Back to the Future - 15 Days with the Nomos Club Campus - Part 1

One of the great things about writing a blog about watches is that you get to find out first hand what a certain watch is like IN REAL LIFE.  I got a chance to check out the new Nomos collections at BaselWorld back in March.  And sometimes the lack of sleep, poor food and beverage choices and relentless pace of appointments all combine to give you a better impression of a watch than you would normally have in the cold light of day.  This was NOT one of those times!

I saw a lot of watches, and the one that really stuck with me was the Club Campus.  It was, admittedly, the smallest of the new Club pieces on offer, but I said at the time that in many ways, this version was the perfect watch for most men (and women).  And that continued to be my opinion during the first few days of the review.  

As you can see, the Club Campus covers the space on my hairy wrist quite well.  The face is clear and easy to read, and owing to the longer lugs, it is the perfect amount of "wrist coverage" for me.  And then I thought, maybe it might not be such a bad idea to get a woman's perspective on this one.  And so, without further pause, I give you Wendy Henderson's impressions -

Many a timepiece has crossed the threshold of the Henki home over the last several years in relation to Tempus Fugit's 15-day review. All have been interesting, many simply stunning- and saying goodbye to some has been immensely difficult.  As with so many things however, when there is so much abundance, it is hard sometimes to distinguish one from the other or for one to stand out from the rest of the crowd.  This is not to cast aspersions on the brand or the piece; it's simply that unless you are a true aficionado, it's just not always easy to appreciate the movement or dial or design the same way. 

On the other hand (no pun intended)...there are those which just sing to us.  Something intangible draws us in and it's pretty much love-at-first-sight.  And so it was for me and the Nomos.  I love the clean lines (very Mid-Century Modern) and simple design,  the color scheme, the band, the weight, the look and the feel.  This is a watch for everyday, a truly elegant little piece that makes me smile every time I look at it- and I look at it often! (Poor James hasn't had much opportunity to 'review' it since it's barely left my wrist; a sure sign I am in a slight state of lust here!) Incredibly comfortable- and legible- there is nothing to distract the eye.  Just a clever little quirk of the indices and an overabundance of class.  If Hans Wegner or the Eames' were designing a timepiece, I think this would be it. And as with all things MCM, I have no doubt this little gem will stand the test of time.

 

Saying goodbye will be exceedingly hard...

 

And yes, gentle reader, I did manage to recover the Club Campus and complete the review ; )

I have already mentioned the size, and to reiterate, it is actually what I would call Goldilocks size - JUST RIGHT.  This is contrary to what most would have to say, but believe it or not, at 36 mm in diameter, the Club Campus is PLENTY big for most guys.  The one variance for some (and possibly me) is that the owner might opt for a longer strap, and I do know that these are available in the standard leather, and I am not sure if the velour straps will be offered in longer sizes.  And in fairness, I get it.  The velour straps, by and large, are more of a style preference you might expect in a watch targeted more specifically for women.  Now having said that, the velour and leather strap accommodates even my wrist passing comfortably through both loops with room to spare -

And I have to say that it is a fantastic pairing with this smaller, but mighty timekeeper. 

Courtesy of Nomos Glashutte

And now I will pause as I have students waiting for me and class begins in less than an hour!  But I will be back to wrap this up with part 2 in approximately 7 hours - stay tuned!

The Graduate's Club

It's like I was playing some kind of game, but the rules don't make any sense to me. They're being made up by all the wrong people. I mean no one makes them up. They seem to make themselves up. 
Dustin Hoffman as Benjamin Braddock in the Graduate

I like NOMOS, have done so pretty much since jump street.  And while the last few years they have put out some nice pieces, I was waiting for a return to the heady days when they put out the  Wempe 100.  Some color, some whimsy, something DIFFERENT.

And NOMOS delivered on several counts this year, and for me at least proved to be one of the high points of BaselWorld.  But for today, I'm focusing on something for the entry level, something that is a very, very welcome addition - the Campus.

Courtesy of Nomos

And regular readers, fear not!  I had the steady camera of Rod Hess along to ensure that the images would live up to the watches.

Courtesy of Rod Hess

The Campus is available in 3 different versions:

The Club 38 Campus:

Courtesy of NOMOS

Case: stainless steel, bipartite; curved 
sapphire crystal glass and screwed steel 
back; diameter 38.5 mm; height 8.45 mm 

Dial: galvanized, white silver-plated
Roman and Arabic hour numerals and indexes 
with superluminova blue

Hands: rhodium-plated hour and minute hands with 
superluminova inlay; neon- orange seconds hand 

Water-resistant: to 10 atm (100 meters)  

Strap: anthracite velour leather, 
lug width
20 mm
 
Reference number: 735

The movement

α (Alpha)—in-house built NOMOS caliber
with manual winding

Diameter: 10 1⁄2 lines (23.3 mm)  

Movement height: 2.6 mm Power reserve: approx. 43 hours 

Characteristics: decentralized seconds, stop-seconds mechanism, 
Glashütte three-quarter plate, 17 rubies, Glashütte stopwork, 
Incabloc shock protection, balance spring from Nivarox 1A, 
adjusted in six positions, tempered blue screws, rhodium-plated 
movement surfaces with Glashütte ribbing and NOMOS perlage, 
ratchet and crown wheel with Glashütte sunburst decoration

$1,650


The Club 38 Campus Nacht:

Courtesy of NOMOS

Case: stainless steel, bipartite; curved 
sapphire crystal glass and screwed steel 
back; diameter 38.5 mm; height 8.45 mm 

Dial: galvanized, rhuthenium-plated; 
Roman and Arabic hour numerals and 
indexes with superluminova beige

Hands: rhodium-plated hour and minute 
hands with superluminova inlay; neon- 
orange seconds hand

Water-resistant: to 10 atm (100 meters)  

Strap: anthracite velour leather, lug width
20 mm
 
Reference number: 736

 

The movement
 
α (Alpha)—in-house built NOMOS caliber
with manual winding

Diameter: 10 1⁄2 lines (23.3 mm)  

Movement height: 2.6 mm  

Power reserve: approx. 43 hours 

Characteristics: decentralized seconds, 
stop-seconds mechanism, Glashütte 
three-quarter plate, 17 rubies, Glas-
hütte stopwork, Incabloc shock protec-
tion, balance spring from Nivarox 1A, 
adjusted in six positions, tempered blue 
screws, rhodium-plated movement 
surfaces with Glashütte ribbing and 
NOMOS perlage, ratchet and crown 
wheel with Glashütte sunburst decoration 

$1,650

And my personal favorite - 

The Club Campus:

Courtesy of NOMOS

Case: stainless steel, bipartite; curved 
sapphire crystal glass and screwed steel 
back; diameter 36 mm; height 8.17 mm 

Dial: galvanized, white silver-plated; Ro- 
man and Arabic hour numerals and in- 
dexes with superluminova gray 

Hands: rhodium-plated hour and minute 
hands with superluminova inlay; neon- 
orange seconds hand 

Water-resistant: to 10 atm (100 meters)  

Strap: gray velour leather, lug width
18 mm
 
Reference number: 708

The movement

α (Alpha)—in-house built NOMOS caliber
with manual winding

Diameter: 10 1⁄2 lines (23.3 mm)  

Movement height: 2.6 mm Power reserve: approx. 43 hours

Characteristics: decentralized seconds, 
stop-seconds mechanism, Glashütte 
three-quarter plate, 17 rubies, Glas- 
hütte stopwork, Incabloc shock protec- 
tion, balance spring from Nivarox 1A, 
adjusted in six positions, tempered blue 
screws, rhodium-plated movement 
surfaces with Glashütte ribbing and 
NOMOS perlage, ratchet and crown 
wheel with Glashütte sunburst decoration

And the price?  $1,500!!!

Each one has a solid case back so that it can be engraved - something I really love!

Courtesy of NOMOS

Now I'm not entirely sure who Max is, but I do appreciate the opportunity for sentimentality.  Ultimately, when you give someone a watch, or when they buy it to mark a milestone, shouldn't they want to add that little touch that underscores the connection, the feelings attached to it?

 
Interesting to relate, the 36 mm version is, in fact, plenty big, even on my paw, thanks to the design of the case and the length of the lugs -

 And no, Rod Hess (sadly) did not take this photo ; )

And about that California dial?  Well, NOMOS wouldn't be NOMOS if they did things the same way as everyone else.  Lower section, alternating with indices.  It is different, and it is clever.


More to come!

 

The Shit That Killed Elvis!

From NOMOS -

Courtesy of NOMOS

NOMOS has a way of constantly drawing me back, and one of their latest offerings, the Club Campus 36.

Courtesy of NOMOS

While two years ago the "BaselWorld Trend" was for bloggers with beards like untrimmed hedges, the trend this year is clearly for smaller, more reasonable watches.  And the Club Campus 36 is by far and away my favorite BaselWorld watch so far this year.

36 mm is, believe it or not, quite sizable.  The dial is a unique take on the so-called California dial.  On a typical version, the Romans are in the "northern portion" and the "numbers" are to the south.  But at NOMOS they like to do things a wee bit differently.

The movement is my personal favorite - the Alpha.  I am a sucker for a hand wound movement I guess ; )

I hope to go more in depth with this little bijoux if and when a review becomes possible, but for now, I think I might have found the watch of the fair!

But tomorrow is another day...


Enjoy your watches!

NOMOS Lambda Roségold

Courtesy of NOMOS Glashutte 

The Alpha Movement - Where it All Began

So with three days under my belt, it seemed a good time to have a closer look "under the hood". 

First Post Revisited - Where it all begins

I looked up the other day and realized that in a little over two years I had accumulated more than 1000 posts!  So it seemed as good a time as any to hop in the "way-back" machine and revisit the very first post.  You know, sort of bringing it all back home -

This post originally ran on June 29th, 2010


Courtesy of NOMOS Glashütte

Time is fleeting. To measure it is a nearly futile protest against its inevitable forward momentum. How do we measure time? The folks at Nomos have been good enough to share some images and some stories. The watch pictured above is the Nomos Tangente. I have always been obsessed by this watch. Beyond the obvious - i.e. the design, I had always found the name quite evocative - Tangente. I had always believed that the name had a design reference. As if Mies himself had lent a hand (albeit from the great beyond) in the design of this great watch. It was only many years later when traveling through Switzerland with my German speaking boss that it was explained to me. The name Tangente had nothing to do with design. In fact, the Tangente was named for the roadways that you must travel in your car on a daily basis in Germany. At first I was a bit bummed out. But then I thought about the genius of this name. I have been smiling ever since.

A visit to Glashutte by way of Basel

I am always curious what Nomos will have to share each year, and this year was lucky to get a meeting with Ute Fischer-Graf to check it out in person.

Nomos has moved to a much bigger space and I have to say that it is a very impressive booth.

Over a coffee I was introduced to a watch that I had seen from a distance, but never in person -

Courtesy of NOMOS

This is the Tangomat GMT Plus.  I will be very forthright and honest here, gentle readers - I did not want to like it.  For me, the Tangente is the original, accept no substitute, blah, blah, blah.  And yet, I must say having spent some time getting to know this timekeeper, I really DO like it!

www.glashuette.com