Nienaber Art Deco

[Seriously]

The first time I saw this watch I think it was Alan’s acquisition.....


Lots of the design aspects just sang to me, those lovely hands , the general Art-Deco-ness of it. I didn’t spot the size at that time, it’s only recently I became aware that it was 38.5mm. (Which I’ve found is a three bears size for me) But I sure did like it...... a lot !
Up ‘til just recently I actually thought it was a much larger watch for some reason, I’d never been told, I’d never asked, I just thought from photo’s I kept seeing that it was 40mm, maybe even 42mm ....


So it came up when Alan showed it off, I loved it, but at that moment I was probably otherwise invested (horologically speaking) and besides it was Alan’s and it was sold out already I think... so the desire went away, or at least got pushed to the back of my mind as an ‘if only’ thought.


Then, sometime after the event, I discovered Alan had sold it on, I was sad I’d missed out on it, I seem to recall I even messaged him or posted at the time that I would have dug deep and bought it, but it had already gone. .... so the desire went away. (as before)


Fast forward to ‘today’ and "Rodia’s interaction with Nienaber" where he was looking at options for a watch for himself from Mr Nienaber.
That desire resurfaced again ... and I thought if I can’t have the long gone ArtDeco, then I might like a variation on the watch that Rodia was just about to reject. I didn’t want the Roman numerals , so I asked Rainer could he do a Rodia reject with a dial and hands like the Art Deco (wot I loved)


‘I still have a copy of the Art Deco !" Rainer casually dropped into the conversation.......

(FYI: apparently when he makes a limited series, he makes an extra (possibly two) as a 'just in case' measure, all twenty of the published limited edition had been sold long ago. )



was basically my reply



Rainer showed me photo’s and said the caseback was blank so far, he agreed he could engrave "Nienaber /Bunde and Art Deco"
That’s fine I said - I was grateful it was gonna have the brand and model, the serial would have been nice, but it was a limited series of 20 so I couldn’t really have 21/20


During conversations with Alan Tribe he suggested I request 00/20 as the serial number - as apparently it’s often used by the watchmaker for his own copy ... I quickly emailed Rainer and he was fine with that






Ten days later ....... a rather special , and much wanted watch arrives: