Ulysse Nardin has unveiled its latest in a long line of timepieces that honor the brand’s nautical tradition with the North Sea Minute Repeater. This watch contains one of the most technically difficult complications in watchmaking behind a breathtakingly realistic depiction of the North Sea’s iconic oil rigs, rendered in gold and champlevé enamel. Deftly marrying form and function, three 18-karat gold cranes function as jaquemarts, moving in concert with the crisp, clear chimes of the minute repeater to indicate the hour, quarter-hour, and minute when activated. The svelte hour and minute hands point to understated black indexes, allowing the meticulously detailed structure of the rig to take center stage. What’s more, the dramatic palette of the obsidian waves and blood red sky against which the triumphant champlevé rig is set makes for a stirring homage to the extraction industry as well as a bold but elegant declaration of style.