NOMOS Launches The Ahoi Sky And Sand Automatics, Right Into Summer

NOMOS was founded in 1990 in Glashütte, Saxony, the town where everyone works in the watch industry, even the squirrels. Their first watch designed for diving, although it’s not a strictly by the book dive watch, is the Ahoi, which debuted in 2013, with a 200 meter water resistant case. The Ahoi uses the in-house caliber DUW 3001, which is an extra-flat automatic movement, 28.8mm x 3.2mm, which is produced by NOMOS right down to the escapement, lever, escape wheel, and balance spring (what NOMOS calls its “Swing System.”) The Ahoi is not a dive watch solely because it doesn’t have a one way elapsed time bezel (a requirement of the international standard for dive watches, ISO 6425) but it is constructed, designed, and styled to go effortlessly from scuba or snorkel diving, to lounging in a deck chair in a linen suit poolside (or for that matter, to the office you wish you weren’t sitting in.)

The Ahoi Sky and Sand Automatics debuted in 2023 in 38.5mm cases, with date:

2023 Ahoi Automatic with date, 38.5mm

… and this year, the overall design is the same, but the date window’s gone and the case diameter is down to 36mm in diameter and 9mm thick.

The stereotyped notion of a 200M-or-better dive watch is that it will be hefty, and while it’s certainly true that you do start needing a more overbuilt watch the deeper you go, it is not as hard and fast a rule as you might think. These watches are a case in point. The stock in trade at NOMOS is the production of watches with an emphasis on the Bauhaus art movement’s principles of simplicity, functionality, and overall uncluttered lines – this is the art movement after all that made “less is more” a household word.

The ratio of width to height gives these watches an appealingly biscuit-like appearance and the muted colors of the dials goes right along for the ride. The overall design is in keeping with the Bauhaus philosophy, clean but not stark. The different elements in the design are given enough breathing room that you can not only read the time easily (legibility is great in both watches) but you can also see the design as a design: the harmonious relationship of each part to the others.

Every part of the design has been considered. The hands, indexes, and typeface have lengths and widths that keep them all in proportion with each other. The use of a small seconds register (a rarity in modern watches) gives an opportunity to add depth to the composition by echoing the case shape. And the angular lugs and crown guards keep the whole thing from being too monotonously round.

A couple of technical points: first, there’s an orange warning ring – that’s to warn you the crown isn’t fully screwed down, in case you feel like taking a dip. Caliber DUW 3001 is an extra flat movement, and it runs at 21,600 vph/3Hz, in 27 jewels. It’s a workhorse; NOMOS uses it widely across its catalog and its balance bridge is one of the engineering decisions which contributes to durability and precision, as is the freesprung balance.

They’re a very handsome pair of watches and, on their waterproof fabric straps, the closest thing to a one-watch solution for the summer that I can think of. They’re not dive watches, but they can go that deep; they’re not dress watches, but they’re elegant and refined. It’s not the most luxurious watch, but in its own way, it is kind of a perfect watch.

The NOMOS Glashütte Ahoi Neomatik Sand And Sky 36: cases, 36.3mm x 9mm, or 9.1mm with the optional sapphire caseback; 200M water resistant. Dials, sand or sky, with rhodium plated hands and indexes with Super-LumiNova. Movement, caliber Neomatic DUW 3001, in-house automatic with NOMOS “Swing System” escapement: 43 hour power reserve running in 37 jewwels at 21,600 vph/3Hz. US price, $4150 with solid caseback, or $4540 with a sapphire caseback.

The 1916 Company is proud to be an authorized retailer for NOMOS Glashütte. Contact us for current pricing and availability.