Nodus Retrospect III Review

As mentioned before, one of my favorite things about running Hourstriker is getting to know brands and spend time with watches I typically would not. When we first started the site we compiled a list of just over 200 watches brands from various sites to form the backbone of brands we were going to cover on the site. I’d say over my 20 years in the watch industry I was familiar with two thirds of them. One of the brands I was not familiar with was Nodus.

Nodus was started in 2017 in Los Angeles California by Wesley Kwok and Cullen Chen. Instead of going the tried and true method of launching a watch brand via Kickstarter, Kwok and Chen poured their life savings into Nodus. They relied heavily on the Asian supply chain for various parts while designing and assembling their watches in the United States.



Being watch enthusiasts themselves, they knew what other watch collectors were looking for in their watches and focused in on a tool watch aesthetic with fine finishing. Los Angeles is their home and a bit of the California spirit is found in all of their watches. The California lifestyle is based on the outdoors, so it is no surprise that the bulk of their collection consists of divers, field and sports watches.

The model we’ll be taking a closer look at today is one of their divers, the Retrospect III. When it comes to divers watches, pretty much everything has been done and most modern divers watches take design elements from either the Rolex Submariner or Blancpain Fifty Fathoms. Very rarely is there an out of leftfield diver like the Ulysse Nardin Diver X Skeleton we looked at a few weeks ago.



With the Retrospect III Nodus admits that they have taken inspiration from vintage divers, but not the usual culprits of the Submariner or Fifty Fathoms. For the Retrospect III they took inspiration in the lesser known divers of Gruen Ocean Chief, Rado Captain Cook and Breitling SuperOcean.

From the Ocean Chief and SuperOcean, Nodus took inspiration in the inward sloping bezel found on the early models. Gruen was also an American watchmaker and was known for final assembly and regulation being done in the Unites States just like Nodus. Other design elements like the indices, case and bezel were influenced by the Captain Cook and SuperOcean. We’ve all seen a million Submariner clones, so it’s nice the Nodus took inspiration from some of the outliers and is very upfront about it.



After unboxing the Retrospect III the first thing that caught my eye was the matte black bezel. I’m used to seeing shiny aluminum, ceramic and sapphire bezels, but it’s very rare to come across a matte bezel. The previous version of the Retrospect came with a ceramic bezel, but for the Retrospect III Nodus picked to go with a DLC treated bezel. The matte finish really gives the watch a distinctive look and also adds nice contrast to the bezel markings.

Naturally the next thing you’ll probably notice about the Retrospect III is the dark grey to black gradient sun ray dial. Depending on the light and angle you have the watch at, the dial can appear completely black or even seem brown in some lighting. One interesting aspect to the design of the dial on the Retrospect III is the sandwich dial construction. The dial is stacked on a lower plate of Super Luminova that not only gives the dial some nice depth, but also provides ample lume. This style of dial probably is most well known as being used on various Panerai references.



Along with the indices, the hour and minute hands as well as the tip of the seconds hand have matching Super Luminova. The markings on the bezel also have the same matching lume. The markers have a pale yellow appearance in daylight and glow a brilliant green in low light situations. There is a Nodus logo at 12 o’clock and Retrospect text at 6 o’clock. Also at 6 o’clock is a color matched date window.

Picking up the watch shows off a nice party trick that the Retrospect III brings to the table. While the watch has a diameter or 42 mm, that’s actually the measurement of the bezel and not the case. The bezel extends over the case by 2 mm, so the case of the Retrospect III actually measures in at 40 mm. The reason Nodus did this was to add some protection to the crown with the overhanging bezel. I’ve seen this on a few watches, but the execution here seems a little more obvious than others. There are no crown guards on the Retrospect III, so this is a nice addition for practicality on top of an interesting design choice.



For being a serious divers watch with 200 meters of water resistance, the Retrospect III is a fairly thin 13 mm. The crown and solid caseback are both screw down adding to the mental insurance needed when taking a watch down on a dive. Although we didn’t have a chance to get the Retrospect III wet, with its construction and how bright it glows in low light, we’d imagine it would be a great companion on shallow to medium depth dives.

Talking about the caseback, the Retrospect III has a solid caseback with information about the watch engraved around the outer edge. The bulk of the caseback is blank though, leaving us a little underwhelmed. It does offer an amazing area for engraving, but I feel most people don’t engrave their watches these days. I think it would have been super cool for Nodus to maybe embrace their Los Angeles roots and add a specific LA inspired design here. Maybe change the engraving for each iteration of the Retrospect.



Nodus does go a bit up market with the lugs though, with them being fully drilled. The lugs measure a standard 22 mm, meaning that the Retrospect III can accept a host of aftermarket straps. I think the watch would be pretty sick on a nice beefy black rubber strap. With its vintage inspiration, it would look rather fetching on a Tropic strap as well.

The Retrospect III is fitted with a stainless steel bracelet with a quick release system. Each end of the bracelet has dual levers to quickly remove the bracelet. The bracelet is a three piece style and once again going up market has screwed in pins. At this price point, you’d typically see tension pins, so the screwed in pins was a very nice addition. It did take some trial and error to get the bracelet sized to my wrist, so having screws was most appreciated by me.



The bracelet of the Retrospect III does taper from 22 mm at the lugs down to 18 mm at the clasp. The clasp does have a double release, which ensures that bumping the clasp on something won’t open the clasp by mistake. There is also a button under the clasp that allows the bracelet to advance or retract to a few locking positions of micro-adjustments. I feel micro-adjustments are now an expected feature to have in a clasp, but still some of the top Swiss manufacturers do not offer them on their clasps.

The Retrospect III weighs in at 159 grams when sized for my 7.25 inch wrist and should weigh around 175 grams when all the links are installed. The stainless steel case is mostly brushed with some polished areas along the lugs. The brushed stainless steel and matte black bezel really give the Retrospect III a true tool watch appearance.



The large screwed in crown offers plenty of grip with its sharp grooves and features a Nodus logo engraved on its top. Once unscrewed the crown allows manually winding with a nice amount of resistance. Pulling the crown out to position one allows you to set the day and position two sets the time. Position two also stops the seconds hand for more precise time setting. Pushing the crown in does not make the hands jump at all like we’ve seen on some more affordable timepieces.

The Retrospect III features a bezel that rotates unidirectionally with 120 clicks. The bezel is very sure and has amazing bezel action with satisfying clicks. The bezel uses a finger spring assembly like those found in older Rolex sports models which is more durable and provide the satisfying clicks I spoke about above.



Powering the Nodus Retrospect III is the Seiko NH35 automatic movement. This movement features 24 jewels and offers a 41 hour power reserve. The movement ticks along at 21,600 vph (3Hz) and recorded a rather astounding 0 to -1 seconds of accuracy a day. I’m not sure what’s up with the watches we’ve been getting in recently, but we’ve been seeing a lot of watches showing near perfect accuracy.

I’m typically not much of a bracelet guy and prefer my watches on a rubber, fabric or leather strap. Over the last few months we’ve been getting in more and more watches on bracelets and I’m getting a bit more used to them. That being said with a lug to lug length of 48.2 mm the Retrospect fits my 7.25 inch wrist nicely. Although two of my daily watches are a Royal Oak Offshore Montoya and Big Pilot Perpetual Calendar, watches with a measurement of less than 50 mm lug to lug tend to feel rather small to me. I have been getting a bit more used to watches under 50 mm lug to lug and feel the Retrospect III fits well.



I never felt the watch favor one side of my wrist over the other and the overall weight and height of the watch gave the Retrospect III a nice presence on wrist. While writing this review I felt that our yard needed to be cut, so I did a quick mow in the 90 degree weather and came back in to finish. During the time my wrist swelled up nicely and I’m happy to report that the micro-adjustments of the clasp worked well making the watch fit to my now larger wrist.

We really haven’t gone out much in the last few days, so I only wore the Nodus Retrospect III out a handful of times. While on the wrist a few of my acquaintances asked about the watch and really liked the look of the dial and solid feel of the watch. They were blown away at the price of the watch and also that Nodus was less than ten years old. We live in a rather affluent area and I noticed a few people check out the watch, but I’m guessing they were only looking to see if the watch was a Rolex. I hardly ever get stopped by strangers about a watch, unless it’s something crazy like the Ulysse Nardin Freak X in rose gold… it’s hard not to ask about a watch like that.



Now for the shocking part about the Nodus Retrospect III… the price. The retail price of the Retrospect III is only $475. For that price you’re getting a well built stainless steel dive watch with 200 meters of water resistance, clasp with micro-adjustments, solid 120 click PVD coated bezel, sandwich dial and a super accurate automatic movement. What else could you really ask for? Sadly the only thing missing is name, but if you only care about how good a watch is at being a watch, there really isn’t anything missing here. Name and brand history do count for a lot and I’m as guilty as the next guy for putting weight into it, owning a few pieces that I could get most of the same functions for at a fraction of the price. The importance of this would make an interesting article for another time for sure…



As it comes to competitors, I didn’t realize just how hard it is to find a quality automatic divers watches under $500. Even a lot of the brands I thought had this segment covered like Hamilton and Tissot were now way out of that price range… inflation I guess… The three watches I found to compare to the Retrospect III were the Seiko Prospex SRPE93, the Citizen Sport Automatic NH7531-50E and the Spinnaker Dumas Automatic.

I’d guess the Seiko Prospex SRPE93 or similar Seiko diver would probably be the most cross shopped watch to the Retrospect III. Seiko has long been the king of value automatic divers, but now it seems that there aren’t that many options for sub $500. The SRPE93 is much larger than the Retrospect III at 45 mm and offers the same 200 meter water resistance with a similar movement. The size and case shape might be a bit polarizing for some and the Seiko is a bit more expensive than the Nodus at $495.



The Citizen Sport Automatic NH7531-50E comes in over $500 at $650 but is currently listed on Citizen’s site for $487.50. The Citizen Sport is crafted out of stainless steel and measures a similar 42 mm to the Retrospect III. The Sport Automatic offers half of the water resistance at 100 meters and a slightly longer power reserve of 45 hours with the Miyota movement. The Sport Automatic also offers a day-date function over just the date of the Retrospect III.



Finally we have the Spinnaker Dumas Automatic which is also crafted out of stainless steel and measures in at a 44 mm case diameter. The Dumas offers 100 meters more of water resistance at 300 meters and is powered by the same Seiko NH35 movement found in the Retrospect III. The Dumas has a more angular 70s era design case with a display caseback. The Dumas is also a decent amount less expensive than the Nodus at $400.



All three alternatives are great watches in their own right, especially for under $500. If you don’t want a watch produced by a huge conglomerate, then you can remove the Seiko and Citizen from consideration. If having a watch that is designed and assembled in the United States is important to you, then the Retrospect III stands clear, with Spinnaker being owned by a large Chinese holding company.

For the price it is beyond easy to recommend the Nodus Retrospect III to potential buyers. The Retrospect III is extremely handsome and feels very solid in construction. The watch offers features and accuracy not seen on watches costing 10x plus as well. I love the vintage design inspirations and that Nodus didn’t just make a Submariner or Fifty Fathoms clone. My minor gripes like the lack of caseback decoration really don’t mean much when talking about a watch that offers so much for under $500.



I have to say that I really enjoyed my time with the Nodus Retrospect III and it served as a great introduction to the brand. I’d really like to thank Nodus for sending us the Retrospect III to review. I’d love to see what they send us next to review and am excited to see what the Retrospect IV brings with it.

For more information about the Nodus Retrospect III please visit : Nodus

Technical Specifications

Reference Number: Retrospect III

Retail Price: $475

Case Size: 42 mm

Lug to Lug: 48.2 mm

Thickness: 13 mm

Weight: 159 Grams Sized (175 Grams All Links)

Case Material:  Stainless Steel

Bezel: DLC Coated

Strap: Stainless Steel with an Adjustable Clasp

Movement: Seiko NH35 Automatic

Functions: Hours, Minutes, Seconds, Date

Power Reserve: 41 Hours

Water Resistance: 200 Meters