Hands-On: NOMOS Club Sport Neomatik 42 Date Black
The NOMOS Club has been a long time favourite of mine from NOMOS. In fact, I’m not quite sure why I still didn’t get one. One of the reasons is perhaps that there’s more than a few to choose from and the collection keeps happily expanding. I’m seemingly forever paralysed by the paradox of choice.
This new Club (ref 781) for the first time ever, comes on NOMOS’ newly developed steel bracelet. This is the first time we see the brand launch a steel bracelet, so we’ll dig a lot deeper in that below. But what caught my eye upon seeing the release specs, was not the bracelet, it was the size. This Club is introduced at 42mm.
Now, anyone familiar with NOMOS watches will certainly agree with me when I say ‘They wear big’. This is mainly due to the very slender case design and slim bezel, which translates in a lot of dial real estate. That visually simply wears bigger than one is generally used to. That is also the reason why on my 6.5” wrist a Tangente 35mm looks better than a Tangente 38mm. With any other brand (excluding perhaps Rolex) 35mm just looks a wee bit small on that size of wrist.
So back to my point, it comes in at 42mm. That raised a very big red flag as soon as I read it. Why oh why would they do that, I thought: “42mm NOMOS will wear like a 45mm Swiss!”. And I know, that the size is the big elephant in the room when talking the bigger sized NOMOS releases, so that’s why I’m starting with my honest take on this. As I said, 42mm is big for a NOMOS for most ‘traditional’ NOMOS clients (used to the smaller sized watches they used to release). And I went to try on this watch fully ready to express my negative feedback regarding the large size they picked for this stunner. Because it is a gorgeous watch indeed.
Now, I tried the watch on, and I can’t quite understand why, but you can look at the pictures for yourself: It wears so good! It must be a blend of the darker dial with perhaps the steel bracelet, I’m not quite sure. But, to all the doubters out there who do like the overall look of this particular Club, I strongly encourage you to go try this watch on. I fell – hard – for this one. On my 6.5” wrist, it looks good, no lug overhang at all, it sits just right. Now on my colleague’s slightly larger wrist, it looked bonkers, somehow I didn’t snap a picture of that. I’d say anyone with a 6.5” wrist and larger is in for a really nice surprise when trying this on. Anyone with a smaller wrist, do not despair, do give it a try first.
The Club is still very much a Club, with that familiar case design and all that. This particular model is currently only available with NOMOS’ thin NEOMATIK movement.
Now, the bracelet. I usually skip this part of most watches, safe the really special ones. This is because bracelets are very often just not that great or well done on most watches. On pictures, it reminds me a bit of the bracelets on watches I’d see on older gentlemen’s wrists as I was growing up. The kind of bracelet that also features a side-effect, an unintended waxing/pulling of any and all wrist hair. This bracelet I can safely tell you, is very nicely done. All proportions worked out, and it wears *super* comfy. It also fits very nicely with the watch. They didn’t go for integrated end links, and I would say that this was a perfect choice.
The Clasp is nicely done as well and lays nice and flat against the bracelet and wrist. Note that the bracelet has a more matte appearance, so not the same polished look as the Club’s case. This may sound odd but in reality I think this was a great choice. All polished wouldn’t have looked as good as the finish they went for in the end. Great call and great bracelet.
Perhaps a quick stop at the dial again. As you’ll note it features a date window. I generally dislike date-windows, as they’re so often and inexplicably badly implemented. This one has it just right and flows nicely with the color of the dial itself. The dial by the way is not a plain color, it instead has a metal sunburst effect happening, it’s beautiful.
This being a club, you know you can take this one diving of course as it is a bit of a toolwatch in the NOMOS range. As you’ll see, the lume has been very nicely and generously applied.
The screw down crown features a little red `alarm` color. If you see the red color, this means you didn’t screw down the crown and your watch is not OK to take swimming – screw down the crown first my friend! A lovely detail.
Overall feeling for this release is very positive across the board. If you are still having second thoughts about the size, just try it on in real life before you decide to write this one off. I believe this one will be flying off the shelves though, perhaps not that easy to find one ready to try on.
SPECS:
CASE
– stainless steel, bipartite
– sapphire crystal glass back
– domed sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating inside and out
WINDING
– automatic
DIMENSIONS
– diameter 42.0 mm
– height 10.2 mm
WATER RESISTANCE
– 30 atm (suitable for diving)
DIAL
– galvanized, black, hour numerals and indexes with white superluminova
– 1000 ft inscription at six o’clock in gold
HANDS
– rhodium-plated, hour and minute hands with superluminova inlay in white
BRACELET
– sport bracelet
42mm does sound enormous for nonos and it’s long lugs. But your shots don’t lie. Will be trying this one out asap – really liking this one.
I truly confirm – the size is fine. I was very much in doubt (and also told them in person at Baselworld when they were doing the reveal), and was instantly proven wrong in my assumption. It wears fine and I believe this will be true for the vast majority of wrists. It would of course be great if it came in a smaller size as well, but they have to take it one step at a time I think.
A fine example of NOMOS at work again. Looks like Baselworld`s most fun releases didn’t necessarily have to come from Switzerland this year…