The overwhelming majority of watch collaborations that exist sometimes consist of 1 firm teaming up with some entity exterior of the watch trade. We a lot much less incessantly see two totally different watch manufacturers be part of forces to create a timepiece that blends their two worlds. Other than the collaborations between two manufacturers inside the similar mother or father firm (resembling these from Swatch Group), you sometimes solely see a lot of these collaborations from small-scale unbiased manufacturers, though the outcomes are nearly all the time extra thrilling than when one firm merely produces a thematic model of one in every of its personal watches. For its newest launch of 2024, Nodus has teamed up with fellow American unbiased model Raven to create a rugged and extremely succesful journey watch that actually looks like an equal combine between each firms’ respective identities.
Nodus is predicated in my house state of California, whereas Raven’s headquarters are in Kansas. The brand new Nodus x Raven TrailTrekker is impressed by the journeys that befell between these two places, again within the days of lined wagons and the westward growth motion. With that in thoughts, fairly than being a vintage-inspired piece, the brand new Nodus x Raven TrailTrekker is inherently fashionable in its design and execution. This design is particularly created for rugged journey, and its colour palette is derived from the landscapes that reside all through the continental United States. Technically talking, the Nodus x Raven TrailTrekker is a GMT watch, though it’s way more in-line with a land adventurer’s watch just like the Rolex Explorer II than something associated to the elevated worlds of worldwide enterprise journeys and aviation.
Crafted fully from surgical grade 316L stainless-steel with a matte grey DLC end, the case of the Nodus x Raven TrailTrekker measures 39.5mm in diameter by 11.8mm thick, with 20mm lugs and an general lug-to-lug profile of 46.6mm. A couple of millimeter of that whole thickness consists of the box-shaped sapphire crystal (with anti-reflective remedy on its underside floor), and surrounding the crystal is a hard and fast 24-hour bezel completed with a sandy olive inexperienced Cerakote ceramic coating and engraved numerals full of black lacquer. Sitting between two guards at 3 o’clock is a signed screw-down crown with a matte black DLC end. On the reverse facet, the watch is fitted with a strong screw-down caseback adorned with a lined wagon engraving, which helps make sure the 200 meters of water resistance that’s supplied by the mannequin.
Whereas the case profile of the brand new Nodus x Raven TrailTrekker is derived from Nodus’s upcoming Contrail GMT collection, the dial very a lot provides Raven’s distinctly utilitarian design language, and it’s completed with the identical sandy olive inexperienced Cerakote ceramic coating that’s used for the bezel. Utilized hour markers within the type of geometric shapes supply a transparent orientation of the time, and a trapezoid-shaped date window sits on the 6 o’clock location to create a extremely symmetrical and cohesive general look. Regardless of being a collaboration piece, dial textual content is stored to a minimal, with the Nodus emblem and “TrailTrekker” identify showing on the higher half, whereas Raven’s emblem seems beneath the arms. All the printing is completed in black to take care of the watch’s darkish and rugged general look.
For the reason that minute observe is printed on the floor of the dial and the 24-hour scale seems on the bezel, the angled chapter ring surrounding the dial is completed in a split-color method with black and olive inexperienced to assist supply an approximation of daylight versus darkish hours. On the heart of the dial are 4 angular arms. Whereas the trio devoted to the native time are brushed with a darkish gunmetal end, the GMT hand is completed in a muted shade of orange to supply a refined splash of colour and to assist create at-a-glance legibility. Each Nodus and Raven are inclined to take their lume fairly severely, and whereas the 24-hour scale on the bezel isn’t luminous, all 4 of the arms and every of the utilized indexes is full of Grade A Swiss Tremendous-LumiNova BGW9 to offer the TrailTrekker with a brilliant blue glowing show at midnight.
Powering the Nodus x Raven TrailTrekker is the Miyota Cal. 9075 automated GMT motion, which runs at a frequency of 28,800vph (4 Hz) with an influence reserve of roughly 42 hours. As it’s at present essentially the most reasonably priced third-party motion that provides true flyer-style GMT performance with an independently adjustable native hour hand, the Miyota 9075 is shortly changing into the go-to choice for small-scale manufacturers that need to make a budget-friendly GMT watch. Though now you can discover this motion inside all kinds of watches at comparable worth factors, the Cal. 9075 actions which are used contained in the TrailTrekker are regulated to -8/+8 seconds per day. This can be a noticeable enchancment in comparison with the -10/+30 seconds per day of timekeeping variance that Miyota guarantees for its off-the-shelf calibers.
Fitted to the drilled lugs of the Nodus x Raven TrailTrekker is a flat-link stainless-steel bracelet that has been given a matte grey DLC end to match the case of the watch. The bracelet hyperlinks taper from 20mm on the case right down to 16mm the place they hook up with the clasp, and the hyperlinks themselves supply a comparatively skinny design with a view to preserve a low profile on the wrist. By way of specs, the bracelet checks the entire main containers for what most individuals need lately, It options fully strong hyperlinks with single-sided screws, quick-release spring bars on the lugs, and a clasp that operates with a double push-button launch and contains Nodus’s proprietary NodeX extension system that provides 5 positions of incremental adjustment.
Regardless of slotting into the end-links, the primary heart hyperlinks of the TrailTrekker’s bracelet don’t absolutely articulate, and because of this they prolong previous the ideas of the lugs to create an general profile of roughly 52mm. That mentioned, because the heart hyperlinks angle downward, a good portion of that extra size finally ends up being wrapped across the wrist. That mentioned, the Nodus x Raven TrailTrekker does put on barely bigger than its on-paper dimensions when fitted with its matching stainless-steel bracelet. Moreover, for many who favor to put on their watches on straps, the TrailTrekker comes packaged with an extra pass-through-style strap that’s produced from olive inexperienced ballistic nylon and accomplished by chunky black-finished {hardware}.
On the wrist, the brand new Nodus x Raven TrailTrekker provides a considerably comparable general presence to one thing like a five-digit Rolex Explorer II (which is in the end very a lot factor), and its slight resemblance to the Explorer II is additional bolstered by the font chosen for the bezel and its use of orange for its GMT hand. With that in thoughts, that is largely the place the similarities between the 2 watches finish, and the dial structure of the TrailTrekker mixed with its darkish grey DLC end and flat-link bracelet in the end create an general package deal that could be very a lot its personal timepiece. Moreover, whereas the Cerakote ceramic coating on the bezel doesn’t fully match the case, the refined distinction in colour truly works fairly nicely on this explicit occasion, because the dial is completed with the identical sandy olive inexperienced Cerakote ceramic coating that seems on the bezel.
Subject watches are sometimes the de facto fashion of timepiece in relation to land exploration actions. Nonetheless, I’ve all the time wished that manufacturers leaned extra into the idea of the land-based software watch, in a lot the identical approach that the trade provides an impossibly extensive assortment of various purpose-built divers. That mentioned, the brand new Nodus x Raven TrailTrekker is strictly that sort of timepiece, and fairly than being constructed for some arcane career or journey sport, it’s merely a rugged timepiece that’s designed for journey and surviving all kinds of various outside actions. Moreover, with an official retail worth of $875 USD, the Nodus x Raven TrailTrekker is priced proper in step with different watches that use this widespread GMT motion. It in the end looks like fairly a powerful providing on this house when you think about its quite a few well-conceived particulars, together with its intensive use of Cerakote and DLC-finished elements. For extra data on the Nodus x Raven TrailTrekker, please go to the model’s web site.
