Nienaber Bünde Retro 2 retrograde watch

The new Nienaber Bunde Retro 2 self-winding timekeeper comes equipped with a car dashboard styled dial with a pair of retrograde hands that are unusually placed at the lower part of the dial.

Scanning the Web in search for something to write about, I stumbled upon a particularly unusual timepiece. Called Nienaber Bünde Retro 2, this automatic watch puts the very concept of the retrograde time display right on its head.

While most watches with retrograde time display tend to have their hour, minute and second hands travel the whole way from “1″ to “12″, “1″ to “60″ respectively, this German watch tells time in a completely different way.

As you can see on the photos (and there is a nice Flash-demo on the company’s web-site), the Retro 2’s minute hand goes from “30″ to “60″ to “30″ and then again jumps left to “30″, just like the hour hand travels from “6″ to “12″ to “6″ before it skips back to the starting position.

A little bit confusing at first, but much more original than the rest of the pack, isn’t it?

The watch is powered by a slightly modified ETA 2824-2 Swiss made automatic caliber, which is also present in the recently introduced Revue Thommen Airspeed Instrument RT1920, a more youth-oriented TAG Heuer Carrera Calibre 5 and the tongue-in-cheek Fortis IQ Art Edition LE nerd’s watch.

Alas, although the watch features a transparent display case back, there is nothing really to look at. Judging by the picture below, the movement seems to be installed without extra decoration.

This is sad, since the watch is coming to market bearing quite a hefty price tag.

According to sources, the watch with a stainless steel case will be selling at a recommended street price of €5500 and the version with a golden bezel will be available at even more expensive price of €5820.

Well, you just can’t have everything, right?

Photos: Nienaber BГјnde

Nienaber Bünde Retro 2 retrograde watch’s specification:

Price range: from €5500 to €5820
Movement: ETA 2824-2, automatic, 28,800 vph, 25 jewels
Complications: Retrograde time display
Power reserve: 42 hours
Case material: Stainless steel
Case size: N/A
Case height: N/A
Dial: White, with a barleycorn guilloche pattern
Water resistance: N/A
Strap: Alligator leather
Crystal: Sapphire