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chintu
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Why I bought the Lambda 175 Steel

There are times when you look at a watch and the imprint on your mind does not leave you after that.

The Nomos Lambda has been a watch that had captured my attention way back in 2013 when it was first launched in precious metals and then in a slightly different diameter subsequently.

I had the occasion to examine the Lambda then, in person and came away quite impressed. But the price was high and while justifiably so, I hesitated to take the plunge. Part of my reasoning was also due to the fact that Nomos had positioned itself as more of a budget value-proposition watch manufacture with a slant towards industrial approach combined with the “form follows function” philosophy.

For seven years thereafter, there was no whisper of a possible steel Lambda until the 175-year celebration of Glashutte arrived. In between I whetted my appetite with a Nomos 1101 that gave me more reason to long for the Lambda.

Fast forward into second half of 2020, the much-awaited avatar of Lambda in steel was announced; and the price point indeed was sensible. The decision to get the Lambda was therefore a no-brainer.

I chose the white enamel version and am quite pleased with everything about the watch and decided to present my impressions after a week on the wrist.

The pros;

At a company level Nomos represents a very reliable brand, having established itself as a vertically integrated manufacture and very focused on the Bauhaus approach to value and design. It designs and makes its own movements from ground-up; makes its own escape wheel and hairsprings and its proprietary nomos-swing system; and more importantly does not dig up obscure history to shore up its pedigree.

Coming to the Lambda itself; the watch presents a lovely combination of elegant design coupled with extreme attention to detail topped up with artisanal workmanship.

Dial: The enamel (not the oven-fired, but painted) dial is flawless without the tiniest of dimple or discoloration. At 40.5mm there is enough real estate on the dial to allow the hour and minute markers to be perfectly spaced without any clutter. This allows the lovely heat blued needle hands to glide over the marker and align precisely and be in harmony with the dial. The piece de resistance is the 297⁰ power reserve arc which IMHO is a design par excellence. Tracing the arc are the power reserve indicator numbers from 0 to 84 with 12 hour intervals and another heat-blued needle hand doing the honors there to show the reserve remaining to empty.  An interesting quirk is the six “red dots” below the 0^th mark on the power reserve, indicating that the watch may have approximately 6 hours of extra reserve left. The “seconds” sub-register below counter-balances the upper arc nicely. Placement of the NOMOS Glashutte on the left side is nicely balanced by the “Gangreserve 84 Stunden” on the right

Case: The mirror polished 40.5mm case is a three-part construction with an almost bezel-less appearance. The welded lugs which have a lug-width of 20mm slope down. Case is extremely slim with a thickness of just 8.9mm. The winding crown is nicely large and notched and tapers inward to the case. Accompanied by shell cordovan strep with a winged buckle, the watch sits snugly on the wrist without the lugs jutting out.  The choice of a polished finish is thoughtful, considering the fact that it is more expensive to mirror polish than a brushed or matte finish. The only thing I am not aware is whether the case is a bought-out component from Ickler or SUG etc., or whether made in-house. There is no specific information that I can obtain about the origin of the case. The dial is gently convex and adds to the character

DUW 1001: This is an absolute beauty, and a joy to behold. At 32mm diameter and a thickness of 3.6mm, the 29-jewel manual winding movement, which is completely made in-house, occupies the entire case and without the need for holder-rings as in some of the petite caliber but large cased watches from many marquee brands. The 84-hour power reserve is stored in two main spring barrels.

Embellishments to the DUW1001 are in the form of 20 heat-blued screws combined with 6 jewels mounted on polished gold chatons. The 3-quarter plate is adorned with Glashutte sunbeam stripes radiating outward, as if they are rays from the sun; and culminating in a hand-beveled edge. And that is not all; A swan-neck adjuster and a hand-engraved balance cock complete the picture. The caliber has a stop-seconds feature as well.

Running on the wrist: The watch has been performing admirably in terms of accuracy and lives up to the chronometer standards asserted by Nomos. Most importantly the power reserve indicator is highly accurate as well, marking out the depletion precisely all through.

Winding is quick and offers a bit of feedback with every turn.

Cons: Would have loved a genuine oven-fired enamel dial; but that can have a price consequence of course. A bracelet option would have been nicer.

Conclusion: A true value proposition for connoisseurs and Nomos is a happy departure from celebrity-marketing led rhetoric. Nomos has made a high horology caliber available at a collector-friendly price point in the Steel version to fulfil aspirations of serious watch aficionados; and must be commended for that.

 Cheers

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