In Depth · Nezumi

Does Nezumi’s automatic Voiture still feel like a Voiture?

The VM2.1102 brings a column-wheel chronograph to Nezumi’s compact automotive design. Its case and dial have to carry the extra complexity.

Hen & Mills Editorial · 5 min read · 11 October 2026

• Nezumi’s Voiture VM2.1102 puts a Peacock SL-4801 automatic column-wheel chronograph inside the brand’s established automotive design.
• The 40 mm steel case is 11 mm thick without its domed sapphire crystal, or 12.9 mm including it.
• The watch is on pre-order for an estimated late-October batch at €850 on leather or canvas and €902 on steel.

A mechanical chronograph can gain an impressive movement and lose the qualities that made its simpler predecessor appealing. A taller case changes how the pushers sit against a cuff; a busier dial can turn a useful timing instrument into a demonstration of its own complexity. Nezumi says its Voiture design has been part of the range since 2015, and the Swedish brand has now given it an automatic column-wheel chronograph. The interesting question is whether the original's compact, graphic character has survived in the Voiture VM2.1102.

The Voiture's proportions have a job to do

The case is 40 mm across, but the fixed aluminium tachymeter bezel measures 39 mm. That one-millimetre step matters more than it sounds: viewed straight on, the dial has a defined edge instead of looking like it fills the whole steel case. Nezumi specifies 47 mm from lug to lug and a 20 mm strap width. Those are useful numbers for a watch that might otherwise be described simply as a 40 mm chronograph, since the span between the lugs helps determine how much wrist it will occupy. A photograph cannot settle how it wears, and neither can the diameter alone.

Nezumi makes a precise distinction about thickness. The 316L steel case is 11 mm in the metal and 12.9 mm including the 1.9 mm double-domed sapphire crystal. The larger figure is the honest one to use when considering clearance under a sleeve; the smaller one explains why the case itself looks relatively lean beneath that raised glass. The crystal has an anti-reflective coating on its inner surface. There is a push/pull crown, and water resistance is 5 ATM, or 50 metres. Nezumi explicitly excludes swimming and submersion under its own 5 ATM guidance, so this is a watch to keep on the dry side of a holiday.

The dial gives the case its reason to stay restrained. Moving in from the tachymeter, a stepped chapter ring and applied steel hour markers frame three recessed registers at three, six and nine o'clock. The central chronograph hand is orange, and the minute counter at three picks up that accent without coating the whole face in it. Nezumi identifies the running seconds at six, the 30-minute counter at three and the 12-hour counter at nine. That last register makes this a timing tool for more than a short lap, while the wide spacing keeps the three scales from fighting one another for the same patch of dial.

A mechanical upgrade without a costume change

The temptation with an automatic chronograph is to advertise the movement by making every surrounding detail louder. Here, the fixed tachymeter, the applied markers and the central timing hand are all familiar Voiture ideas. Nezumi describes the VM2 as a continuation of that family, and the product photographs support the visual point: the new movement has not forced the case into a different design language. I still think the subdial typography asks for more attention than the earlier, simpler Voiture faces, but that is the cost of giving three counters distinct jobs rather than pretending the mechanism is invisible.

The mechanism is the Peacock SL-4801, an automatic column-wheel chronograph with 41 jewels, a stated 55-hour power reserve and a frequency of 28,800 vibrations per hour. Nezumi says assembly in Germany includes inspection, lubrication where required, regulation and testing before final quality control. That is a more specific account of the work than a bare movement name, although it is not a published accuracy guarantee. Nor does the column wheel, by itself, tell us how the pushers feel. Those are things a proper hands-on session would have to answer.

What can be judged from the published specification is the trade-off. A 55-hour reserve gives the watch some breathing room if it spends a day off the wrist, while the column-wheel architecture makes the chronograph mechanism a substantive part of the purchase rather than decorative dial furniture. Against that, the crystal takes the total thickness to 12.9 mm and the 50-metre rating comes with unusually plain restrictions. I would take that honesty over a grander water-resistance number accompanied by vague advice. A driving chronograph does not need to audition as a diver.

Nezumi offers the watch on Rindt black or brown leather rally straps, Juno black or moss-green canvas straps, and a Colin 2.2 solid-link steel bracelet. With 20 mm lugs, the straps keep the watch's automotive reference visible without making the case any wider. The bracelet is the heavier visual choice in the official images, and it turns the VM2 into more of an everyday steel watch than a weekend timing instrument. That is a useful decision to offer at checkout, because it changes the character of the watch more than another dial colour would.

The question, then, is not whether the mechanism is involved; the specifications establish that. It is whether the added machinery has made the watch less clear. For me, the strongest evidence that it has not is the case profile: the brand kept the bezel slightly narrower than the body, kept a compact 47 mm lug span and let the registers do their work inside a recognisable outline. The VM2.1102 has more to say than its simpler relatives, but it has not started shouting.

Nezumi Voiture VM2.1102 pricing and availability

Nezumi lists the Voiture VM2.1102 for pre-order. It says the first batch sold out and estimates the next batch will arrive at the end of October; that is an estimate, not a guaranteed delivery date. The official euro prices are €850 with any of the two leather or two canvas straps and €902 with the Colin 2.2 steel bracelet. The product page does not display an Australian-dollar list price. The choice between strap and bracelet accounts for the price difference; there is no advertised discount behind either figure.

| Specification | Nezumi Voiture VM2.1102 | |---|---| | Case | Brushed 316L stainless steel | | Dimensions | 40 mm diameter × 12.9 mm including crystal × 47 mm lug to lug | | Case thickness without crystal | 11 mm | | Bezel | Fixed 39 mm aluminium tachymeter bezel | | Crystal | Double-domed sapphire, 1.9 mm, inner anti-reflective coating | | Movement | Peacock SL-4801 automatic column-wheel chronograph, 28,800 vph, 41 jewels | | Power reserve | About 55 hours | | Water resistance | 5 ATM / 50 metres | | Strap width | 20 mm | | Strap options | Rindt leather, Juno canvas or Colin 2.2 steel bracelet | | Price | €850 (leather or canvas); €902 (steel bracelet) |