Nodus Sector Deep: The Most Capable Nodus Diver Ever?

Looking back, it’s no secret that we’re big fans of Nodus here at TBWS. We’ve held them up several times as one of the few modern boutique brands that offer affordable, well-built watches while building upon a shared design language. It’s a hard thing to do as a smaller watch startup. But somehow Nodus has managed to pull it off. “It looks like a Nodus” is something I’ve caught myself thinking in a few attempts at watch-spotting during meet-ups and watch shows. And often times I’ve been right. Watches like the Contrail, the Duality, and the new Retrospect III all share something visually in common, while serving the collector’s market as very different watches. That’s why I got excited when Wes from Nodus mentioned they’d soon be releasing a badass 500m destro-orientation diver, called the Nodus Sector Deep. Shortly after handing me a prototype in NYC last year, I knew I’d have to get one in to photograph and review.

The Deep is what Nodus refers to as the “deepest diving iteration” of their Sector series—a growing family of watches with a shared midcase and design philosophy spanning everything from GMTs to simple field watches. The idea was to push the series to its absolute limits with a highly functional dive watch sporting some serious specs. It’s ambitious but judging from my brief period with the watch, I think they nailed it. And after its official release today it’s a safe bet that this may easily become the most popular watch in that series. At least that’s my prediction. I may just be cheesing hard over how cool it is, so bear with me.

Case

One of the first things you might notice about the Nodus Sector Deep is that its case and bracelet are fully bead-blasted for a tool-ish matte finish. This makes it look nothing like any other Nodus watch I’ve seen before and I wonder if we’ll eventually see the approach as an option on some of the other Nodus classics. But at the same time, keeping it exclusive to their highest-spec diver would be pretty cool too. The watch has presence for sure and the diameter at the over-hanging bezel is 42mm. With the bezel sloping that far over and across the 38mm case, it allows for some of the easiest manipulation of a dive bezel you might ever experience. But it does visually add to the overall diameter of the watch. We’re at 47mm from tip to tip on those deeply beveled lugs and the case thickness is 13.6mm thanks to the flat sapphire crystal.

Keeping the watch this slim is impressive and really what I think made the watch feel more wearable for me. That 500m of water resistance didn’t seem like an excuse for a huge bulky watch and I appreciate the fact that Nodus kept things wearable. Another feature that contributed to the overall comfort was the destro-crown orientation featuring a cool red “Lock” and arrow signature reminiscent of what you’d find on old an old Seiko 6105. I guess I’ve always found the destro crown thing a bit gimmicky but there’s no denying that this configuration really helps when it comes to comfort. And back to that dual-purpose DLC matte black bezel, with a dive scale and a secondary time zone scale—it was a thing of beauty and so pleasing to operate with its 120 clicks. You also have to love how those red accents tie into the dial, which may be the best part of the watch.

Dial

Let’s be real. There’s something undeniably Sinn-ish about the dial on the Nodus Sector Deep. That’s not a bad thing and I’m sure the Nodus guys would probably take it as a compliment if you told them. But, naturally they put their own spin on things making this dial very legible and, very Nodus. The indices are comprised of white PVD coated frames with lume-filled centers with an outward taper at the cardinal positions, resulting in a call pseudo-domed visual effect when you look at the dial. I think some of the refraction even messed with the way my camera processed some of these whites, or maybe my watch photography skills are going downhill. It really is something to behold in person but basically, you can’t get lost on this dial. It feels like some weird cross between what you’d get with a Tudor Pelagos, a Sinn diver, and a Seiko.

There’s also beautiful symmetry here, with two lines of text at 12 o’clock and another two at 6 o’clock. The red ‘DEEP’ text brings out all the warm vintage diver feels while connecting with the red motif on the bezel. There’s a simple date window at 6 o’clock as well and it stays totally out of the way. Finally, I found it so satisfying to see how far out that big broad arrow minute hand came to the minutes track and seamlessly locked in with the rest of the dial design. Naturally, the BGW9 Super-LumiNova was intense and only aided in legibility while transitioning to low light. Not something I’d be able to test in a super cool dive setting, but a pleasant surprise/party trick that kept me engaged with the watch.

Bracelet

Like I mentioned before, the matte finishing spans all the way through down the bracelet and even the clasp. It’s here where we’ll find the proprietary NodeX™ clasp system from Nodus, which allows for on-the-fly bracelet length adjustments. This design is entirely original to Nodus and while useful, I do think there’s some room for refinement. Extending the adjustment past a certain point results in a single steel piece peaking out and a gap between the clasp and the last link. While it didn’t bother me, I think some folks will get picky and neckbeard-y about this. Even though this kind of looks just like an older diver extension with funtion built truly above form. I mean after all, you do see the same kind of look and fit on old Sea-Dweller fliplock clasps with the extensions. Overall I enjoyed it once I got a nice everyday fit set up on the bracelet for me.

Each of the links are held in place with heavy duty screws and sizing the watch was a breeze. The taper runs from 20mm at the lugs down to 18mm at the clasp. Dual push-buttons on either side open up the clasp mechanism, which felt secure the entire time I wore the watch. Finally, Nodus adds another touch of convenience with quick-release spring bars at the lugs. Put this thing on rubber and you’ll probably elevate that Sinn look even more. Wait … who am I kidding? It’ll still look like a killer Nodus.

Movement

There’s probably nothing new I can say at this point about the Seiko NH35 automatic movement that powers the Nodus Sector Deep. I’ll avoid using that one word that rhymes with “shmirk-shmorse” but you get the picture. Nodus regulates these in-house to +/- 10 seconds so you get some nicer performance out of the box than something off the shelf. Power reserve is 41 hours

Final Thoughts

So when I think about what Nodus set out to do with the Sector Deep, I think they succeeded. Seeing the watch in context alongside the other products in the Sector series makes sense. It’s a harmonious fit and now the collection really does have something for everyone—especially if you thought the Sector watches weren’t sporty or rugged enough. The Deep rounds out the entire collection and also shows that Nodus can still have fun experimenting with new designs while adding yet another layer to the design philosophy. My only issue? I probably would’ve liked this a little more at 40mm but that’s a very minor “me-problem” thing to call out. I still think the sizing will work for many.

From the crazy cool dial and markers to the multi-purpose bezel, water-resistance, and matte finish, it really does feel like a watch that would be hard to take off. I hope that this bold approach to higher performance sparks new desire within the Nodus brand to continually push new designs forward, while maybe revisiting some old ones to improve on. The Nodus Sector Deep will be available for sale March 3rd, 2023 for $575. You can check it out on the official Nodus website.

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