Not all images were able to load for printing. Please close the print window and try again. A Closer Look At The Nomos Ahoi Neomatik 38 Date Sky And Sand
Classical time-and-date watches, with a twist.
Colour is all the rage these days as many brands like to play around with different tones for the dial or hands and sometimes even the cases. Nomos is no stranger to this and has regularly shown its colourful side with watches like the Club Campus with a vibrant pink dial. The brand is also celebrated for its minimalistic Bauhaus-inspired design ethos, and the latest watches from Nomos neatly combine these two elements. The new Ahoi Neomatik 38 Date Sky and Sand might have a subtle splash of colour, but look rather cool nonetheless. Let’s have a closer look!
The Ahoi range is one of the longstanding collections within Nomos’ portfolio, easily recognized for its simple yet striking case design. The collection can be broken down into two sub-collections; the Ahoi, and the Ahoi Neomatik. The difference between the two comes down to the movement, which I’ll explain in a bit. The fully polished case, measuring 38.5mm in diameter, is quite compact as it comes in at 9.8mm with a closed caseback. Opt for the sapphire crystal caseback, and this increases to 9.9mm.
The lugs are very slender and angular, a signature design element for the Ahoi which is also found on the Tangente. The drilled holes make swapping straps a relative breeze, just be careful not to make scratches! What sets the Ahoi apart from other collections by Nomos is the stout crown guard protruding from the right-hand side of the case. A practical little touch is a red ring around the stem of the screw-down crown, visible only when unscrewed. This is to signal the watch is at risk of being damaged on the inside, as water can now enter the case. Screw the crown back into place and you can again rely on its robust 200m water resistance.
Now, let’s move to the dial, or rather both dials as the Sky & Sand editions differ in colour. The Sky has a light blue tone, and the Sand comes in a light brown colour. Where one has a uniformly finished blue dial, the other has a finely grained texture, actually mimicking the look of sand on a beach. Both dials have black printed Arabic numerals at even hours and fine markers at odd ones.
Time is indicated with simple but effective hour and minute hands with a luminous insert. There’s a classical snailed small seconds subdial at 6’ with a playfully orange lacquered hand. The final bit of information, other than the logo and the designation these are in fact Neomatik watches, is the date, which can be seen through the large window at 3’.
Coming back to the movement, it’s the name Neomatik that makes all the difference. It refers to a family of movements made in-house by Nomos and comes in date or no-date configurations. The movement has a very slim construction, resulting in the typically slender build of Nomos’ watches. The DUW 6101 movement inside the Ahoi Neomatik 38 Date cleverly puts the date wheel outside the movement instead of on top of it. This keeps the height of the movement down to just 3.6mm.
The date can be adjusted in both directions, which is very practical should you have to set it again. No need to go through 29 dates you don’t need, in order to land on the correct one. It also comes with the Nomos Swing System, the brand’s own variation of the Swiss Lever Escapement found in most mechanical watch movements. The movement is covered by either a closed caseback, or a sapphire crystal one, revealing details such as the Glashütte ribbing, perlage, sunburst polishing and heat-blued screws.
One of Nomos’ strong points is the price at which it can do all this. These fun and well-built watches retail for EUR 3,520 with a closed caseback or EUR 3,820 with an open one. For this, you get either a dark blue or mid-grey textile strap with a Nomos Wing buckle in steel. The only complaint I had was the fact the strap was a touch too short for me, but luckily, Nomos offers various strap sizes for the Ahoi Neomatik 38 Date (as well as other models).
Regardless, both look very cool on and off the wrist and if I were to pick one it would be the Sand with an open caseback. There’s just something cool about being able to admire that very impressive movement that keeps you on time wherever you go, whatever you do. And to be fair, 3,5 to 4 thousand euros is a good chunk of money but I still feel it’s good value for money. Both models look great, are robust but not chunky or overpowering and are mechanically very sound!
For more information, please visit Nomos-Glashuette.com
