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Field Watches Aren’t Supposed to Look This Good. Especially for This Little Money

$550? That has to be a misprint.

Close-up of a field watch case corner showing a matte-finished, angular lug in a muted gray color, part of a textured fabric strap is visible on the right side. The watch dial has beige numerals and a cream-colored arrow-shaped hand.Nodus

By Johnny Brayson

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Even in the overly crowded market of watch microbrands, Los Angeles-based Nodus stands out for its unique tool-watch designs and its commitment to keeping prices low in an industry that’s gone mad with greed.

I am used to seeing attractive, dirt-cheap, well-specced watches from Nodus, but the brand’s latest limited edition — a tropical-dialed variant of its Sector II Field Titanium with a very interesting strap — feels extra special.

Camo by another name

Close-up of a Nodus Sector watch face with a matte brown textured dial. The watch has large, luminescent hour and minute hands, a thin second hand, and bold Arabic numerals for the hours. The inner ring shows 24-hour markings, and the word "TITANIUM" is visible at the bottom. The watch hands and numerals have a vintage, slightly aged look.
Nodus’s latest limited edition is a modernized take on a tropical dial.
Nodus

The new watch is the Sector II Field Titanium Tropical LE, a limited-edition take on Nodus’s modernized imagining of a field watch, and there are a few interesting things going on with this particular version.

First is the titular “Tropical” dial. Rather than go for a faux-aged look like most watches that try to emulate the faded brown look of “tropical” vintage watch dials, Nodus has instead applied the same color scheme while keeping the watch hypermodern. Its layered, sector dial features a matte, grained texture and a mixture of warm gray and brown tones in a gradient finish.

The hands and printed Arabic numeral hour markers are all filled with Super-LumiNova’s Old Radium Grade X1. This lume is normally classified as a “fauxtina” pigment, but it doesn’t look intentionally aged here, probably because the rest of the watch didn’t get the faux-vintage treatment.

Black wristwatch with glowing blue-green Arabic numerals and hands, showing the time as 10:09:34. The watch face has the brand name "Nodus" and the word "Titanium" faintly visible in the center. The watch has a black bezel and a black strap.
Don’t let the Old Radium lume fool you — this stuff emits a very contemporary blue glow when the lights go down.
Nodus

The dreamy 38mm x 11.7mm case remains in lightweight and strong Grade 2 titanium, but in this instance, it’s been given an olive-green Cerakote coating. Seen often in the EDC knife industry, Cerakote is a ceramic-based coating that provides excellent protection against scratches — a welcome feature on a watch made of Grade 2 titanium, which normally acquires marks quite easily.

The watch keeps its usual box-shaped sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating on the inside. I’m sure I’ve said it before, but Nodus’s AR coating is fantastic. It has a blue tint reminiscent of whatever formula IWC uses on its crystals, and looks very high-end as a result. No other brand comes close to matching it for the price, at least none that I’ve seen.

A wristwatch with a matte olive green case and a brown gradient dial featuring large, cream-colored Arabic numerals. The watch has three hands: an arrow-tipped seconds hand, a thick hour hand, and a long minute hand. The dial includes a smaller inner ring with 24-hour markings. The strap is a matching olive green fabric with black edges. The watch is worn on a wrist with a gray textured jacket sleeve and a white cuff visible.
That blue AR has become a signature, standout feature of Nodus’s watches. For me, at least.
Nodus

The movement remains a Seiko Cal. NH38 automatic, which is a basic three-hander and normally nothing to write home about, but Nodus regulates theirs in-house to the tune of +/- 10 seconds per day, so the performance should be better than what you’d get from most other watches using this movement.

Saving the best for last, we have a very interesting strap. It’s a version of Nodus’s bestselling strap, the Hybrid TecTuff Rubber Strap, which is made of high-strength rubber topped with a stitched textile layer boasting a high-performance coating that resists water, oil, stains and abrasions.

In this case, the strap features a camouflage pattern for the first time, specifically a Disruptive Pattern Material-inspired design. It adds a cool, tactical touch that fits well with the Tropical LE’s overall well-worn, battle-tested field watch aesthetic.

A wristwatch with a matte olive green case and a matching olive green fabric strap. The dial is gradient brown with large, beige Arabic numerals and smaller 24-hour numerals inside. The watch hands are beige with a luminescent finish, and the second hand is thin and beige. The watch face has a blue ring near the outer edge and the brand name "Nodus Sector" along with "Titanium" printed on the dial. The crown is silver and textured for grip. The watch is placed on a textured gray surface.
Nodus’s nearly invincible Hybrid TecTuff Rubber Strap gets a fitting new colorway with this Disruptive Pattern Material version.
Nodus

Pricing and availability

Nodus routinely offers some of the best bang for your buck on the market, and that remains true with this limited edition. The Sector II Field Titanium Tropical LE is priced at only $550, which is just a $50 bump over the standard version of the watch, largely due, I assume, to the Cerakote coating.

The watch is extremely limited, however, with just 75 examples being produced, so I recommend moving fast if you want to snag one.

A wristwatch with a matte olive green titanium case and matching olive green fabric strap. The dial is brown with beige Arabic numerals and hands, featuring a blue ring near the outer edge. The watch face displays the brand name "Nodus Sector" and the word "Titanium." The second hand is thin and beige with a small arrow tip. The crown is textured and silver-gray.Nodus

Nodus Sector II Field Titanium Tropical LE

Specs

Case Size 38mm
Movement Seiko Cal. NH38 automatic
Water Resistance 100m
About the Author:

Johnny Brayson is an editor at Gear Patrol mostly covering watches. He enjoys watches that are packed with blink-and-you’ll-miss-’em details and believes nearly every watch could stand to be a tad smaller.

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