The WRB is a decade strong, and we’ve reviewed watch brands from various locations around the globe, such as those from Germany, Czech Republic, England, Hong Kong – and many more non-Swiss locations. Today marks what I believe is our first hands-on look at a really stunning watch that’s made entirely in Ireland – Belfast to be exact. It carries with it traditional Irish craftsmanship with meticulous attention to detail, restrained character, and of course Irish jubilist influence so often found in their other famous products originating out of Ireland.
With such a huge variety of origin related styling these days in the watch market, one has to ask themselves how the watches are differentiating from each other. Swiss watches carry brand prowess and iconic design language with models that have been produced for at times half a century, worn by influential figures that have helped them build recognizability. Smaller more niche watch brands like Nomadic have more freedom of creativity, and the very first thing I noticed about this watch was its ball-bearing rotor, usually one of the last things I pay attention to. This specific rotor caught my eye not only with its bright copper tone, but also its form, which happens to be a “compass rose” that points to the 54-34 North and 5-55 West coordinates of Belfast.
On first handling the watch itself, it gives the initial impressions of an upper scale microbrand, this is far from a cooky cutter design often found from more affordable watch startups. The overall feel in hand and on wrist is pretty much on par with smaller brands such as Farer from England and the more well known Formex. Quality, appearance, and proportions lands somewhere in-between those two brands, which is a pretty unique value proposition.
The metal finishing on the watch is excellent with no overtly sharp edges, care has been taken to make sure the details are sorted on the finishing process. The bracelet, which looks like a jubilee but branded as AeroLink, meets the lugs and case of the watch perfectly with no gaps or unwanted slack. The bracelet itself was impressive, with many jubilee style variations constructed with too much slop, this one here from Nomadic felt great on wrist and seemed to have excellent tolerances between links. The AeroLink is also equipped with a MicroGlide clasp allowing for very fine adjustments for an exceptional fit.
The case of the watch is probably its best feature, having been constructed in a conservative 41mm size, and sporting graceful curves in all the right places giving the watch a rather elegant but sporty appearance on wrist. The lugs are right in-between a classy and sport look, they retain a nice presence but at the same time tapper gracefully down towards the bracelet. The edges along the case and lugs are also beveled allowing for some of the high quality 316L stainless steel to shine through.
The bezel is ceramic and matches the overall retro look but modern construction of the watch. It has the classic ceramic polish shimmer, but is toned down with the old school lume filled numerals. I get flashbacks of my time with the Rolex GMT Master II Ref. 16710 when I look at the bezel, of course not quite an exact replication but a similar idea. The Fior 555 is a very well done take of a GMT watch when considering all aspects together – as it’s certainly not a copy or homage to anything but it mix and matches some of the best aspects of long time classics.
Finally, the dial, which I’ve been leaving for last, is very simple and easy to read. It has quite large round plot markings with rectangle batons at 3 and 9, which are stark white set against a deep glossy black. The 12 o’clock position is marked with an even larger 12 numeral, a very interesting and unique touch, and down by 6 o’clock you have the square date wheel with a color matched background. Despite all the shape variety it seems to come together well as a very symmetrical dial. The hands are very simple, it has a nice elongated sword shaped minute hand and a stick shaped hour hand, the GMT hand jumps off the dial with its vivid yellow matched with the only other yellow “GMT” text on the dial.
This is a very impressive and unique package – a microbrand watch with excellent build quality, very tasteful and conservative design language, seeped in Irish heritage prowess. The watch wears comfortably for long periods of time on my 6.5 inch wrist as well. While the watch is inherently Irish, the beating mechanism still remain Swiss, as it’s using the Sellita SW330-2 with 56 hours of power reserve. Maybe one day Nomadic will venture into some type of in-house made movement, one can only wish – but for now this is what we have and if you’re Irish or simply love the Irish this watch is worth a good hard look.
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