In honor of World’s Ocean Day this week, Ulysse Nardin has launched its latest aquatic-inspired timepiece, the new Diver Lemon Shark. The watch is a yellow-accented, limited-edition version of the nautically rooted brand’s entry-level Diver 42mm, first launched in 2018, its name and colorway derived from the shark species that inspired it. The Lemon Shark is the latest watch with a charitable component released by Ulysse Nardin since the Diver Deep Dive “One More Wave” — unveiled in Fall 2019 prior to the onset of the pandemic — and, interestingly, the last watch from the brand to also feature black with yellow accents.
The Lemon Shark was first teased at the start of this month at a press event in the Florida Keys, where Ulysse Nardin debuted the model alongside two partner organizations: OCEARCH, a nonprofit that helps scientists collect and access difficult ocean data such as shark population information; and Florida International University and its Medina Aquarius Program, leaders in ocean research specifically in regards to shark studies. Ulysse Nardin has taken ocean preservation, and more specifically shark preservation, as a key sustainability initiative in recent years, and with this new model strives to showcase the work of its partner organizations.
The watch’s 42-mm, black-DLC-coated steel case is water resistant to 300 meters and designed in the same sporty style seen in previous Diver 42mm watches. Interestingly, despite its relatively stately dimensions, the watch is nonetheless quite wearable on even smaller wrists, its lug-to-lug width somewhat shorter than on most dive watches and the case height by no means overbearing.
The sporty sleekness of the watch is further accentuated by its matte black colorway, which provides the stage for the contrasting, small yellow accents seen on the strap, crown, and bezel. The bezel itself is one of the most interesting parts of the each, featuring large teeth to assist in its uni-directional ratcheting operation and produced in a concave shape with textured lines — a signature look for the brand. The case as a whole is secured to the wrist via a black R-STRAP, which is produced from used fishing nets collected in France; the strap uses an uncommon Velcro “scratch” closure system, partially secured via a small metal component produced from recycled titanium.
Peering underneath the sapphire crystal, we discover a sandblasted, matte black dial, which like the bezel and the strap is accented sparingly with touches of a highly visible yellow. Along the outermost edge, the first spot of this color is located, with a thin bright ring serving as the outline to the highly legible face. On the main dial, applied and lume-filled markers are placed at each hour, connected via a simple yellow minute ring contrasting with the dark background upon which they are printed.
A subtle, rounded date window sits unobtrusively at 6 o’clock, with the name of the watch and the brand’s founding year printed just above it, while Ulysse Nardin’s logo occupies the 12 o’clock position. All of these details are swept over by a pair of large, lume-filled hands for the passing hours and minutes, while a lollipop-tipped yellow pointer counts the running seconds.
Ticking inside the Lemon Shark is the Caliber UN-816, which is based upon the reliable Sellita SW300 movement and is the same movement put to use in each of the previous Diver 42mm models. The automatic mechanism is capable of a 42-hour power reserve, beats at a frequency of 28,800 vph, and is protected behind a solid caseback engraved with three mean-looking lemon sharks.
Overall, the launch of the Lemon Shark is especially notable when placed in the context of Ulysse Nardin’s other releases over the course of late 2020 and early 2021, many of which have been on the more luxurious side — the UFO table clock, Blast Hourstriker, Diver X Skeleton (below) and two different Freak X models, to name just a few. With the Lemon Shark, the brand once again unveils a model closer to its entry-level price point — albeit still above $7,000 and limited in production — indicating that Ulysse Nardin perhaps still sees its bread-and-butter sales in the sub-$10,000 price point.
The Ulysse Nardin Diver Lemon Shark is available now, set to be produced in a limited run of 300 editions, and priced at $7,300.
To learn more about the new watch, visit Ulysse Nardin, here.
To learn more about OCEARCH, click here.
And to learn more about FIU, click here.
Now Ulysse Nardin has joined Blancpain as the most caring and virtuous watch manufacturers.
A good looking and impressive watch and the engraved shark case back is so much better than a sapphire case back.
A nice looking watch but again here’s an example of a watch company owned by a larger conglomerate charging above a premium (and calling it entry level, ha), for pretty much a standard issue dive watch with a Sellita movement. It defies logic.
I have the “standard” 42mm UN Diver.
The quality is superb and the movement sounds much much better when winded or changing the date than any other Selitta I’ve had (say Oris, Sinn).
Also it has “silicone” escapement added by UN. I paid just above $5k for it new and agree there’s premium, but there’s nothing I’ve seen that has the same design and build quality.