanism is linked to a flying tourbillon in the manual-wound Caliber UN-630, which is made up of 469 components and has a frequency of 3 Hz and a 48-hour power reserve. _____ #UlysseNardin #Baselworld2016 #SwissWatches (at Munich, Germany)