EMG Nemo
Many microbrands are run by one guy, but the EMG Nemo is the brainchild of 3 watch enthusiasts from around the world. Ed, Derek, and Eric brought EMG to life just about 2 years ago and the Nemo Diver is their third model. Coming in at 40mm, the Nemo is a vintage styled diver running a Miyota 9015 automatic movement, a domed sapphire crystal, and beads of rice bracelet. If yellow is not your speed, the Nemo comes in 5 other colors, including an interesting powder blue. Also available is white, black, blue and hunter green.
EMG Nemo Diver Specifications:
- Case width – 40mm
Length – 47mm
Thickness – 13.5mm - (including domed sapphire crystal)
Lug Width- 20mm - Movement
- Miyota 90S5 Automatic
- Bezel
- 120 Click Unidirectional Bezel
- Matte Black Ceramic Insert With Lume Filled Engraving
- Crystal
- Domed Sapphire With Multilayered Internal AR Coating
- Dial
- Matte Finishing With Applied Polished Indices and Logo
- Lume
- Superluminova C3 X1 Lume
- Depth Rating
- 200m Water Resistance
- Caseback
- Screw Down With Stamped Squid Design
- Bracelet
- Beads of Rice, Solid End Link, 20mm Tapered to 18mm
Price $450 USD
At 40mm, the EMG Nemo Diver will be beloved by many microbrand watch buyers as I see a lot of comments these days about watches that are too large. Microbrands especially have listened and are producing a lot of watches in the 38mm to 40mm range. For me, especially for a dive watch, 40mm is just a little too small for what I really like to wear. Actually, I shouldn’t say that. This particular watch is a little small for me. It depends on many factors but some 40mm dive watches feel a lot larger than they are, but that was not the intent with the Nemo. They wanted this watch to feel and look classic and be something many could wear, woman included.
That being said, this watch is extremely comfortable on my 7 1/2 inch wrist. A big part of that is due to the case shape and the relatively short 47mm lug to lug. On top of that, the entire watch weighs just 138 grams including the BOR bracelet. The more I wore this watch, the more I realized for myself, it would have been perfect at 42mm, as I really do love pretty much every aspect of this Nemo, but alas, not everything is for me. This one is for the guys who really do love a smaller diameter watch.
When I looked at all the colors of the EMG Nemo, I immediately chose the yellow dial to review. Yellow is not a standard color that I normally wear but the lemon yellow color with light blue chapter ring and subtle highlights of red just really stood out. This color combination evoked that vintage feel that EMG was going for and I have to say every time I wore it, photographed it or just looked at it, I enjoyed it even more. Initially, the only thing I questioned was the choice of the stick hour and minute hands. I thought they were a little too thin, but this watch is more of a dress diver-it is not an aggressive over-engineered or over styled dive watch, this is a classy watch from top to bottom. The dial was kept uncluttered as well, something I personally like from a dive watch style. Too many watches have so much text and branding all over, it distracts from the beauty of the watch. As the old saying goes, sometimes less is more.
Because of the stick hands and thin applied indices, I figured the lume would be on the weaker side. I was wrong. The lume on the ceramic bezel could be a little better, but it is a thin bezel so I imagine it is hard to add a lot of lume compound to it. The dial, on the other hand, glows really well, due to the C3 X1 Superluminova. Even though the surface area is small, the amount of lume applied does the job as you can see below.
The beads of rice bracelet is a personal favorite of mine, and the one on the EMG Nemo is a great example. The beads are all individual allowing for the bracelet to flow and drape around your wrist to the point you do not even feel the watch on your wrist most of the time. This BOR, like many of them, has polished center links and brushed outer, which matches the finishing of the case. Sizing is a breeze as it utilizes one-piece screws to hold the links together. If for whatever reason you do not like the bracelet as much as I do, the case has drilled lug holes so you can have the bracelet off in a few seconds waiting for your favorite strap.
Even though I refer to the EMG Nemo as a “dress diver”, this is still a capable dive watch. It is still 200m water resistant, has a screw down crown and case back of course and speaking of case back-this one is adorned with a squid. What I appreciate about that is that they did not go the route of an exhibition case back. Something about an exhibition case back on a dive watch bothers me, especially when considering the Miyota 90S5 is a very plain and undecorated movement. I know, some absolutely love seeing the movement in their watch, I am not in that camp unless it is something truly unique or special. That said, this particular example has been keeping excellent time, and running around -6 seconds slow per day, timed over a week.
At $450, I find the EMG Nemo Diver to be a very affordable and well-made piece. I really can not find any negatives with this watch and aside from my personal gripe about the size, it is a fantastic watch. I have not seen the other dial colors in person, only in video or pictures, but I I think I would have a hard time straying from the yellow. The microbrand world is crowded no doubt, but EMG watches are making pieces that should put them in the forefront of enthusiasts minds and on their wrists. With this being only their third offering, I am very excited to see what they have in store for future models.
from Best Watches For Men http://bit.ly/2GDrQiA