The self-winding Nienaber Bunde Retro 2 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. If you are looking for a timepiece that looks different and original, and the sticker price of almost €6000 doesn’t scare you away, this brief review is probably written for you.
Scanning the Web in search of something to write about, I stumbled upon a particularly unusual timepiece. Nienaber Bünde Retro 2 puts the very concept of the retrograde time display right on its head.
Nienaber Bunde Retro 2: My Impressions
The Retrograde Dial
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 timepiece 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 website), 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 Leaf-Shaped Hands
The display is neatly decorated with leaf-shaped hands. Hovering above the hand-engraved dial that features the traditional barleycorn pattern, they perfectly match the overall styling of the watch.
As far as I understand, the German brand uses two alloys to craft the hands depending on the material of the case. It’s either steel or titanium.
The ones that come with a full-stainless-steel variety are, too, crafted from steel to give the Nienaber Bunde Retro 2 a more formal appearance.
The titanium ones come with a two-tone version with a polished yellow gold bezel. They heat-treated both sets to give them that signature deep-blue or dark-brown colors that sound in perfect unison with their cases.
The Two Cases
Another nice thing about this device is its size.
Compared to many recently introduced pieces, this one comes in a refreshingly small case about 41mm in diameter. It’s compact enough to fit the relatively small self-winding movement. Yet, it is adequately prominent to fit perfectly with a business suit (although I would have probably replaced the original leather strap with something a bit more refined).
There are currently only two versions of the body. Both are crafted from high-grade stainless steel, but one of them is decorated with a gold bezel.
Both have a rudimentary crown guard that matches the style of the relatively long lugs while protecting the crown from an accidental damage.
The case looks a bit on a thick(ish) side, but that is something to be expected with a standard ETA caliber.
I also like the way the notched bezel matches the dial via a circular band on the bezel flange that shows the same coin-edge pattern. A very nice touch, that.
The Modified ETA 2824-2 Caliber
The Retro 2 features a slightly modified ETA 2824-2 Swiss made automatic caliber, which is also present in the recently introduced Revue Thommen Airspeed Instrument, and a more youth-oriented TAG Heuer Aquaracer Calibre 5.
Alas, although the steel case features a transparent “display” back, there is nothing particularly interesting to look at behind the sapphire crystal. Judging by the picture below, the movement seems to be installed without any extra decoration. An engraved barley-corn pattern would look so cool on this mechanism!
The Price
The lack of personalization on the movement is sad. Mainly because the watch is coming to the market bearing such a hefty price tag.
Nienaber Bünde plans to sell the version with a stainless steel case at a street price of €5500. The version with a golden bezel will be predictably even more expensive at €5820.
Well, you just can’t have everything, right?
Update from the future: Back in 2023, Rainer Nienaber, the man (also, the legend) behind the brand announced his retirement after 50 years in the business. Unfortunately, it seems that none of the conglomerates was interested in buying the brand. This kind of makes me sad. Nienaber Bunde was one of those precious few “real” micro-brands that actually put a lot of effort and passion into designing their watches.
See also: Revealed: The 2008 Daniel Roth Papillon Chronograph
Nienaber Bünde Retro 2 specification
Price range: from €5500 to €5820
Movement: ETA 2824-2, modified in-house, Swiss Made
Winding: Automatic
Jewels: 25
Frequency: 28,800 vph
Complications: Retrograde time display
Power reserve: 42 hours
Case: Stainless steel
Bezel: Steel or Gold
Dial: White, with a barleycorn guilloche pattern
Water resistance: 30 meters
Strap: Alligator leather
Crystal: Sapphire
Photos: Nienaber Bünde