NOMOS Glashütte Tangente 38 Date in 31 colours Watch Review
The NOMOS Glashütte Tangente 38 Date in 31 colours was a personal highlight of Watches & Wonders 2024. Subscribing to the Tangente’s highly-acclaimed design language and fitted with an impressive in-house movement, the Calibre DUW 4101, these new references embrace a vivid palette of shades, indulging horophiles with a captivating blend of form and function.
NOMOS Glashütte seit 1992
In 1992, just two years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, a new firm appeared on the horological scene, NOMOS Glashütte. At the time, the landscape of the former DDR was dressed in a fine layer of concrete dust, a legacy of its utilitarian past. However, with the advent of the German marque small shoots of optimism broke the earth’s epidermis, promising a future of new freedoms and opportunities.
NOMOS Glashütte Swing System
It is hard to believe that some 32 years later, NOMOS Glashütte has blossomed into a fully-fledged Manufactory, crafting an array of in-house movements. Perhaps, even more remarkabe is that, having invested €11M, the company has its own ‘Swing System’; a term used by the brand to describe its proprietary escapement and regulating organ. Many brands, far larger and much older than the Saxony-based firm, have yet to achieve such technical virtuosity.
NOMOS Glashütte – beauty and brains
And then there is the matter of aesthetics. Nature has a tendency to compensate. For example, a brilliant mind is often accompanied by a ‘don’t turn on the lights’ visage. However, the mechanical intellect of a NOMOS comes accompanied by a prepossessing appearance. Indeed, the design language is contemporary, Bauhaus-inspired and possesses an ageless quality. Take the NOMOS Glashütte Tangente, first released in 1992, it is blessed with a pure complexion, free of imperfections. The chosen typography is the brand’s own, the hands and indexes rapier-thin, elegantly articulating time free of ambiguity.
White silver-plated dials, thermally blued hands, a small seconds display, slender angular lugs and a ‘Horween Genuine Shell Cordovan black strap’ are all defining features of the Tangente; details that are much-loved by legions of NOMOS devotees. Over the years, the German firm has released additional dial hues and complications. Midnight blue, Blue Gold, Platinum Gray and Champagne are some of the brand’s more edgier offerings.
Tangente – a byword for elegance
However, in a world where urban-themed, neon-inspired boldness tends to turn heads, NOMOS has preferred to employ visual restraint. This is not a criticism, boldness is often imbued with intrinsic obsolescence, a fact I’m reminded of whenever I look at some of the garish shirts and ties that I once purchased in fashionista-haste.
NOMOS Glashütte Super 30
So you think you know NOMOS? Think again. In my office that’s bursting at the seams with old watch catalogue and horological journals, I recently unearthed a fascinating book entitled ‘NOMOS Glashütte – The Great Universal Encyclopaedia’. On page 240, I discovered the brand’s ‘Super 30’ collection, an array of special editions released in 2004. The Super 30, as its name implies, comprised 30 references, each endowed with a vibrantly-hued dial, all accompanied by a distinctive name and limited to just 100 pieces each.
The colours and their accompanying names wonderfully showcased the brand’s inventiveness. Blueberry wine, Field Mouse grey, Monday Blue were just some of the shades designed to seduce free-thinking horophiles. Interestingly, the marketing-savvy brand, a master of images and words, did release a ‘Sludge Green’ option which might not sound enticing to a native Brit, but in German ‘Matschgrün’ sounds far more appealing. Nevertheless, irrespective of the name, all Super 30 models proved colourful, fun and imaginative.
Watches & Wonders 2024 – NOMOS Glashütte Tangente 38 Date in 31 colours
Last week, at Watches & Wonders 2024, the brand from Glashütte unveiled the NOMOS Glashütte Tangente 38 Date in 31 colours. Based on the brand’s tried and tested Tangente 38 Date, this collection of 31 references, masterfully plays with an array of shades. However, where these latest references differ from their 2004 antecedents is that they often present an array of complementary tones on the same dial. No fifty shades of grey but several eye-popping combinations designed to seduce the onlooker.
NOMOS Glashütte Tangente 38 Date in 31 colours – dial
Each model is fitted with silver-toned pencil-like hour and minute hands and features a discreetly recessed small seconds display. The combination of Arabic numerals for even-numbered hours and simple strokes for odd-numbered hours upholds Tangente tradition.
Unlike said limited editions of 2004, these latest models feature a date display at 6 o’clock. And it’s not just any date display. The date disc encircles the movement allowing the brand to present the information in a large format, close to the edge of the dial. Not to be confused with costlier two-disc displays, the NOMOS approach delivers an impressive quotient of readability while ensuring the watch remains accessibly priced.
That said, the brand has not opted for a cheaper, one-size-fits-all approach to the date disc. Rather than maximise economies of scale, NOMOS Glashütte has, in many cases, matched the date disc to the dominant dial hue, upholding horological etiquette.
NOMOS Glashütte Tangente 38 Date in 31 colours – case
Housed in a 37.5 mm bipartite steel case, measuring 6.8 mm in height, the NOMOS Glashütte Tangente 38 Date in 31 colours wears a bit larger than its stated specifications would suggest due to the elongated angular lugs. Based on my observations at Watches & Wonders, the dimensions of the Tangente 38 Date should suit a broad array of wrist sizes. NOMOS has equipped the model with ‘a sapphire crystal glass back’ affording sight of the hand-wound Calibre DUW 4101.
NOMOS Glashütte Calibre DUW 4101
This movement deserves to be seen. Measuring just 2.8 mm in height, the Calibre DUW 4101 is a slender soul devoid of love handles. However, while it may be slender it is free of compromise. Equipped with the aforementioned Swing System (see my in-depth feature on the NOMOS Glashütte Tangente for more details), the movement is an in-house calibre incorporating several refinements.
A three-quarter plate, a speciality of Glashütte, dominates the dorsal view. When contrasted with the usual Swiss approach of employing multiple bridges, the three-quarter plate delivers superior stability. The three-quarter plate is adorned with Glashütte ribbing, a striped motif similar in concept to Côtes de Genève. The finishing also extends to the mainplate, which is embellished with perlage, as well as the crown and ratchet wheel which are enriched with Glashütte sunburst decoration. The silvery tones of the movement are punctuated with thermally blued screws upholding fine watchmaking practise.
But this movement is more than just style, it has substance as well. Indeed, the brand also states the Calibre DUW 4101 is ‘regulated according to chronometer values’.
NOMOS Glashütte Tangente 38 Date in 31 colours – closing remarks
At Watches & Wonders 2024, the German marque presented the NOMOS Glashütte Tangente 38 Date in each of the 31 colours, all for the delectation of assembled journalists. Personally, I felt like a kid in a candy store, trying on numerous iterations of the fun-loving model. However, behind the flirtatious face of each reference is a significant quotient of mechanical virtue. Indeed, while avantgardists may be attracted to these NOMOS models for their masterful use of different shades, horophiles can take comfort in the fact that their chosen watch is packed with integrity and delivered at a remarkably keen price. With only 175 examples of each reference available, there’s no time to sit on the wall, a lesson we first learnt back in 1990.
Further reading
Technical specifications
- Model: NOMOS Glashütte Tangente 38 Date in 31 colours
- Case: stainless steel, diameter 37.5 mm, height 6.8 mm, water resistance 3 ATM (30 metres), sapphire crystals to front and caseback.
- Functions: hours, minutes, small seconds, date
- Movement: Caliber DUW 4101, hand-wound movement, 23 jewels, power reserve up to 42 hours
- Strap: textile strap with pin buckle
- Price: £1,925 (RRP as of 18.4.2024)
- Limited Edition: each version is limited to 175 pieces