A couple of weeks ago, the postie dropped off a hotly anticipated parcel from Italy. Nestled among the packaging was the Nereide 39 from Italian brand Venezianico, a dive watch I’ve been dying to get my sticky mitts on ever since I reviewed the larger 42mm variant. And I’m so glad that I’ve got to compare the two as the proportions and materials used for the Nereide Bronzo 39 make it feel like a remarkably different watch to its more extroverted, lapis lazuli-dialled and tungsten clad bigger brother. In fact, in relative terms, the Nereide Bronzo 39 is more reserved than many Venezianico watches, but yet it still somehow manages to embody the Italian spirit of the brand.
Venezianico Nereide Collection Overview
The Nereide is Venezianico’ s largest collection, featuring no less than 34 different configurations, comprising dive watches and GMTs. Variants encompass different case sizes, dial designs, dial colours, dial materials, movements and complications. There are time-only watches, date versions, Swiss movements, Japanese movements, GMT complications, sapphire bezels, ceramic bezels, tungsten bezels…the list goes on and on! Some are extravagant and opulent, others are more subdued.
Prices range from between €565 for a Seiko NH35 powered watch to €1450 for the Soprod powered Nereide GMT Ceratung, which has a bezel insert that comprises both Ceramic and Tungsten. My review watch, the Nereide Bronzo 39 (ref: 3121555), comes in at €800. The Bronzo 39 is one of three Bronze variants available, the other two being a cream dial version of the 39 and a 42mm with black fume dial. The use of bronze still gives the watch a certain ‘showiness’ that Venezianico are known for, but the soft gold tones bring more warmth, and of course being bronze it will pick up patina quickly, so is sure to appeal to those collectors and enthusiasts who like to make a watch truly their own. All configurations are available to buy directly from the Venezianico website. Alternatively, if you fancy a trip to Venice, you can visit the bricks and mortar store, lovely! Now, where did I put my passport?
The Case and Wearing Experience
The Nereide Bronzo’s case is made from QAl9-4, an aluminium-based marine-grade alloy with high corrosion resistance. Instead of rusting, it will merely oxidise over time until the watch develops its own unique patina which, in turn, protects its structure from further deterioration. The 39mm diameter case is just 10.65mm thick, the lug-to-lug measurement is 45.5mm and the lug width is 20mm. The thinness is exceptional for a 200-metre dive watch and for those into smaller tool watches, you’re in for a real treat as the wearing experience is exceptional, providing comfort and perfect proportions. It weighs in at just 88 grams according to my scales and sits beautifully on my 7.25-inch wrist. The watch has a sporty appearance and looks broad and planted on the wrist thanks in part to the crown guards and bezel that matches the case. However, the case also has a nice arc and taper to its profile, which brings an added level of refinement.
The three-part case is relatively simple but blends different finishes. The mid-case is satin-brushed, but has gorgeous, polished chamfers to the top edge that are generously wide and wrap around the lug tips and terminate at the crown-guards. The solid screw-down caseback protrudes slightly from the mid-case and is the only part of the watch made from stainless steel which prevents direct contact between the skin and the bronze patina. The polished perimeter of the caseback is primarily designed for function. However, Venezianico has executed it in such a way that the six deeply recessed circular tooling holes used to remove the caseback are interspersed with equally deep ellipse shaped sections to form an attractive design. These milled recesses are sand-blasted and give the caseback a high quality, engineered-look. The centre of the caseback meanwhile features an engraved image of the Four Horses of St. Mark, a symbol of the deep significance Bronze holds in Venetian artisanal culture. An embossed band of engraved specifications separates the polished outer from the centre engraving.
The 6mm brushed and knurled screw-down crown is branded with the Venezianico cross and together with the screw-down caseback helps to provide a 200m water resistance rating. The crown latches down in a positive manner and the winding action is good. However, whilst the crown proportions look perfect, the crown isn’t the easiest to unscrew as it’s very well protected by the crown guards. That said, the flipside of course is that the guards are doing their job! Once unscrewed it’s a lot easier to grip it.
The 120-click rotating diver’s bezel is machined from the same QAl9-4 Bronze as the case and is concentrically brushed featuring engraved Arabic numerals for the 15, 30, and 45-minute markers and simple engraved batons placed at every other 5-minute marker. These are filled with BGW9 Super-LumiNova (a luminescent paint that glows-blue-green), for better nighttime legibility.In the daytime the BGW9 just looks white. The 12 o’clock inverted triangle marker has a black border to match the dial and a BGW9 lume-filled centre. The finishing around the 12 o’clock marker could be a little neater, as it’s a little ragged, but it’s only really noticeable on magnification. The bezel edge has brushed knurling in a uniform square-shaped pattern, which makes it easy to grip. The outer edge of the bezel has a polished chamfer that brings refinement and helps define the case and bezel. A flat scratch-resistant sapphire crystal rises slightly above the gently sloping bezel and has an anti-reflective coating applied to the inner, which is much appreciated on a relatively smooth, dark dial like this.
The Nereide Bronzo 39 comes on a black quick-release FKM tropical-style rubber strap which tapers from 20mm down to 18mm. It’s pliable and suits the watch well. But while the strap looks great and is comfortable, I found it tricky to get the perfect fit as the spacing between the holes is wide due to the design of the strap. The plus side is that the watch is slim and quite light, so wearing it slightly loose worked ok for the most part. The matching bronze buckle is branded and comprises a mix of polished and brushed areas. In isolation the buckle is lovely. However, for some reason it doesn’t sit flat against the strap (see photo), which can cause issues when wearing cuffed shirts. I think a very slight tweak in the design would fix this issue. No bracelet option is offered and no other Venezianico straps are available for the Nereide Bronzo, which is shame. However, it will be easy to find alternative straps and just retrofit the bronze buckle from the original.
When new, the Nereide Bronzo 39 gold-toned case gives it a touch of glamour, but the FKM rubber strap helps the watch maintain its sporty edge. And of course, once the patina sets in through daily wear, it will gain its own character and take on a more ‘lived-in’, less bright look. The case finishing is generally very good, although if I was being picky, the transitions between brushed and polished sections could be a little crisper and more precise in places. However, these very minor imperfections are only visible through a macro lens or a loupe. They do not in any way effect day-to-day enjoyment of the watch.
The Dial
Unlike many of Venezianico’s offerings, the Bronzo’s dial isn’t crafted from an exotic material, but it doesn’t need to be. The very finely grained semi-matt black dial has a subtle warmth and smokiness that just complements the bronze dial furniture perfectly. It doesn’t need any extra whizz-bang effects or semi-precious stones. Black and gold just works. It did 1000 years and ago, it does now and it will in another 1000 years. It’s timeless.
Gold against black is also good when it comes to legibility, especially when the hands and the bullion-shaped hour markers are high-polished and bevelled to catch the light. The half skeletonised, half lume-filled, sword-shaped hour and minute hands again strike a good balance between sporty and dressy. The seconds hand has a simple round counterbalance and a small strip of rectangular lume. Super-LumiNova BGW9 is used for hands, hour markers and the 12 o’clock bezel pip, which glows blue-green to ensure that low-light legibility is also decent. The minute track, printed in gold, sits right at the outer edge of the dial and includes smaller hash marks for fractions of a second. With no date window and little in the way of text to clutter the dial or break the symmetry, the dial is simple but refined. Venezianico’s attractive applied cross inspired by the golden Renaissance cross of the ancient clock tower in St. Mark’s Square, Venice is found above the pinion at 12 o’clock with the brand’s centred wordmark printed in bronze beneath it. This is balanced out at six o’clock by ‘Nereide’ printed in gold and Bronzo printed beneath that in white.
The Nereide 39 Movement
Whereas the 42mm version is fitted with the Swiss made Sellita SW200, the Nereide 39 is fitted with the Japanese-made Miyota 9039 automatic movement, a 24-jewel no-date version of the more popular 9015. Whilst not quite having the caché of a Swiss made movement, enthusiasts (myself included) love the Miyota 9 series, and for good reason. It’s cost effective, extremely reliable, easy to service and reasonably refined. It has a high beat rate of 28,800 vph (4Hz), a 42-hour power reserve and is hackable. Not only that, but the Miyota 9039 has a lower hand stack height than the 9015 and is considerably slimmer than the Swiss-made Sellita, which allows Venezianico to keep the watch case very slim and proportional. The only slight downside to this workhorse movement is that the rotor is unidirectional, meaning that the rotor can be a bit noisy and you can sometimes feel the rotor movement on your wrist. Accuracy is -10/+30 seconds per day.
Final Thoughts on the Venezianico Nereide 39
The Nereide Bronzo 39 is a cracking looking watch that’s fairly priced and wears like a dream. At just 10.65mm thick, it’s extremely slim for a 200m automative dive watch and is a whopping 2mm thinner than the 42mm Nereide, and it’s all the better for it. Yes, the thinness does come at the expense of the movement (Miyota rather than Sellita), but the payoff, if indeed there even is one, is worth it. Plus, it means that the watch is also cheaper, just €800, compared to the €1095 price tag of its bigger bronze brother. The only thing the Nereide 39 lacks is the dual-layered dial and date window of the 42mm variant, but for some people (myself included), the omission of a date window will actually be a good thing! Having been hands-on with both case sizes, for me, the 39mm is the clear winner.
For the most part, the quality is evident and there are only really a couple of minor negatives. The first is that the finishing around the 12 o’clock pip and transitions between brushed and polished sections could be more precise, although these very minor imperfections are only visible through a macro lens or a loupe. Secondly, it would be nice to have alternative strap options, and the ergonomics of the buckle needs to be improved. Overall though, whilst the design itself is not going to set the world alight, it offers refined simplicity and it’s good value for money with solid specifications. Nearly every element of this watch is well-judged and it all just gels beautifully. The combination of bronze with the smoky black dial and gold dial furniture works incredibly well. Plus, if you’re prepared to regularly clean the case, the Nereide Bronzo could effectively offer two looks in one watch. Left to oxidise and develop patina, your Nereide will take on a duller, matt, lived-in look. Cleaned up again it will have a brighter, fresher look more akin to rose gold. Venezianico is a brand that continues to go from strength to strength, refining its designs, pushing dial creativity and innovating, as evidenced by recent developments such as enamelled mosaic or hand-engraved guilloché dials and the development of its own, very attractive, in-house movement the V5000 Caliber movement. This ambition is beginning to lift them into the next pricing tier. Thankfully, for now, they still make excellent value everyday watches such as the Nereide. I’ve never been attracted to Bronze watches before, well not enough to actually want to buy one, so the fact that the Nereide Bronzo 39 has completely won me over is a game changer! What do you think of it? Let us know below…
