Entry-level products often have to work harder to prove themselves– even when made by esteemed brands– with price to quality commonly questioned in this market. The sentiment is the same for the Nomos Club Campus; which may honestly be a bit by their own doing, as Nomos actively promotes its Club Campus as the gateway drug to mechanical watchmaking.
And notably, since the watch is often somebody’s first, the brand puts in a closed caseback that allows extensive engraving. A great concept, but it does hide the beautiful Alpha-caliber underneath, with its Glashütte three-quarter plate and blued screws, built in-house and pleasantly slim at 2.6mm. Seeing the movement, people might think differently about Nomos’ mighty Club Campus.
Mighty, because it is an enjoyable watch that is serious enough while still able to goof around with. It does so with its California-style dial, mixing Arabic with Roman numerals and adding a few hour markers in for good measure. Its legibility is superb, but then there is that small, bright orange seconds hand on the sub-dial that screams for attention. The lugs are longer than you would expect, giving the watch a dash more character, not that it needs it because this Nomos is a crowd-pleaser. I own more expensive watches from the brand, but I can confirm that wearing the Club Campus is an equal experience; both affirming my love for the brand while making me want to add an example to my collection.
The reason for this is also because my ‘more serious’ Nomos watches either have a black or a silver dial. The Club Campus makes things a bit more colorful, being available in a wide range of dial colors, to which “Nonstop Red” and this one in “Endless Blue” have recently been added. Some say that Nomos jumped on the “Tiffany” blue dial bandwagon, and while these types of hues are now in fashion, Nomos still likes to walk to its own beat. When you look carefully at the dial, you see that the numerals and hour markers are outlined with the same color orange as the seconds hand. It’s a small detail that makes all the difference.
At 38.5mm in diameter, the Nomos Club Campus is also a watch that does well on many different sizes and shapes of wrists. It’s a very easygoing watch that goes with nearly everything– most of all because it is hard to match its color combination in the first place. Nomos also demonstrates this themselves by putting it on a grey strap. It is made of vegan velour and positively surprised me. I am not the biggest fan of vegan straps because they are usually made with 20% apple peels and 80% plastic and glue, not really matching the upscale watches they come on in both looks and wearing comfort. On the Nomos, I didn’t know it was vegan until I read the press release thoroughly, but I had already worn the watch by then.
While the Nomos Club Campus 38 Endless Blue might be positioned for entry-level buyers to the world of fine watchmaking, it is also a watch that lets more experienced collectors add a dash of color and fun to their collection without breaking the bank or lowering refined standards. With that, I can only conclude that there is no such thing as an ‘entry-level’ Nomos, as even regardless of price, they are all created equal.
The Nomos Club Campus 38 Endless Blue is priced at $1.650.
For more info, visit Nomos, here
Hate the dial color, hate the small seconds, hate the California dial, hate the hands, but I kinda like that strap, yo.