Hard work pays off, or so the legend goes. Too often in our turbulent times, it feels quite the opposite – hard work begets more work, in an atavistic cycle. Recently, though, I got to experience the legend, in the form of a work trip to Indonesia. Not just any part of Indonesia, but the beautiful island paradise of Bali. Naturally, such a trip necessitated the requisite horological equipment, as this was the rare chance to wear the preferred watch of the discerning world traveler, a venerated flier-style GMT, like the new $825 Nodus Contrail GMT.
Sub $1,000 GMT’s these days are like Oprah’s Pontiacs – there’s one for everyone. And like the latter days of Pontiac’s existence, not all of them are winners. I’ve reviewed a couple of the good ones for this very site, in the form of MMI’s Turret GMT, and Lorier’s Hydra III. I enjoyed both of those watches immensely, but this newest Contrail may be my favorite among that laudable group.
With this third iteration of the Contrail, Nodus has shown that hard work can pay off. The first two iterations of the Contrail – similar to Lorier’s first two Hydra models – were dive watch platforms sporting 12-hour, or sterile, bezels. They were handsome, well-made watches, but the 12-hour bezel suggested that they lacked the ideal movement to reach their full multi-time zone tracking potential. The proliferation of Miyota’s 9075 enabled Nodus to push the Contrail into new territory as a mechanical GMT, and one ready for traveling across, and not just monitoring, multiple time zones.
Much as the Contrail III has entered new territory for the model line, my trip pushed me into a range of world travel I’d yet to experience. Though I’ve had the good fortune of traveling internationally on prior occasions, none of those trips required the roughly 30-hour (in each direction) journey necessary to go from the eastern U.S. to Bali. Armed, quite literally, with the Contrail III, accompanied by my favorite travel partner and equipped with entirely too much luggage, our adventure began.
I won’t belabor you with details of our flights, other than to say that anything beyond 6-7 hours in a plane turns into a form of slow torture. At least that is the case for those of us without the monetary resources to afford business or first class, where the torture is at least more padded. The duration and varied climatic conditions of the long flights and layover did grant me the opportunity to put two of the Contrail’s functions to the test. The 24-hour scale on the rotating bezel enabled me to simultaneously track all three time zones relevant to our flight itinerary. When departing from home, I had the local hour hand set to EST, the GMT hand to Doha’s time zone for our layover, and the bezel rotated to show the time in Bali via the GMT hand. When we landed in Doha, I pivoted the local hour hand to Doha’s local time while leaving the GMT hand and bezel in their prior positions. Once we landed in Bali, I just inverted the order: local hour hand to Bali local, GMT hand still to Doha, and bezel to EST. I’m sure this method isn’t to everyone’s preference, but it worked for me, and I appreciate how easy all the formatting was with the Contrail. In particular, the 48-click bezel has excellent and precise action.
The second function that I utilized across our air travel, and even more so once in Bali, was the Nodex tool-less microadjustment in the Contrail’s clasp. I’ve had experience with earlier versions of this setup, and while adjustment was easy, it was a bit too easy, enabling the clasp to release when the watch was on the wrist. I’m happy to report that over two weeks of travel through pressurized plane cabins, temperatures ranging from 40 to 90+ degrees, and humidity beyond what I thought was possible, I never had the clasp accidentally released. I won’t go so far as to guarantee that the prior issues with Nodex are entirely fixed, but in my experience with the Contrail, the system has been massively upgraded.
A final point on our air travel – I would be remiss not to mention the architectural and mercantile splendor of our layover location: Doha’s Hamad International Airport. If you have to spend several hours waiting for your flight, you could do far worse. The airport’s Grove area is a remarkable feat of architecture and landscape design, and does a fair job of convincing you that you’ve actually left the airport. In particular, Hamad International is a bit of paradise for watch lovers, as there are numerous boutiques displaying wares ranging from entry-level Seiko and Citizen, to Ulysee Nardin, Cartier, Rolex, and a variety of other high-end pieces. My favorite was the Tag Heuer boutique, not only for its underrated and excellent watch collection, but for the 1970 Porsche 911 it displayed in resplendent Gulf livery. This is also the only boutique that allowed me to take pictures, which was an appreciated alignment of opportunity and interest.
Having satisfied two of my favorite areas of interest – watches and vintage cars – we were ready to board our second flight. After another 9 hours in the air, we arrived in Bali. Two steps onto the walkway when exiting the plane, and it was clear that I’d be putting that Nodex clasp to the test, as the humidity felt as though you could scoop water from the air. For context, I’ve lived in the Baltimore-Washington area, and now live in Atlanta, both locations with their own intense heat and humidity. Bali’s was on another level, and it never dissipated. That said, it is such a beautiful place that the heat, like the long flights, is part of the price you pay for the overall experience.
Through these various time and climatic changes, the Contrail’s highly legible dial made telling the time decidedly easy, which was deeply welcome at the conclusion of 30 hours spent doing my best impression of a pretzel. The hour and minute hands are a variation on the familiar Nodus obelisk style, blunted here at the ends. Like the Contrails’ hour indices, these hands are black polished, and filled with lume, which makes those primary time-keeping elements contrast strongly against the sand-colored and textured Laguna colorway I had. The seconds hand does what it should, which is to say that it is unobtrusive unless you need it, and its lume-filled counterbalance lets you know the watch is running even in low-light conditions. The GMT hand may look small from renders and perhaps even my photos, but it works well and gives the dial more breathing room by confining the lume-filled point to the very perimeter of the hand. The GMT hand, along with the model name’s dial text and the even dates on the date wheel, add a cohesive dash of red to an otherwise business-like color scheme. What I love most about the dial design here is that it is not derived from a reference model, and puts forth a considered and modern aesthetic.
A small design note, not significant to merit a full critique, is that the hour hand appears a mm or so too short. This never impeded my ability to tell the time, and it is an observation that stopped being noticeable after I first clocked it. A second note, in similarly minuscule fashion, is that the 24-hour scale on the rehaut is a tad tiny to read at a glance, at least for my computer-screen fatigued eyes. It takes an extra couple of seconds to register which numbers the GMT hand is pointing to, but no more than that. Even so, the numerals on this scale are less important than the position they indicate – just reframe your mind to consider the primary hour indices as the even numbers of a 24-hour scale, and the printed numeric positions on the rehaut easily slot in as the odds.
When we exited the airport, the flow of traffic on the island was even more jarring than the humidity. As we traveled from the airport in Denapsar, to our hotel in Sanur, the driving culture at first seemed irregular, disjointed, and far too fast, but then the patterns emerged. I would need another two eyes to track every motorist and pedestrian, and was happy to leave the vehicular negotiation to Bali’s deeply capable drivers, who the world of rally sport would be wise to recruit. I can only assume that a lack of such a talent pipeline is derived from fear that Balinese drivers would dominate the sport.
After a long daytime nap, we spent some hours exploring our surroundings in Sanur, a community on Bali’s east coast. The seemingly placid strait between Bali and neighboring Nusa Penida was framed by the many peaks of the archipelago, and the beach was pleasantly free of people taking pictures of themselves while ignoring their majestic surroundings. As this trip was not only leisure but vocational, I was happy to have the Contrail’s bracelet set up, which made me comfortable traveling with just one watch. Nodus has always made good bracelets, managing to balance comfort with good looks. This flat-link style, to my knowledge, is a first for the brand, and it advances Nodus’ bracelet excellence. The brushing is heavy, which accentuates the structural lines of the bracelet, and the polished bevels along the edges of the links dress the watch up more than a fully-brushed bracelet would, perfect for the Contrail’s flexible nature.
On an excursion to Nusa Pineda, I wore the Contrail on its bracelet as we did more hiking than I anticipated, rode on an enclosed boat in which I was slowly sous-vide, and joyfully embraced the waves on Crystal Beach. The Contrail and the bracelet remained comfortable and capable throughout all these activities. I did, though, grant myself the flexibility of multiple fabric straps, which came in handy as the heat pressured many of us, over the course of the trip, to utilize our casual attire for work settings. From my experience, the Contrail wears beautifully, both aesthetically and physically, no matter what it is fitted to. Much of this is owed to the case, which has been slimmed and streamlined for this third iteration of the model. While the Contrail II wasn’t exactly thick at 12.6mm, Nodus has shaved off roughly 1mm for the Contrail III – impressive, considering they’ve maintained the 200m depth rating. Overall, the Contrail III measures 39.5mm x 11.8mm x 46.6mm and balances svelte sizing with a strong visual presence.
The reduced height of the watch and the increased elegance of its appearance are most evident in the design and execution of the midcase. Where the Contrail II’s midcase profile appeared like a refined version of a simple m-shaped drawing of a bird, terminating in tall, blunt lug tips, the midcase of the Contrail III appears more elongated and graceful. A major aspect of this change is the chamfer between the case sides and the upper portion of the lugs, which flows from a fine line at the 3 and 9 positions, to a broad turn-down that forms nearly the entirety of the upper lug surfaces. It calls to mind Omega’s lyre design, with a less severe twist that rounds into the underside of the lugs. As I’ve come to expect from Nodus, the transitions are crisp, and the brushed and polished sections are finished superbly.
Despite the thinner dimensions of this newest Contrail, Nodus designed a rotating bezel that is both functional and visually dynamic. The updated design trades in the knurled style of the Contrail I and II for a crenelated grip that angles outward, similar to that of a Seiko Sumo. This adds a vintage touch to the design that befits the case’s more elegant lines and also provides a great grippable surface for rotating the 24-hour time scale through each of the bezel’s 48 clicks. In its entirety, the Contrail III is visually stimulating, yet unobtrusive to wear, making it a lovely travel companion.
As we finished lunch one day north of Ubud, rain began to gently tap on the tin roof above us. Quickly, as is common in tropical areas, the delicate tapping turned to a loud thrumming as the rain intensified. As I sat there, looking over rice patties, the rain so loud it blocked out most other noise, I thought of my dad, who recently passed. We used to love sitting on my parents’ porch during storms, listening to similar sounds, enjoying one of nature’s many songs. Now, I got to enjoy a similar experience with my wife not more than a heartbeat away from me. The influencers can have the swings, I would’ve stayed in that moment eternally. Sadly, the Contrail does not have a function to pause time.
Having read this story, you have every right to hate me. I got to travel to a beautiful place at little personal expense, wearing an excellent watch that I spent nothing on. I won’t go so far as to say I deserved any of this, and it is even a challenge for me to think that I earned it. But I for darn sure enjoyed it. Life can be wonderful, it can be beautiful, and it is often fleeting, in full and in moments. On this trip, we got to see some quintessential Bali vistas – Klinking Beach, rice terraces (and the Instagram-famous swings that soar above them), but my most memorable experiences were the more personal experiences removed from the crowd.
Over my years, both few and many, I’ve learned not to trivialize the things that bring joy to the experience of living, be they moments of fun sandwiched between work or the pleasure of looking at a beautiful watch on my wrist. It’s all part of the experience, and even the smallest of moments can create a lifelong memory. The Contrail III is one of the few watches I’ve reviewed that left me with a lingering sense of loss after returning it. Some of this is certainly owed to the context in which I wore it, but a good deal of my fondness is down to the watch itself, which is beautiful, capable, flexible, yet undemanding. Nodus’s brand trajectory has been one of constant iterative, incremental improvements, but with the Contrail III, they’ve leaped up and landed firmly.
Learn more about the Nodus Contrail GMT at the brand’s website.
