Disclosures: This watch is a prototype and not a full production quality watch. As I am told by the team at Nine Four, there will be upgrades on both the lume and lug design. I am only able to comment on the watch that I have in hand so keep that in mind.
On my desk, today is the Successor 2, the successor to the original Successor released last year by the brand Nine Four (sorry, I couldn’t help myself). This is a classic Genta-inspired stainless steel 40mm diameter watch with 100m of water resistance featuring upgrades from the original version. Some of the upgrades include the dial, hands and indices, bracelet, and a much-improved logo. From what has been written elsewhere on the previous version of the watch, the finishing seems to be greatly improved as well. The Successor 2 comes in both no date and date options having color variants of Ice Blue (pictured), Salmon, Olive Green, and Midnight Blue. My favorite of the bunch is this no date Ice Blue combination. The date options are likely a tad thicker than these 10mm no date options due to the date wheel, but exactly how much is not listed on the site.
On the Wrist
On the wrist, the Successor 2 appears and feels quite angular. While the overall thickness of the watch is only 10mm the angular design paired with the hooded lugs gives the watch a false appearance of being tall. The watch is comfortable on a bracelet but I found the sharp finishing on the inside of the bracelet to begin to chafe after a few hours of wear, leaving me longing for additional strap options. Therein lies the problem with hooded lugs, a reduced margin of error for lug hole placement.
The lug holes are tight against the inside of the hooded lugs making this prototype all but impossible to pair the watch with most straps. The sole option within my strap box that was able to squeeze in was a barton silicone, admittedly not the most aesthetic pairing.
The watch feels too dressy with the sharp angles and small hands to pair nicely with a silicone strap like this, but the bracelet alone was not something I felt comfortable enough to wear all day. Perhaps a slight taper along with additional finishing on the inside portion of the bracelet would correct this, but the biggest culprit is the hooded lugs. In discussion with Nine Four about the lug holes, this was likely due to a tolerance issue in the placement of the lug holes for the prototype. Ideally, this would be resolved in the full production quality watches.
Nine Four Successor 2 Specs | |
Case Width 40mm | Lug-to-Lug 44mm |
Case Thickness 10mm | Lug Width 20mm |
Water Resistance 100m | Strap Bracelet |
Crystal Sapphire | Lume Super-LumiNova |
Movement Miyota 9039 | Price $420 |
Dial Details
The saving grace here is the dial. The “textured dial” as described on the Nine Four website is reminiscent of a classic Guilloche finish. Rarely do you see this applied to the entire dial like this though, the reason being I believe is because it greatly reduces legibility. While the dial can be mesmerizing, I found myself constantly feeling like my eyes were slightly out of focus while looking down at my wrist or even in images. The above photograph is a stacked composite of about 20 images and is very crisp, yet at first glance, it is difficult to read the logo or the word AUTOMATIC on the dial. The slight hands seem to get lost in the texture and possibly would benefit from an additional accent color applied to the second hand or the textured dial being limited in the application to the center of the watch.
The anti-reflective coating applied to the crystal does aid slightly in the legibility of the dial. You can see in the above image the discoloration associated with the anti-reflective coating.
Lume on this prototype model is sparsely applied and the blue glow tends to get lost as well against the Ice Blue textured dial. The full production model per the site will have Swiss Super-LumiNova, but I am not sure of the specific formula/color. I would like to see the color of the lume applied to not match the dial, this would help the lume stand out.
Case, Bracelet, and Movement
Within the Nine Four beats the Miyota 9039 movement. This is part of the 9000 series of Miyota movements which beats at 28,800 vph and is a true no date movement with 42 hours of power reserve. The rotor features the Nine Four logo and, on this prototype, seems to be worn thin and falling off the rotor. Hopefully, this is something that would be solidly applied in a production model. The 9039 is also responsible for the case thickness remaining so thin.
The profile of the case is brushed steel with a sliver of polishing on the top of the case edges continuing to the lugs. The crown is slightly oversized, almost matching the entire watch thickness in diameter. I enjoyed using the larger crown and agree with the decision to forgo having the crown screwed down. There is no need for a screw down crown for a watch like this and it makes the experience of winding and setting the time less cumbersome.
The clasp is a clasp folding lock clasp including the branding. I don’t have any issue with the clasp, especially at this price point, a minor complaint would be to ask for the clasp and bracelet to taper and feature a narrower clasp. This would help with my previous remarks on the comfortability of the watch overall.
Conclusion
The improvements made from the original Successor were substantial and give a positive outlook for Nine Four moving forward. If these improvements are any indication of what the inevitable Successor 3 will look like, Nine Four is moving in the right direction. The largest gripe I have and the most critical to improving on are the hooded lugs. Hooded lugs alone are not a deal-breaker to me but the positioning of the lug holes cannot inhibit your ability to wear different straps. This issue in combination with the bracelet not yet being a comfortable all-day long option makes the watch almost unwearable for me.
The textured dial is an ambitious undertaking for Nine Four and the result is stunning, however, the application and combination with the hands, indices, lume, and overall legibility is something that could be refined a little more to give the wearer a better experience.
I look forward to seeing the full production version of the watch and am interested in what the future Successor 3 will be like.
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