The Nomos Club Sport neomatik 37 Petrol, Polar watches hands-on

People at Nomos Glshütte’s marketing and communication department know how relevant the so-called “Voice Of Customer” is. The brand prides itself with being the largest Saxon-based watch manufacturer, but it seems production is at full potential according to current waiting list, with the most recently-introduced Club Sport being the rookie of last and present year. While the 42 mils Club Sport hit the spot in its product category, let’s expect the freshly-released 37mm options to extend its success further, according to what we heard and read once the brand took the curtain off these clever new range extenders.

I’m pretty sure Nomos Glashütte’s production facility is ready to increase its manufacturing capabilities to meet additional demand as soon as the renovated, downsized Nomos Club Sport watches hit the stores. On a different note, I couldn’t avoid highlighting that the first-ever full-steel luxury sports watch by Nomos wasn’t engineered and sketched from the ground up but – unlike its competitors’ offerings – it’s a reasonable and thought-out evolution of several on-the-shelf sources of inspiration and design concepts.

Nomos Glashütte has released not one but two 37 mm variants of the Club Sport; once the brand’s embargo was over, enthusiasts heated social media up, as did the sales network whose representatives can’t wait to get their stock and extend the orders’ list. Positive comments, direct messages, and tons of likes prove the 37 mils Club Sport received an overwhelming welcome that we all celebrated while attending the first international Nomos Glashütte Forum in Glashütte; set the event mentioned above on your calendar since the Forum will gather industry experts and press media every year, moving forward.

Five millimetres in case size mark a difference so huge it’s not devising to talk a whole new sub-collection; here is the lower threshold of a product offering whose space in between leaves room for new models; we won’t be surprised, therefore, to discover a new model placed somewhere in between 37 mm and 42 mm add to the line up anytime soon.

Change one primary ingredient, and your recipe will end up being a new one, no doubt. The product launch comes with a renovated brand’s communication strategy whose centrepiece is the Saxon “savoir-faire” by means of short, high-quality macro videos where the newly-appointed “made in Glashütte” foothold goes under the loupe.

Let’s quickly delve into product description: the new Nomos Club Sport 37 is a less-frills take on an already no-frills watch, whose early take out is no date window. This choice is a call to action for purists and comes with an even-thinner case design and a pure symmetrical dial layout.

Here is where the new Club Sport 37 stands out: while Nomos is synonymous with bold, vivid tones, the new, unexpected ones add sophistication to the ubiquitous sunray finish: there’s a new blue called Polar Blue you won’t confuse with 42 Club Sport’s Navy Blue, plus the eye-catching new Petrol or Petrol Green. I’ll pick the latter, which I reckon is the talking piece.

With the massive case reduction comes – it seems – a spec-down diving performance in the shape of a 200-meter water resistance. Yet I wouldn’t talk technical downsizing here; 200 meters of water resistance are more than enough to stand the test of daily, four-season usage, and I can’t deny I never understood why the brand equipped a no-diving watch with professional diving capabilities, even more so without providing it with a unidirectional rotating bezel. The 37 Club Sport looks and feels more like a sports watch with a recreational diving attitude instead.

There’s no downsizing at all, too, as you’ll unscrew the case back; not only the original Club Sport 42’s DUW 6101 can’t fit the tinier 37mm case, but the date disc is nothing short of useless; instead, you’ll keep relying on a neomatik movement being the smaller (and no-date) DUW 3001 manufactured calibre. The new case welcomes a record-setting 8,3 mm making the 10,2-thick Nomos Club Sport 42 look “huge” in comparison, thus placing the Club Sport 37 into ultra-flat watch territory.

Price list being price list, a 37 Club Sport will shave 700 Euro off the price tag. The new Nomos Club Sport 37 retails – like for like – for 2,480 Euros instead of 3,120 Euros, marking a 20% off. Add 100 Euros, and you’ll get the integrated thin-link Sport bracelet. Such size, however, requires a less-than-19 mm large wrist; here is why we need something in between to square things off and prove that a no-date Club Sport 39 might rank as the ultimate Club Sport.

(Photo credit: Horbiter®)

Editorial team @Horbiter®