There was a stretch of the microbrand era when a handful of small shops felt like they actually knew each other, and you could sense it in the watches. Nodus out of Los Angeles and Raven out of Kansas both came up in that world, two of the brands I was watching when I first fell down this rabbit hole. They were also among the first to ever trust us with a review model, which is something I still think about. So when their TrailTrekker collaboration reaches a fourth chapter, it has me beaming from ear to ear. This one arrives as the Nodus x Raven TrailTrekker Carbon.
The Nodus TrailTrekker has always been a mashup, pulling the Nodus Contrail and Raven Trekker platforms into one travel GMT with its own identity. I reviewed the original last year, and it landed as a very “Mike watch,” all matte grey DLC and no glitz. The Carbon keeps the bones I liked and reworks the surfaces that used to be sand Cerakote. Both the fixed 24-hour bezel and the dial are now forged carbon, infused with Super-LumiNova so the marbled grain glows blue once the lights drop. Nodus says no two come out alike, and that’s the rare marketing line carbon actually backs up.
The case carries over untouched, which suits me fine. You still get the 39.5mm 316L case in matte grey DLC, 11.8mm thick with a 46.6mm lug-to-lug, a screw-down crown, box sapphire, and 200m of water resistance. Carbon shaves a little weight, too, which I’m curious to feel on the wrist. The strap situation is what got me, though.
In my original review I said a rubber strap with matching hardware would look pretty cool, and the Carbon now ships with exactly that. Nodus’ new Fusion FKM strap, with metal end links, joins the DLC flat-link bracelet and its NEM clasp, the on-the-fly adjuster the brand once called the NodeX.
Inside sits the Miyota 9075, the true traveller’s GMT that’s turned up across a wave of enthusiast releases since 2022. It’s the right kind of GMT for a fixed-bezel watch like this, with an independently adjustable local hour hand and roughly 42 hours of reserve. Nodus regulates it in-house to +/-8 seconds per day and tucks it behind a screw-down case back, keeping things slim.
The 9075 isn’t pretty, so I don’t mind it hidden. The one change I want to confirm in the metal is the GMT hand on the Nodus TrailTrekker. It reads red in the press photos, where the original ran a yellow hand I always figured nodded to old Raven Trekkers.
At $1,075 with both the bracelet and the Fusion strap, the Carbon sits 200 dollars above where the original started, and that jump is the thing I keep turning over. The affordable GMT field is crowded now, so a fourth chapter has to bring a real reason to exist. Carbon that glows and never repeats itself is at least an honest one. Ordering opens July 22 on Nodus’ site, with shipping set to begin July 24, and the watch is also landing at the Time+Tide studio in New York. I told myself I didn’t need another TrailTrekker. The first one pulled me in on the people as much as the watch, and I already know how this ends.
Co-Founder & Senior Editor
Michael Peñate is an American writer, photographer, and podcaster based in Seattle, Washington. His work typically focuses on the passage of time and the tools we use to connect with that very journey. From aviation to music and travel, his interests span a multitude of disciplines that often intersect with the world of watches – and the obsessive culture behind collecting them.