Hands-On: Sternglas Naos Automatik

The Sternglas Naos is a stylish statement from a young German startup company.

Bauhaus is hot in 2019! Unless you have lived in a cave for the last twelve months, you probably have read somewhere that 2019 was the year celebrating the 100th anniversary of the German Bauhaus movement. There have been a string of events and product releases to celebrate the start of the modernistic inspired Bauhaus design. The watch industry is also no stranger to Bauhaus design with brands like Junghans, who have a collection by former Bauhaus student Max Bill and Nomos Glashütte drawing inspiration from Bauhaus to design their collection of timepieces. Swatch also paid tribute to Bauhaus this year by releasing a limited edition Bau Swatch collection and high-end brand Ressence is also heavily influenced by the famous minimalistic approach to design that characterizes the movement that started in Weimar, Germany in 1919. Those are just a few of the brands influenced by Bauhaus, but it shows that the Bauhaus style is very much alive 100 years after it started.

Another young watch company that has made a name for itself using the Bauhaus design influence is Sternglas. Sternglas is a relatively new company that gained momentum like so many of today’s new watch companies by raising money through a crowdfunding campaign in 2016. They are based out of Hamburg, Germany, and have created a steady collection of affordable Bauhaus inspired watches that you probably have seen somewhere online or on social media. The brand puts a massive effort into getting their name out there by spending a lot of time and money in getting the online audience familiar with their brand. The collection currently holds four different model ranges with the Naos, Topograph, Zirkel, and the Sinja being the women’s line of watches. None of the Sternglas models has a retail price of over 400 euros, and every model comes in a variety of different configurations to make sure there is a watch suited for everyone that is interested. In this review, we will focus on the Sternglas Naos Automatik to see whether the Sternglas story is one of style or style and substance.

The Design

Let’s start with the looks of the Sternglas Naos Automatik. The first thing that comes to mind when looking at the Naos Automatik design is that it looks minimalistic. If you are into Bauhaus design, this is a design that feels familiar and very functional, as you would expect from a Bauhaus watch like this. The design is easy on the eyes with its polished steel case, well-balanced sized crown and white dial with black markers, and the addition of the Milanese bracelet adds that touch of sophistication to the watch. The white dial features a ring of very thin hour and minute markers printed in black with the hour markers differing in two lengths. The even hour markers are shorter because the dial features the even hour numerals on the outside of the ring printed in a very sleek font type that fits the overall design of the watch. The dial design is completed with the date display at the 3 o’clock position, which is printed significantly thicker and bigger than the other info on the dial for good readability.

When wearing the Naos Automatik, the first thing that catches your eye is not the dial with all its info, but what immediately draws attention is the set of slim stick-shaped black hands that indicate hours, minutes, and seconds. It makes it easy to read the time, which is a big plus. The three hands differ in width going from thickest to thinnest with the hour hands being the thickest and the second hand being the thinnest. The minute and second hand are equally long with the hour hand being a bit shorter as usual. Although reading the time is very easy on the Naos, I have to say that some of the info on the dial is pretty small and slim compared to the hands, to the point where readability is a challenge. My old eyes may be causing me problems, but I have to focus on reading the actual words ‘Zeitmesser’ of the logo and ‘Automatik’ on the bottom half of the dial. It’s an unusual situation because the Bauhaus inspired design feels balanced, but some of the info is very tiny, which is a shame really as every prominent piece of text on a dial should be readable. Does it cause any practical problems? Absolutely not, but it’s a detail that can be annoying if you start focusing on it.

Overall, the combination of the 38mm polished stainless steel case, white dial with black markings, and Milanese bracelet is a stylish statement that will definitely attract a crowd. I have to say that I like the Bauhaus styling of the watch. Overall it is easy on the eye, and reading the time is very easy. I think Sternglas overall did a solid job designing a The Naos Automatik that pays homage to the Bauhaus style with the appeal to attract a big audience.

The Build Quality

Next to the Bauhaus design, it’s also good to discuss the build quality of this 299 Euro Naos Automatik. Overall I would say the quality of the watch is pretty solid, especially if you consider the price point. The 38mm stainless steel case is elegantly shaped and feels solid. The case back is fitted with six screws that hold it in place, and it features a sapphire crystal through you can see the Miyota 821A movement. The front also features a domed sapphire crystal, which is pretty unique for watches in this price category. It’s a decision Sternglas made after asking their costumers what the biggest problems were with their first generation of watches, and most respondents complained about scratches on the crystal. That’s when the brand decided to introduce sapphire crystal for all of their watches. So overall, the build quality of the case is decent, and the shape and size fit very lovely on my wrist.

The part of the watch I am less impressed with is the Milanese strap and the clasp. I have to say the watch wear very comfortable because of the Milanese strap, but it’s not the best quality. The quick-change-system makes it easy to replace the superfine mesh strap with a leather strap, and removing the strap also gave me an easy chance to check out the quality a bit better. But for me to remove it, I had to use quite a lot of force which made me a bit hesitant because I didn’t want to damage anything. After trying gently for a bit I ended up removing the strap with a lot of force. The first thing that stood out was the fact that the strap is not woven entirely straight. Although you will hardly notice it when wearing it due to the tolerance in the strap, you can feel it’s not straight when taking a closer look and especially when you straighten it out you can feel it’s a bit off.

The clasp is also caused some problems over time. When adjusting the clasp to the size of your wrist, you need a little tool like a small screwdriver or knife to be able to release the clasp and move it. The risk is that by using a bit of force, you will deform the pin that’s in front of it. And I can tell you that it wasn’t easy releasing the clasp, so the pin suffered from that. As a result, the clasp didn’t close firmly any more. Overall the build quality of the case is very solid, and, unfortunately, the quality of the strap and the clasp are not up to par with that. Also, the quick-change-system didn’t perform up the 10-second standard the brand communicates every time we tried it. Overall you won’t notice these things when wearing the watch daily, but there is room for improvement to get the quality up to par with the build quality of the case.

The Movement

The Sternglas Naos Automatik is powered by the Miyota 821A automatic movement, which is a very reliable and well-known workhorse.  The 821A is based on the Miyota 8215 movement, with the most significant differences being a decorated finish and a cutout rotor instead of a solid half circle. The 821A features hours, minutes, central seconds, and a quick-set date at 3 o’clock. The quick-set date is accessed by pulling the crown out halfway and changing the time can be done by pulling out the crown.

The movement is visible through the transparent case back, which is not a necessary feature when considering the appeal of the 821A movement. The only ‘modification’ done to the movement is the engraving of the Sternglas Zeitmesser logo on the skeletonized rotor, and for the rest, the movement is standard. It runs at 21,600 beats per hour and has a power reserve of 42 hours with an accuracy of -20/+40 seconds per day. Overall the Miyota 821A will do the trick as a reliable and robust mechanical movement for watches at this price point. We are sure this movement can be fine-tuned for higher precision, but that would have quite an impact on the price.

Thinking of the see-through case back, although the movement is nothing special in its appearance, for a brand like Sternglas, it’s a way of showing their customers their automatic movement as a step up to the quartz version of the Naos. And probably, there will be a group of potential buyers that are attracted to the mechanical version of the Sternglas Naos and love seeing the movement at work. At this price level, there are different standards and different reasons why you would show a mechanical movement. It has more to do with the proof and magic of a mechanical movement as such than showing the technical brilliance and the beauty of the finishing of a movement as is common in the higher segments of the watch industry. And I understand that appeal for people that are not used to wearing a mechanical watch every day.

Final Thoughts

Overall I have to say that the Naos Automatik is well designed and a very comfortable watch to wear with its 38mm case and the Milanese strap. Sternglas also offers the Naos Automatik with a variety of leather straps, and there is also a version with a black dial. Although I find some of the info on the dial a bit small and the build quality could be better in some areas, I must admit that I wore the Naos Automatik more than I had expected. I love a beautiful Bauhaus watch, and that’s also what brought me back to the Sternglas Naos Automatik a couple of times. Does that mean I would recommend this Naos Automatik for people that are looking for a watch with a maximum price of 500 Euros? If you are not specifically looking for a minimalistic Bauhaus watch, there are more options out there that offer better quality within the 500 Euros price range. But if you are looking for an affordable Bauhaus inspired watch, this could be a very good option for you. Sternglas has come up with a nicely designed watch with a solid automatic movement and sapphire crystal for under 300 Euros. It is a very strong proposition and will probably attract a big audience. If I had to make a choice when buying the Naos Automatik, I would prefer it with a leather strap to avoid some of the quality downsides. Then the Naos Automatik is a very affordable and stylish statement.

For more information, visit Sternglas here.