Ulysse Nardin

Interview with Rolf W. Schnyder By Su JiaXian © November 2008 Rolf Willy Schnyder first came to Asia in 1958, when he got a job with Swiss trading firm Diethelm in Bangkok. After a two month journey by ship from Genoa, he arrived in Bangkok and was appoin...  

Interview with Rolf W. Schnyder Part II By Su JiaXian © November 2008 SJX: What do you think of the watch press nowadays? There are so many magazines, on the internet, everywhere. RWS: Far too many. Frankly many of these magazines are just there to make m...  

Thanks SJX and Rolf for the interview. The Sonata is also special to Rolf because the funky see-through hands were at his suggestion. At the beginning, they seemed a bit freaky but eventually, people got used to the better visibility. I remember the first... 

and I still do. BUT I think the silicium Sonata in white gold as on Rolf's wrist, looks terrific. For some reason the grey and blue colours work perfectly despite the awful hands (sorry Mr Schnyder). This is the only Sonata I would wear. - SJX

This message has been edited by amanico on 2008-11-30 06:58:51

The silicium dial looks amazing. I thought it would look tacky and cheap but the colour and reflectiveness of the material look terrific. Don't worry amanico, even though you own two watches with those awful hands, I know you have excellent taste because ... 

Photo a bit dated, but watch is still in my happy hands. Don't you just love those hands, which is why I wanted it so badly. Great interview and wishing much continued success to Rolf and everyone at UN....  

Thanks very much for this great interview, and it was very interesting to hear Mr Schnyder's stories. What did Rolf mean when he said the dial on his Sonata was made of silicium? Did he mean the entire dial? Or just some of the cut out parts of the dial s...  

It looks slightly brown in the photo due to its high reflectiveness, but in actual fact it is the purplish-blue colour of silicon. - SJX

...