NAOS Automatic Bronze Alabaster 38mm / Field green

Alabaster is not white. It is the pale, faintly warm color of a stone polished thin enough to pass light, and it makes a very different dial than a flat white one does.

That dial belongs to the NAOS Automatik, the self-winding version of Sternglas's core model and the watch the Hamburg brand is best known for. The Naos design strips a dial back to what earns its place: sans-serif type, baton markers, a date, nothing else. The automatic version took an iF Design Award in 2020.

The case measures 38 mm in 316L stainless steel with a bronze-toned finish, warm against the alabaster dial and warmer still beside the green Field nylon strap fitted here. That strap is 1.5 mm thick at 20 mm lugs and comes off without a tool. Inside runs a Miyota 8215 automatic with 42 hours of power reserve, beating at 21,600 vibrations per hour, its rotor visible through the six-screw exhibition caseback. Double-domed sapphire with anti-reflective coating on both faces covers the dial; water resistance is 5 bar.

Casual by construction and quiet by design, it is the Naos configuration for weekends rather than boardrooms.

Perfect for: 38 mm automatic watches on nylon straps, warm-toned minimalist dials, everyday mechanical watches.