Nomos Introduces The Club Sport Neomatik In A New Size — Inspired By A Different Kind Of Indian Summer
Almost a year ago, Nomos introduced the 37mm version of its Club Sport Neomatik. It came as a more mid-sized companion to the 42mm size already in the collection. Now, the brand from Glashütte is introducing yet another size with a new 39.5mm case. Each of the sizes has exclusive to choose from. The 42mm version comes in black and dark blue, and the 37mm comes in green and a lighter shade of blue. The press release says that the “tabac,” “ember,” and “smoke” dials of the new Club Sport Neomatik 39 take inspiration from an Indian summer. But I think it’s a different kind of Indian summer than I expected.
Image: TECON GmbH
After high school, I spent a year living in Canada, and there, everyone understands the notion of an Indian summer. I learned that it’s about the sunny, warm days of autumn, during which the green, orange, and yellow leaves make for a wonderful spectacle. Using that as the baseline, I formulated a mental image. Oddly, though, the names of these new Nomos Club Sport dials didn’t match. So I started searching for links between “Indian summer” and these new Nomos colors, and I think I found one. Now I think that Nomos is referring to the Indian Summer brand of pipe tobacco instead of the sunny days of autumn. Let’s take a closer look.
Tabac, ember, and smoke
I’m not a smoker myself, let alone a pipe smoker, but our Fratello Shop manager Laurits is. From him, I learned that the glowing tobacco inside a pipe is called an “ember.” So that convinces me that, together with the tobacco and smoke dial colors, the new Nomos Club Sport 39 gets its inspiration from pipe smoking. Let’s start with the tobacco because that’s where the pipe smoker starts as well. Just like all three versions, it has a galvanized sunburst dial. Its very dark brown color indeed reminds me of the color of tobacco — you can almost smell it when you look at it.
Then, we get to the next step of smoking the pipe, which is lighting the tobacco. That’s when the tobacco turns into an ember as it starts glowing bright orange. I haven’t seen this ember color in person yet, but it seems a bit less vibrant than what I would expect from red-hot tobacco. And finally, we get to the smoke that comes off of that glowing ember. This is, of course, white/gray, and I think that’s very well represented by the sunburst gray dial on the smoke version of the Club Sport 39.
The sub-seconds dial at 6 o’clock has a snail texture, and just like the 37mm version, the Club Sport 39 lacks a date window. The numerals, indices, and hands all have an application of white Super-LumiNova, which has a blue glow in the dark.
The new 39.5mm case size
Now we get to the case of this new size within the Club Sport family. In fact, it’s not really 39mm but 39.5mm in diameter and it measures 49.5mm from lug to lug. That’s right in between the lug-to-lug measurements of the 37 and 42mm versions, which are 47.7 and 52.3mm, respectively. In addition, the bracelet has male end links, so those will make the lug span even a little longer. In total, that’s somewhat above average for a 39.5mm watch, and that’s exactly what we’re used to from Nomos.
What we’re also used to is that fully polished case of the Club Sport. It comes with a push-pull crown and is advertised to be able to handle pressure up to 20 ATM. Depending on whether you order the watch with an all-steel or steel/sapphire screw-in case back, the watch will have a thickness of either 8.4 or 8.5mm. That’s almost the same as the 37mm version of the Club Sport, which makes it a very slim and slender watch. The quick-release Oyster-style bracelet is the same satin-brushed and polished one that also comes on the other sizes of the Club Sport.
The Nomos Neomatik movement
Powering the three new versions is Nomos’s in-house DUW 3001 Neomatik movement. Predictably, that’s the same as the one in the 37mm version, which explains the similar case thickness. It’s a very slim (3.2mm) automatic caliber that holds a power reserve of up to 43 hours. It also comes with Nomos’s proprietary escapement, the swing system. The movement has 27 jewels, it runs at 21,600vph, and its rotor winds in both directions.
What do you think?
In a time when fewer and fewer people smoke, I think it’s surprising that Nomos uses pipe smoking as an inspiration for its dial colors. And even though I think the ember version doesn’t come close to the real thing, I do like these earthy tones. As I said, I haven’t seen them in person yet, but I’m very curious to see what they look like on the wrist. If I had to choose a favorite now, based on the renders, I think I’d go for the beige and gold tones of the ember version.
The Nomos Club Sport Neomatik 39 in tabac, ember, and smoke is available now for €3,120. Based on the price of the other sizes, I suspect this is the price with the display case back. The one with the stainless steel case back will probably cost somewhere around €300 less than that. For more information on these new watches, please check out the official Nomos website.
What do you think of the pipe-smoking-inspired new trio of the Nomos Club Sport Neomatik? Let me know in the comments below.
