We’re about to discuss a watch which proves once again that we shouldn’t judge a brand by its latest release nor should we be hasty in filing it into one particular category. Any brand can take us by surprise at any moment and how it achieves this little feat goes beyond our wildest imagination. It could be a Jaeger-LeCoultre which one day unveils a quartz timepiece or a Rolex launching a dual-face reversible rectangular watch. It could also be a Serica taking a shot at manufacturing a space watch or a Nomos bouncing from a classic Bauhaus elegant timekeeping device to a first-of-its-kind in-house engineered worldtimer. The latest example is way too specific to not be the subject of today’s article, obviously, and this particular watch might challenge your understanding of how worldtimers work and what they actually are. Because there seems to be different ways to go about making them and Nomos concocted something rather special. Well, it did exactly a year ago and I’m finally getting hands-on with it. 

The watch in question is the Club Sport Neomatik Worldtimer Blue Reference 790, a Code of Hammurabi-long moniker which says already three things about it: it’s a sports watch, a worldtimer, and it’s blue. As we will see, the Worldtimer is mechanically jaw-dropping and visually as singular as Bauhaus watches were when they were first invented several decades ago. Even though the German brand has been experimenting with various visual vocabularies over the past few years throughout its collections, the Worldtimer seems to be the brand’s most daring design to date and the one which looks the furthest away from what Nomos usually presents. It is endowed with now typical Nomos design elements, a dash of classicism, however a bucket-load of cleverness in proportions, the placement of the various time-telling elements, and overall personality. All of which is accompanied by a new in-house caliber and a whole suite of generous specifications which can all be had for the relatively reasonable price of $5,760 USD. 

Specifications 

The elephant in the room with the Nomos Worldtimer is the in-house caliber from which we derive a unique approach to timekeeping devices which permit to track time in several spots in the world simultaneously. As far as I understand, worldtimer watches come in various shapes and forms and most are endowed with a design feature which more or less do make them claim their worldtimer status. As we saw with the Alcadus Voyager Worldtimer GMT for example, the more accessible way of making this complication available is to use a GMT caliber and bi-directional bezel on which are printed the 24 cities marking the world’s main 24 time zones. (I believe some brands accomplish simpler versions of worldtimers by using a no-GMT movement and a bi-directional bezel or inner ring.) The Alcadus retails for $897 USD however which is almost six and a half times cheaper than the Nomos and that is where things become interesting with the 790: the German brand engineers, manufactures most of the parts, and assembles its own calibers. 

At the core of this model is the DUW 3202 in-house movement whose basic specs are a beat rate of 4Hz and a power reserve of 42 hours give or take. Mechanically, it tracks time in two places at once and one can adjust the local time by pressing on the two o’clock pusher which is linked to the large hour hand and disc located at the periphery of the dial. In other words, a press moves the local hour hand forward by one position whilst the disc rotates backward by one position as well, all accompanied by a ASMR-grade audible click. If, for any reason, the local hour hand and city indicated on the disc do not match where you actually are in the world, one can move the hour hand separately by pushing the four o’clock pusher using the provided tool. The “home” time is indicated in the small sub-register at the three and is adjusted with the crown in the same way you would with a “true” GMT caliber. So you first set home time using the minute hand and small hour hand and then adjust the local time once you made landfall. 

I cannot stress enough how delightful and satisfying it is to press down on the two o’clock pusher to rapidly adjust the local time and to see two objects move in opposite directions in such a delicate visual harmony. Thus we’ve talked about the worldtimer function of this watch and we can now talk about what makes it sporty: a 5.3mm screw-down crown and see-through sapphire case-back for a sufficient 100 meters of water resistance; a flat but slightly raised piece of sapphire crystal complemented by several layers of inner anti-reflective coating; generous applications of blue-glowing SuperLuminova (I assume BGW9) on the local hands and hour markers; a three-link stainless steel bracelet equipped with quick-release spring-bars, pin-and-collars to keep the links securely attached to one another, a small double-trigger deployant clasp complemented by three holes of micro-adjustment and a quick-release spring-bar to adjust it on the fly—less sexy than a proper tool-less system but quite serviceable.

Would you get your money worth already on specifications alone? I believe so. 

Design

For all intents and purposes, the Nomos Club Sport Neomatik Worldtimer Blue Reference 790 is what many would deem categorize as being a real worldtimer, the kind whose price tag rarely flirts below the $10,000 USD mark. This is the power of a certain kind of independent brands which are continuously pushing the envelope to offer high-end complications and singular designs at more than reasonable prices all things considered. The Nomos is my first experience with a proper worldtimer and I could instantly see the appeal for this genre of timekeeping device, and the good thing is I also enjoy the way it looks, which is not something I could confess to with other “proper mechanical worldtimers” which oftentimes look too busy or a bit eccentric. So as mentioned in the introduction, what Nomos did very well with this model, in addition to engineering a new in-house movement of course, is to match this incredible technology with a Nomos-like design although one which departs from what the German brand normally cooks. 

What is familiar with the Nomos Worldtimer are the deliciously polished baton-style local hour and minutes hand and large hour markers indicated with numerals and batons. The latter are particularly crisp and studying them under macro reminds me of how delightfully sharp and well-manufactured Nomos watches are from all angles. To make reading the local time easy, the brand allowed the two and four hour markers to climb on top of the dual-colored AM and PM indicator ring of the home time sub-register at the three o’clock. Speaking of which: a single polished hand indicates the hour at home on a 24-hour scale where 12pm is north and 12am south, indicated with small Arabic numerals printed in white on a disc made of circular concentric circles. Outside the main hour markers we find a minute track and the number of hours one has to add or subtract in relation to the local time. At the six there is another sub-register designed in the same manner as the other albeit larger and which indicates the running seconds. 

What all worldtimer watches have in common regardless of the technology found under their hood is the indication of the 24 cities marking the world’s main 24 time zones. On the Nomos, the cities are indicated with three-letter acronyms printed in white on a blue sunburst recessed ring which, as we know, rotates counter clock-wise at the press of the button. The city to which the local time is synced is indicated at the twelve o’clock by a red line which constitutes one of the few pops of colors found on the dial. Although I would say that the silver-ish tones of the blue sunburst dial and worldtimer ring are quite stunning and everything but dull to look at. The case for its part is standard Nomos affair though a delightful one: fully polished and straightforward, long but flat which slab-sided case-flanks, which looks neat on my 6.50”/16.5cm wrist given its dimensions: 40mm in diameter, 48mm lug-to-lug, a remarkable 9.9mm thick, and a 20mm lug width. Therefore it looks modern yet is comfy to wear. 

The Heart of the Matter

A small (no, huge) part of me felt bummed not to get hands-on with the Nomos Club Sport Neomatik Worldtimer immediately following its release at last year’s Watches and Wonders in Geneva. Despite Swiss luxury houses of watchmaking best efforts to steal the show from one another, this Nomos is one of the few models people raved about the most and I can now understand why: it offers a “real” worldtimer complication in a bespoke design at a relatively affordable price tag given the in-house nature of the caliber within and the new-ish Nomos design codes embedded within this model. Whilst I would normally cringe at off-centered sub-registers, here they are perfectly integrated within the overall design of the watch and actually look purposeful, as it is easy to read the home and local time simultaneously which felt like a new experience to me. I would further add that this Nomos is more legible than other complex models from the brand and feels more modern and approachable than the Zürich Worldtimer or Tangomat GMT. 

It is therefore a world’s first from a design perspective and an important milestone for the German brand from a technical one. Two sweet victories I hope they have celebrated. 

Conclusion 

Last year, Nomos released several versions of the Club Sport Neomatik Worldtimer including several almost immediately sold-out limited editions and this blue variant (reference 790) as well as a silver one (reference 791.) Well, last week Nomos unveiled a new variant during the 2026 Watches & Wonders event, a glorious concrete-like white version, the reference 792 which I find to be absolutely superb and as close to perfection as any watch can get from a design standpoint. I’ve for long dreamed of adding a Nomos to my personal collection of utilitarian timekeeping devices and if that day comes at last, it could certainly be the 792. 

Thanks for reading.