Sternglas NAOS Automatic Watch Review

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Sternglas, a smaller brand located in Germany which mainly focuses on Bauhaus and minimalist styled timepieces has announced the official release of their newest timepiece. The NAOS was previously offered in a standard Quartz iteration but with all of the success of the model they have decided to give the fans what they want, an automatic NAOS. Let’s take a look. This watch is NOW available for Pre Order pricing via INDIEGOGO
​LINK ABOVE.

Prices Super Early Birds starting at 271 USD

Case

The NAOS is housed in an all polished 316L solid stainless steel case with a case diameter of 38MM. I feel this is really the sweetspot when it comes to casual/dressy bauhaus watches, and it fits my 6.5” wrist just perfectly across. In terms of the shape it is similiar to a pie pan vintage case with teardrop style lugs to finish it off. A nice feature added to this new release is the Sapphire screw down exhibition caseback window. They managed to do it so you get a full clear view of the automatic caliber powering the NAOS, and it looks great from any angle. A nice detail is the screws holding the caseback down, which is a traditional aspect is fine German watchmaking dating back a couple decades. Now this watch is not a sports watch, but 50 Meters of water resistance is suitable to protect you from accidental spills, or rain water. Overall, from what I can tell so far it is fairly well built and feels solid on wrist.

Dial

This dial mimics bauhaus mimimalism quite good in my eyes. It is slightly off white featuring fine minimalist printing at the 12:00 and 6:00 positions. Heading to 3:00 we get a nice clean cut date aperture which matches the dial just fine. The real beauty is in the blued hands and thin stick like hands, which are extremely legible against the white dial. Helping achieve the legibility also is the double domed genuine sapphire crystal with two layers of anti-reflective coating. I really think this was needed, and it definitely truly allows the end user to view the time clearly in high light or bright sunny weather.

Movement

As seen through the Sapphire caseback window, the Japanese made Miyota 821A movement sits proudly with a custom hollowed branded rotor. This movement is suitable for a watch at the $300 pricepoint and helps
keep costs down, while being completely functional, robust, and good looking. I like the small details such ad the striping on the center plate, and the jewel below the balance wheel as well. If you did not know, this movement can hold a 42 hour power reserve, beats at 21,600 BPH, and features hand winding via crown.

Leather Band

It was no surpise to me that I would like the leather handmade band supplied on this sample. I have taken a look at the standard NAOS and found the band to be a big strongpoint in quality and comfort for me. It is an off brown color and extremely supple and flexible. There will be no break-in period with this one as it conforms just fine straight out of the box. A nice brushed signed buckle and Quick-Release pins are also a nice touch..

Conclusion

In conclusion, Sternglas is definitely doing a decent job so far at creating bauhaus themed timepieces. The overall quality, movements utilized, and finishing definitely resemble a watch of the pricepoint they are asking. I mean in all honesty, there is no other brand out there offering classical german styling for affordable prices - and that is exactly the niche Sternglas has created for themselves.