skyeriding
901
To give some background,
I have owned this watch for 9 months already. This is now my daily wear and will be for a long time to come.
Back then, I was looking for a simple dress watch for that purpose. No surprise - Bauhaus designs were on the list. I've heard of Junghans watches before, but at the time I have not handled them in person and did not think much about them.
They went against a couple of my "must-have features" when I was still deciding on a watch; namely, it doesn't have sapphire crystal, it doesn't have a clear caseback, and if I looked a little higher up the Nomos may offer a more interesting movement.
To keep it short, I finally some some at an AD, slept on it and decided I actually really like them. Went for this model in the end and never regretted since.
For those that haven't handled one in person, the most prominent feature to note is that the case is round. Round - as in pill-shaped. It feels like a mini capsule on your wrist. That is one design feature I really loved that I only appreciated in person, or when watching a video of someone holding/turning it. Hence, that was one of the inspirations I tried to portray when taking this photo.
Next related thing to know is since the case has such a shape, the lugs are short. They are angled downwards toward the wrist in such a way that the springbar/strap sits "underneath" the pill-shaped case. Therefore, despite being a straight springbar against a round case, the strap shows no gap between the case when worn on the wrist. The angled lugs also makes the strap conform better to the wrist curvature.
The glass on top is acrylic plexiglass. It is prominently domed - which gives a refraction effect of the dial as if its bulging out. Actually, that is further emphasized by the fact the dial itself is domed! They are tapered near the edges inward which can be seen in the photo whereby the indices are curved. Furthermore, the minute and seconds hand themselves are slightly curved at the tip to conform to the dial curvature. This portrays a sense of precision - accuracy when reading the seconds hand against the dial indices.
I remember reading somewhere before the plexi is coated, therefore using Polywatch on it for buffing out scratches is not a good idea...
The whole monochromatic colour scheme together with the simple dial makes it feel like a watch a Doctor would wear in the clinic. That isn't a bad thing, in fact its one of the reasons I love it.
Lume dots are at 3,6,9,12. Hour and minute hands are lumed too. Unfortunately, they are not too bright and are only noticable when charged under a strong light source.
There are a few variants of the dial. This version has Bauhaus numerals - there are also non-numeral alternatives if that is your fancy. To me, the numerals are iconic of Bauhaus design, therefore it was a no brainer choice. As a little trivia, did you know that the number "4" of the font used represents an upside-down Bauhaus chair design?
The caseback is solid but highly polished. In the middle, it is finely (machine? laser?) engraved with the Max Bill signature. The caseback makes for a good hairline scratch magnet with frequent wear on the wrist.
The movement is an ETA2824-2. Therefore the typical rules apply: i.e., preferably do not handwind the movement due to weak winding stem, rely on the automatic rotor, the automatic rotor makes a clicking noise sometimes, etc. As an ETA2824-2, the date semi-instantaneous jumps at midnight. At the AD, the first piece I handled changed at around 11:45pm, so I opted for another model which did the switch at 12.05am. Please thoroughly check your watches in-person before buying them!
The default leather strap that comes with it (the black one, in my case) isn't too great, it feels a little fragile and leaves wrinkle creases easily. It also comes with a simple non-branded Tang buckle, therefore I swapped out with a deployant clasp to preserve the strap condition.
For its pricerange, it has excellent build quality and finish in my opinion. For near double the price, you can opt for the iconic Max Bill Chronoscope - but I rather get a Nomos at that point personally. Note that the Chronoscope has similar aesthetics, but the case has a more pronounced capsule shape due to its increased thickness to house the 7750.
Regards,
skyeriding
This message has been edited by skyeriding on 2015-12-29 10:52:47