Is the Nomos Glashütte Club Sport Neomatik 42 the new value rival of the Rolex Datejust?
Zach BlassNomos are known for their distinctive Bauhaus designs that are immediately distinguishable from across a crowded room. When the Nomos Club Sport Neomatik 42 made its way into my feed, however, I immediately clocked its new bracelet and was confounded by what I saw (in a good way). Nomos, with their new bracelet design, has introduced a bit of familiarity in their Club Sport Neomatik 42 through a new three-piece link bracelet. When you consider its specifications and case/dial aesthetics alongside this new, yet familiar, bracelet design, it begs the question: is the Nomos Glashütte Club Sport Neomatik 42 the perfect Datejust alternative? Let’s walk through the watch and find out…
As a “sport” watch it is fittingly executed in stainless steel. But since this watch is within the Club collection, it maintains its “daily dress” aesthetic with a robust mirror-polished case. The Club Sport ups the ante, in relation to other Club collection models, leveraging a larger mirror-polished case that is rated to depths up to 300m – a depth rating on par with a Rolex Submariner. The depth rating is further backed by a screw-down crown, which has a red stem that, when visible, reveals to the wearer the crown is not fully screwed down. Its dimensions clock in at 42mm in diameter, a slender 10.2mm thick, with a lug-to-lug some may find intimidating of 52.3mm across the wrist. In my opinion this is really the only Achilles’ heel of an otherwise near-perfect watch for my tastes.
As an owner of a bright blue dial Datejust 36, based on the photos and videos on the Nomos website, I feel quite safe in saying the colour is approximately the same – perhaps a tad darker. An outer minutes track frames a set of alternating hour arabics and indices, which like the central hours and minutes hands are filled with SuperLuminova® for added visibility in darkness. At 3’ a calendar complication seamlessly blends into the dial with a white on blue date disc, and the sub-seconds register at 6 o’clock adds a contrasting concentric texture to distinguish it from the sunburst backdrop.
Prior to this new bracelet, very few Nomos design elements have seemed to be influenced by other brand’s watches. It blends their Bauhaus sensibilities with the comfort food of bracelet designs: the three-piece link. With its centre polished link and brushed shoulder links, it undoubtedly serves up Oyster bracelet vibes. Sure, it is not as creative as Nomos’ previous sport bracelet, but honestly I was not a huge fan of that aesthetic. By at least offering a more familiar three-link bracelet, consumers have agency to choose which end of the spectrum works better for them. For me, this new bracelet really elevates the watch as a competitor against its peers.
In-house movements are not particularly common at the sub $4K price point, but Nomos delivers what most do not. The in-house built caliber DUW 6101 is visible beneath a sapphire caseback, well-decorated with Glashütte stripes and blued screws. You have a robust caliber with a full balance bridge, which offers a solid 42 hours of power reserve. Not record-breaking, but as a daily driver the inevitable wear time will keep the watch powered. One distinguishing aspect of this movement is Nomos’ patented date mechanism, which incredibly prevents you from damaging the calendar complication. Here, the so-called “danger zone” of the caliber, usually from 9pm to 3am, is halved to 11 pm to 1 am. And even if you attempt to set the date during the “danger zone”, the date will not change and no damage will occur to the movement.
If 52.3mm lug-to-lug does not frighten you, then the Datejust 41 comparison really holds up for the most part. You have the same format of case and bracelet finishing, versatile blue sunburst dial, and three times the water-resistance at 300m. Where the Nomos Club Sport Neomatik 42 does not stack up as well is through its in-house automatic caliber with 42 hours of power reserve instead of the 70 hours offered by Rolex’s 3235 (nor does it match up to its Superlative Chronometer accuracy). The Datejust 41 also has a more compact measurement across the wrist lug-to-lug. But keep in mind, at $3,960 USD versus the baseline Datejust 41 cost of $7,650 USD, the Nomos is nearly half the price. My verdict: it is definitely a viable alternative to the Rolex Datejust, but were this watch to be developed in a 40mm case under 50mm lug-to-lug it would be a near-perfect value proposition for all to consider.
Nomos Club Sport Neomatik 42 pricing and availability:
The Nomos Club Sport Neaomatik 42 is available to purchase now via Nomos and authorised dealers worldwide. Price: $3,960 USD