Audace

The Audace is built around a mix of circular and octagonal geometry. The dial remains conventionally round, but the surrounding case is all broad planes, clipped corners and hard changes of direction.

At 39mm across, 45.30mm lug-to-lug and 11.15mm thick including the sapphire crystal, it is considerably more wearable than the shape initially suggests. The case feels substantial without becoming oversized.

The obvious visual association is the wider 1970s integrated-bracelet sports-watch school. The first watch it brought to mind for me was the Girard-Perregaux Laureato: not because the Audace is a direct copy, but because the round dial, geometric case and flowing bracelet live in similar visual territory.

Nostas pushes the case further into something more brutalist. The large brushed surfaces and sharp bevels give it its own silhouette, and in the right light those planes are probably the watch's strongest feature after the dial.

Nostas calls it the Triangle dial. I spent most of the shoot calling it a waffle dial, and either way it is the reason the blue Audace works so well.

The repeating raised geometry gives the surface real depth without turning it into visual noise. In flat light it is a restrained navy blue; under stronger directional light the pattern breaks into hundreds of tiny highlights and suddenly becomes the centre of the watch.

Applied baton markers and faceted hands mix polished and satin surfaces, while the applied Nostas symbol at twelve adds one more geometric element without crowding the dial. A framed date at three is the only interruption.

There are watches with more elaborate dials. There are not many where the dial, case and bracelet feel this deliberately related to one another.

The bracelet itself is one of my favourite parts of the Audace.

It flows directly out of the case with almost no visual break, the links feel solid, and the brushed finish carries the same industrial character through the entire watch. The hidden clasp is exactly the right choice because nothing interrupts that continuous line of steel around the wrist.

It is also wonderfully rigid when handled off the wrist. From a design point of view that feels premium. From a photography point of view it means the watch absolutely refuses to lie flat, which became a recurring argument during the shoot.

The bigger problem is sizing. On my 7.5-inch wrist, the bracelet landed in the maddening gap between one link too large and one link too small. There was no useful intermediate adjustment to rescue it.

That would be a nuisance on any watch. On an integrated-bracelet watch, where the bracelet is such a large part of the design and wearing experience, it matters much more.

Inside the Audace is the Sellita SW200, a familiar Swiss automatic movement with 26 jewels, a 28,800 vibrations-per-hour frequency and a quoted 38-hour power reserve.

It hacks, hand winds and gives the Audace a straightforward, serviceable mechanical heart. At this price, I would expect a recognised Swiss movement rather than something chosen purely to hit a specification sheet, and the SW200 does exactly what is required.

It also helps Nostas keep the watch relatively slim. At 11.15mm including the crystal, the Audace wears far flatter than the broad case and integrated architecture suggest.

There is nothing exotic about the movement, but there does not need to be. The design is where this watch spends its personality.

The case shape gives the Audace more visual presence than its 39mm diameter suggests, but it never feels unwieldy.

The short 45.30mm lug-to-lug and integrated bracelet keep the watch planted close to the wrist, while the broad bezel and geometric shoulders make it look larger from above. It is a useful trick: compact dimensions without a compact personality.

On my 7.5-inch wrist the case itself felt excellent. The frustration came entirely from the bracelet sizing. Get lucky with the link count and this should be an extremely comfortable watch. Land between sizes, as I did, and the fit becomes the thing you notice first.

The Audace looks like the sort of watch you should be able to wear hard. My experience made me less convinced.

The broad brushed and polished case surfaces marked more easily than I expected, and my example picked up a small nick from what I would consider a very minor knock. One watch is not a materials laboratory, but it was enough to make me stop thinking of the Audace as a carefree daily beater.

I also noticed the screw-down crown beginning to feel a little looser after repeated cycles of setting the time and locking it back down. It continued to function, but on a watch that originally retailed at €850 it is the sort of change that attracts attention rather than reassurance.

Neither issue erased what I liked about the watch. They did change the value equation.

This is the hardest part of the Audace for me.

There is real substance here: 39mm proportions, sapphire, 200 metres of water resistance, a Swiss Sellita movement, a distinctive proprietary case shape and a genuinely excellent bracelet. The broad finishing, deep dial texture, compact proportions and hidden clasp all give the watch a coherent, premium feel.

But when the Audace retailed new at €850, those ownership niggles became much harder to excuse. The bracelet sizing problem affected me every time I wore it, the case picked up marks too readily for my liking, and the slight change in crown feel left me watching a component I would rather forget about.

Nostas is still a relatively unfamiliar name in the UK. That lower recognition may make resale more challenging than with better-known brands, although that is more an ownership consideration than a criticism of the watch itself.

At the right pre-owned price, a lot of those objections become easier to live with. At €850 new, I would have wanted fewer caveats.

The Nostas Audace is a watch I enjoyed photographing more and more the longer I had it.

The blue Triangle dial is excellent. The 39mm case wears beautifully. The integrated bracelet feels solid, sits flush against the case and keeps an uninterrupted line of steel around the wrist, while the hidden clasp finishes the design exactly as it should.

It also has an identity. Yes, the integrated-bracelet sports-watch influence is obvious, and the Laureato came to mind immediately, but the brutalist case geometry and triangular dial texture stop the Audace feeling like a lazy tracing exercise.

The problems are mostly practical rather than visual. The bracelet left my 7.5-inch wrist stranded between link sizes. The case marked too easily for my taste. The crown began to feel less reassuring after repeated use. And at its original €850 retail price, those details mattered.

I still like it. I am just not sure I would have liked it enough at its original retail price.

After several unsuccessful attempts to persuade the integrated bracelet to behave for a conventional flat-lay photograph, specialist assistance was called.

The metallic maintenance team immediately ignored the bracelet and began inspecting the dial instead.

Useful as ever.