NOMOS Club Sport neomatik 42 Date Blue Review

A few months ago I reviewed the Tangente 2date from NOMOS and loved the complication of displaying the date in two different formats on the dial. The only issue I had with the watch was just my personal preference of really sticking to sports watches and divers. The Tangente 2date, while a stunning and interesting piece, was just a bit too dressy for me.

After I finished up the review and spoke to Nomos about the piece they suggested that maybe next time I review a slightly more sporty watch from the brand. NOMOS mentioned that the Club Sport might be more to my preference and so I asked if they could send us a Club Sport neomatik 42 date in blue for us to take a closer look at. The Club Sport neomatik is not only sportier than the Tangente 2date but it at 42 mm of case diameter is much closer to my preferred dimensions than the 37.5 mm Tangente 2date.



Before we take a look at the Club Sport neomatik, let's go over a quick overview of the history of NOMOS Glashütte. If you'd like a more detailed history of the brand, click on the above review of the Tangente 2date where we went much more in depth about the history of NOMOS Glashütte.

NOMOS Glashütte was founded in Glashütte in 1990 just two months after the fall of the Berlin Wall by Roland Schwertner. Glashütte is the traditional home of German watchmaking so it was a natural fit for Schwertner's new watch brand. Under decades of East German rule watchmaking had been in serious decline in the area. The traditions and skills of the past generations were still alive but had been repressed under communist rule.



Initially NOMOS created watches that used off the shelf movements from firms like ETA and focused more on the design and finishing of their products. In the years to follow NOMOS got serious about producing their own movements and in 2005 unveiled their DUW caliber which was entirely produced in-house. NOMOS continued to evolve their movements even becoming completely free of Swiss component manufactures in 2014. Today NOMOS Glashütte is the largest manufacture of mechanical watches in Germany, which is an incredible achievement for such a young brand.

Initial Thoughts

When the Club Sport neomatik 42 Date Blue arrived the first thing I noticed was how true of a sports watch it was. The watch had a nice weight and feel to it and didn't feel the least bit dainty. The case was also not too thin and looked like a watch that could take a good deal of abuse and come out just fine. The three part construction of the bracelet links with brushed outers pieces and polished centers looks like what you'd expect from a luxury sports watch as well. I could instantly tell that the Club Sport neomatik was much more in my wheelhouse than the Tangente 2date.



Next the stunning blue dial really grabbed my attention. Typically I'm not a huge fan of blue dials, but the ray cut dial on the Club Sport neomatik really looked amazing in person. In some lighting the dial can appear nearly navy to black while in others it's more of a brilliant blue. The large Arabic numerals and white colored hands when placed on the blue background allow for incredible legibility as well, something very important for a true sports watch.

The last thing I really took notice of during my initial time with the Club Sport neomatik was the stunning movement seen through the display caseback. For this watch NOMOS uses their in-house DUW 6101 topped with a skeletonized winding rotor. There is extensive use of Glashütte ribbing (Cotes de Geneve) which is prominent along the movements three-quarter plate and rotor. There is also nice use of perlage beneath the balance as well as other areas not covered by the three-quarter plate. NOMOS also uses a good number of blued screws that really make the movement pop as well. It's nice to see this level of finishing details on a sports watch with 300 meters of water resistance. Also the little whale next to the water resistance rating is a great fun touch to the caseback. It's a bit of fun you wouldn't come to expect from German watchmakers who are often thought of as being super serious.



Technical Specifications

Now that I've gone over my initial thoughts on the NOMOS Club Sport neomatik 42 date blue, let's take some time to look over the technical specifications of the watch. The watch has a case diameter of 42 mm and a lug to lug length of 52 mm. When sized for my 7.25 wrist and on the stainless steel bracelet the Club Sport neomatik weighs 128 grams and at its thickest point is 10.5 mm thick. All around great dimensions and more in line with watches I personally wear.

The Club Sport neomatik has a slightly domed sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating on both sides. Underneath is the galvanized blue dial with a sunburst finish. Around the outside of the dial is a white printed minute track with each five minute increment being marked with an Arabic numeral. As mentioned earlier the 12, 2, 4, 8 and 10 hour markers are done in large Arabic numerals with the remaining hours being represented by a stick hour maker. 3 o'clock has been replaced with a blue backed date window with white text that works well as an hour marker.



Long polished sword hands are used for the hour and minute hands and both are coated with a heavy amount of Super-Luminova that appears white during the day and glows a brilliant blue at night. The same lume is used on the hour markers. At 6 o'clock there is a small seconds sub-dial that is finished with snailing that provides nice contrast to the sunburst finishing of the dial.

Finally there is the "NOMOS Glashütte" and "neomatik" branding at 12 o'clock and "1000 ft" and "Made in Germany" text at 6 o'clock. The "neomatik" and "1000 ft" text is printed in a pale orange that also provides some nice contrast to the dial. Overall the dial is extremely functional while also exhibiting a nice amount of aesthetic beauty.



Moving on from the dial, the Club Sport neomatik has a fully polished case. Everything from the rounded bezel to the mid-case and caseback are all polished. Typically you'd see a bit more brushed or satin elements on a sports watch, but excluding these gives the watch a more luxurious look to it and also lets it walk the line of being a dress watch as well.

The profile of the case shows its elongated lugs that have a subtle downwards curve to hug your wrist. The length of the lugs used by NOMOS has been a talking point for a long time, but personally I like them since they put the watch into my goldilocks zone of just over 50 mm lug to lug. NOMOS also offers small case diameter versions of the Club Sport if the lug length puts the watch out of your comfort zone.



The right hand side of the case features a nicely scalloped polished screw down crown. When unscrewed the crown allows you to wind the automatic movement in its resting position. Pulling the crown out to position one allows you to set the date while pulling the crown out to position two stops the seconds hand and lets you set the time. When the crown is unscrewed there is a red ring visible at the base of the crown warning you that the crown is not screwed in. This is a nice touch found on some dive watches, but honestly it isn't seen enough. Finally pushing the crown back in causes no jump in the minute hand and screwing the crown back in takes no additional care to get the crown to catch.

Flipping the watch over shows off the stunning in-house DUW 6101 automatic movement through the display caseback. The movement looks the appropriate size for the case with a good amount of the rear of the watch being taken up by the caliber. The bezel of the display back only includes engravings for the water resistance, model name (sport) and case number.



The caliber DUW 6101 beats away at 21,600 bph (3Hz) and has a power reserve of 42 hours. It features the NOMOS swing system and is topped by a NOMOS branded skeletonized rotor. The Swing System is NOMOS in-house designed and manufactured escapement system, which only a handful of watch manufactures have been able to accomplish. On our timegrapher the DUW 6101 showed an accuracy of +4 seconds per day when averaged out over several positions. This is an outstanding result for an in-house caliber and puts it right inside of chronometer guidelines.

As mentioned earlier, the DUW 6101 is just a great looking movement as well. Sometimes there really isn't a need for a display caseback, especially in sports and tool watches, but in the case of the DUW 6101 it would be a shame to cover it up. The movement uses the traditional German three-quarter plate and it is finished off with Glashütte ribbing, which is similar to Geneva Stripes. In areas where the ribbing has not been used, NOMOS uses perlage. The mixture of Glashütte ribbing and perlage makes for a visually interesting movement. Finally there is abundant use of blued screws that along with the pink movement jewels add a nice pop of color.



The lug width of the Club Sport neomatik is 20 mm which is the most standard lug width meaning the watch can be fitted to an unlimited amount of straps. The Club Sport neomatik comes on the Club Sport bracelet which uses a traditional looking sports watch three part link construction. The two outer parts of the link are brushed in finish while the center part of the link is polished. This mixture of finishes is welcome since the case is only polished. The look of this design and use of brushed finishing instantly identifies the watch as a sports watch.

The bracelet tapers from 20 mm at the lugs down to 18 mm at the deployant clasp. The deployant clasp uses two buttons to release the clasp which is polished and has NOMOS Glashütte branding. The clasp doesn't feature any on the fly micro-adjustments but does have three holes spaced close to each other where you can adjust where the bracelet attaches to the clasp using a spring bar tool, which gives you a bit of fine adjustment.



On The Wrist

I was able to wear the NOMOS Club Sport neomatik frequently over the course of the few weeks I had the watch. For the most part I'm really not a fan of bracelets on watches and would much rather wear a watch on a strap, but in all honesty the bracelet was a treat on wrist. Being crafted out of stainless steel and being 42 mm in diameter there is a good deal of weight in the head of watch. The added weight of a stainless steel bracelet helped distribute the weight evenly over the wrist. I do feel if the watch was worn on a strap that wasn't very substantial it might have been top heavy. Also this probably would have ended up having the wrist favor one side of my wrist over the other, which I really can't stand.

The watch accompanied me on all my boring day to day errands like going to the grocery store and FedEx as well as out to dinner and drinks. The Club Sport neomatik worked great with shorts and a t-shirt and seemed very at home being worn as a casual watch. Also when going out to a nicer dinner it fit in just fine as well, showing that it can play both the sports and dress watch card when needed.



Since I'm so used to larger watches crafted out of titanium, carbon or ceramic the heft of the Club Sport neomatik took a bit of time for me to get used to. While the watch wasn't heavy by any means, it still made itself known. I'm not the typical steel sports watch on a steel bracelet guy and I have heard many of them complain about lightweight watches. They like to feel something on their wrist that is substantial that they equate to luxury. For those the Club Sport neomatik would defiantly make them happy. The weight didn't bother me, but it's just not something I'm used to on my personal watches.

The Club Sport neomatik was nothing but a pleasure on the wrist during my time with the watch. Like I mentioned there was heft to the watch and it was always present on the wrist but never overbearing or caused any wrist fatigue. It makes a great daily watch and I'd imagine if it were summer time would also make a great beach and vacation watch. The lack of micro-adjustments might have been a bigger issue during the summer, but during the cooler weather the bracelet always fit fine. I also put the Club Sport neomatik on a 20 mm sailcloth strap I had laying around and the watch took on a totally different identity. If I personally owned the watch it would probably spend most of its time on a strap.



The NOMOS Club Sport neomatik was able to easily pass my legibility test of telling the time while driving with just a glance. The large oversized numerals and long hands being done in stark white on the Deep Blue background provides excellent contrast and reference points for quick time telling. I'd image with this legibility and the strength of the lume used that the Club Sport neomatik would even be suitable for diving. While there is no dive bezel, I guess you could set the time to be on the hour at the start of dive to use the minute hand to time the length you've been underwater.

While wearing the watch out I was approached a few times and asked about what the watch was. A few people actually knew about NOMOS and one person even owned one. I also showed a few friends the watch when out for drinks and they really had only nice things to say about it. Everyone commented on how good the watch felt in hand and on wrist. The blue dial probably got the most positive comments with the movement finishing coming in a close second. While the Club Sport neomatik isn't a crazy spaceship on the wrist like an Ulysse Nardin Freak, it is large and polished and also has the classic sports watch look. For those reasons it does attract a lot of eyes to it, meaning it's not really a wallflower of a watch. If you want to be more subtle, you could probably pair it with the blue textile strap offered by NOMOS.



Value and Position in the Market

While NOMOS might not have hundreds of years of legacy, it can tie into the extremely respected and long standing history of watchmaking in Glashütte. Unlike the legacy Swiss brands NOMOS doesn't charge an arm and a leg for its name. The finely finished Club Sport neomatik 42 date with its super accurate in-house movement only retails for $3,960. Before we get into comparisons from other manufactures that offer similar sports models with in-house movements I can already guess the Club Sport neomatik will come out on top value wise. So let's take a look at them.

First up we have the Seamaster Aqua Terra from Omega which has a case diameter of 41 mm and is crafted out of stainless steel. The watch is powered by an in-house caliber Omega 8900 with 60 hours of power reserve and automatic winding. The watch is rated to 150 meters of water resistance which is half that of the NOMOS. The Seamaster does have a bit sportier look to it with less of a round shape and more use of brushed surfaces. The Omega is also a good deal more expensive than the NOMOS at $6,600.



Next up is the definition of the sports watch in the Rolex Explorer 40. This watch has a stainless steel case and a case diameter of 40 mm. The Explorer was originally the sportiest model in Rolex's catalog, even being claimed to be the first watch to summit Everest. The Explorer 40 has a less round shape like the Seamaster Aqua Terra and uses a lot more brushed surfaces. The watch is powered by an in-house caliber 3230 automatic movement with 70 hours of power reserve and is rated to only 100 meters of water resistance. The Explorer 40 is also much more expensive than the Club Sport neomatik at $7,800.

Moving on we have the Polaris Automatic from Jaeger-LeCoultre which has a 41 mm case diameter crafted out of stainless steel. The Polaris is a bit more of a dive watch then the other watches listed above and features an internal rotating dive bezel. Otherwise the Polaris is a good match. Oddly for being a diver the Polaris only offers 100 meters of water resistance, again much less than the NOMOS. The Polaris is powered by the in-house caliber 898 which has 40 hours of power reserve and automatic winding. Once again the Jaeger-LeCoultre is much more expensive than the NOMOS at $10,500.



Finally we have a fellow watch manufacture from Glashütte in A. Lange & Sohne and their Odysseus in stainless steel. The Odysseus has a case diameter of 40.5 mm and features additional big date and day of the week complications. The Odysseus offers 120 meter of water resistance and is powered by in the in-house L155.1 automatic movement with 50 hours of power reserve. While feature wise the Odysseus doesn't offer much over the Club Sport neomatik, since its inception A. Lange & Sohne has firmly been planted in the high horology segment and its price reflects that with a retail price nearly ten times more than the NOMOS at $39,100.

You can see my hunch was correct about the Club Sport neomatik being a great value when comparing sports watches with in-house movements. The Club Sport was nearly half the price of the least expensive model and a tenth of the most expensive. When you look at the specs of the other four watches, the NOMOS also topped a few of the comparisons. What I was most surprised of was that the Club Sport neomatik offered the most water resistance from a watch that didn't look the most like a tool watch of the group. Now like I said earlier, a lot has to be said about paying for name and Rolex, Omega and Jaeger-Lecoultre carry with them some of the most respected names in the industry. Even though A. Lange & Sohne comes from the same region as NOMOS, they target a different audience, namely those shopping for holy trinity brands like as Patek Philippe. The ability to be able to compare a NOMOS model to one from A. Lange & Sohne and have the NOMOS more than hold its ground is a huge compliment to the NOMOS.



Closing Thoughts

So in the end is the NOMOS Club Sport neomatik 42 date for me? Well first I'm coming away from my time with the Club Sport neomatik with even more respect for NOMOS. The Club Sport neomatik checks my boxes for lug to lug length and sporty looks. The 300 meter water resistance was completely un-expected and matches what serious dive watches offer. Now I'm weird and don't personally own a stainless steel watch, so if NOMOS crafted the watch out of titanium it would be much closer to what I collect. I'm also not a huge fan of bracelets and I feel I'd really prefer the watch on the blue textile strap NOMOS offers. Nothing against the watch, but I'm boring and would also prefer the black dial. So that's a positive leaning maybe from me.



Would I then recommend the NOMOS Club Sport neomatik to somebody looking for a stainless steel sports watch? Yes I absolutely would recommend the watch to anyone looking for this type of watch. For the most part I find Rolex and Omega fairly un-inspired and the fact that they are mass produced and everyone has one kind of spoils them for me. NOMOS being a much smaller manufacture and still producing their own robust and accurate movements housed in a handsome case really sets them apart. If you aren't just sold on a brand name or snob factor, the Club Sport neomatik really deserves a good hard look. If you were to pick one, you'd save thousands and have a more interesting watch on your wrist.

Once again we would really like to thank NOMOS for sending us this Club Sport neomatik 42 date to review. It got me excited to see a larger and sportier watch from the brand. Now it did kind of leave me thinking of what a titanium dive watch from the NOMOS would be like. They already have the 300 meters of water resistance… Also coming up soon will be a review of the Club Sport neomatik in 34 which should be interesting to compare to the larger version reviewed here.



For more information about the Club Sport neomatik 42 date please visit : NOMOS

Technical Specifications

Reference Number: Reference 782

Retail Price: $3,960

Case Size: 42 mm

Lug to Lug: 52 mm

Thickness: 10.5 mm

Weight: 128 Grams

Case Material: Stainless Steel

Bezel: Stainless Steel

Strap: Stainless Steel with Deployant Clasp

Movement: NOMOS in-house DUW 6101 Automatic Movement

Functions: Hours, Minutes, Seconds, Date

Power Reserve: 42 Hours

Water Resistance: 300 Meters