Nordgreen Watch Review – I’m Left With A Few Questions…
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Is it just me, or does this sound familiar?...
A Scandinavian brand, selling quartz minimalist watches, which are made in the Far East and heavily marketed on social media.
It feels like that is some form of tick list for start-up watch brands at the moment, doesn’t it? My main question is what separates Nordgreen from the rest?
Either way, they’ve sent me this ‘Philosopher’ watch to look at in this post. As always, they’re seeing this the same time as you do.
Ok, so this brand has been around for a couple of years, appearing on my radar late last year. I’ve seen them on Instagram a few times and I know they’ve sent watches out to some pretty big influencers. There are a couple of factors that Nordgreen are pushing as their key selling points.
Firstly, these watches are designed by Jakob Wagner, who is a well-known and highly-acclaimed designer. He’s worked with a variety of popular brands before, so we’ll see how well he’s done with this watch.
Additionally, they have a focus on sustainability, with recyclable packaging and partnerships with manufacturers who focus on green production. This is combined with a giving back program, where for each watch purchased, they’ll donate to one of three charity organisations; either providing education to a child in India, clean water to someone in the Central African Republic or preserve 200ft of rainforest in Latin America.
That all sounds great, but how is the watch?
WATCH THE FULL VIDEO REVIEW:
Nordgreen Philosopher Review
This 36mm diameter Philosopher model is actually slightly under that but fits really nicely on my small wrist. Coming in at just 7.4mm in depth, it’s a pretty slim watch too. What’s surprised me is how tight the lugs are. The lug to lug size is actually smaller than the diameter of the watch; which is the first time I’ve seen that, outside of lug-free designs. Considering this, the watch does wear smaller than the base size indicates. They do make a 40mm version too and considering these short lugs, that’s probably the one most people should go for.
Specifications
In terms of materials, it seems they’ve also followed the mystery checklist for this. You’ve got the familiar:
316L Steel Construction
Japanese Quartz Movement
Mineral Glass
3ATM Water Resistance
Genuine Leather Strap
Design
When you look at the design, I’d say it’s pretty standard Scandinavian, though it’s not as generic as many of the fashion watch brands I’ve seen out there.
This Nordgreen Philosopher model features a raised and texturized chapter ring, containing the slim second and hour markers. You do have to look very close to see that texture, but it is there. You’ll also notice the second hand is quite unusual. This slims down into an asymmetrical knife shape, which is supposed to have some metaphorical meaning. I guess it’s refreshing to see something different, though I can’t say I’m a big fan of it.
One thing I am a fan of is this case. It features a brushed finish for the most part, with a thin high polish bezel around the circumference. The lugs sprout from underneath the watch, jutting out at a pleasing angle which kind of makes the watch sit nicely on surfaces. You’d think this would dig in; however, I’m pleased to say it doesn’t and the watch is actually very comfortable on-wrist.
You’ll notice the crown is also slightly unusual. This one only has deep knurling towards the very tip, but still retains a sufficient amount of grip, which surprised me; maybe that brushed finish adds to the grip too, I’m not sure.
Unfortunately, the snap on case back provides very little water resistance, so I wouldn’t dream of showering or swimming in this; though given it’s appearance, I doubt you’d be doing that anyway with this style of watch.
Overall, I think the watch looks really nice and there’s definitely more going on here than a lot of the alternative brands I’ve covered before. It is minimalist, but doesn’t look as stale as some of its contemporaries. There are some nicer finishing touches, it’s less generic and doesn’t look like it’s just been chucked together in 5 minutes. There’s something about the proportions and shape of this 36mm that just look right from all angles. There are no parts of this watch that look like they’re unnecessarily stretched out or an afterthought.
Movement
Unfortunately, there’s nothing special inside the watch, just a cheap Japanese Miyota movement, as used in loads of brand around this price point. This is fine and I guess accurate enough, it’s just not a clear positive in my opinion. You can get these movements in watches for a third of this retail price and you can buy the individual movements dirt cheap online.
Watch Strap
The strap is pretty good though. This is only genuine leather, but feels plush and I’m confident will last well over time. It’s a nice colour and is flexible enough without feeling cheap. It also features the quick release tabs, to allow speedy strap changes on the fly, which is a nice feature. This really reminds me of the Linjer straps, which I’ll be taking a look at in an upcoming video. I’m glad they haven’t skimped here.
Isn’t this just another Daniel Wellington?
Do I love this watch? No. Do I think it’s just another Daniel Wellington clone? I’d also say no.
I’m under no doubt that the massive success of brands like Daniel Wellington probably did inspire the inception of this brand in the first place. I wouldn’t be surprised if they looked at that brand and thought ‘we can do that but better’.
Overall, I do think the watch is okay and my main reservation with it is the price. The watch regularly retails for £164, which I think is a lot considering the specifications. They almost always have some sort of discount on the go. That would take this down to around £106, which is significantly better value for money. Personally, I wouldn’t like to pay much more than that for one of these. I’d like to see that £100 as the standard retail price to be honest.
While the watch looks good and feels okay, you can get watches with similar specifications for a lot less elsewhere. I get that they have this sustainability thing going on and that these have a nice design, but these are made in Hong Kong and likely still have a really high mark-up.
Are Nordgreen Watches Good?
I think it’s above some of the other Scandinavian fashion brands I’ve tried before; however, it just lacks a killer feature to make this a really unique value proposition. I’ll have to see how much wrist time this actually sees moving forward.
