The Nomos Metro Date
Power Reserve
The Nomos Tangente
Update in dark platinum
with Neomatik date
caliber (DUW 6101).
on the bottom of the art, however that actual name is lost in history. To
everyone working at Nomos today, it’s simply called “the font.”
The Tangente proved the star of the original lineup and is still the number
one best-selling model, according to Florian M. Langenbucher, a multilingual
watch industry professional and true gentleman who conducted our tour
through Nomos’ many facilities.
The Tangente, held in mythic regard by the company, is the most
emblematic watch of the entire 150-unit product line and has received
multiple industry awards over the years, including the Chrono, iF and the
highly coveted international Red Dot awards. Photos of the permutations of
the model are everywhere, as are exploded diagrams of its guts, citations of
its awards, advertising imagery and a library of articles detailing almost every
aspect of its existence. Originally offered as a 39mm manual wound unisex
watch with a Swiss movement, the line has expanded to twenty-one models,
powered by in-house manual and automatic movements.
Höhnel gently caresses various models of the Tangente as he offers them,
with gloved hands, for review.
“Notice how the slim Tangente is raised above the wrist on its lugs,” he
observes, “this makes even the smaller models seem bigger.”
For Nomos, the Tangente is a challenging canvas for their creative output,
as variation in the theme is restrained by Schwertner’s mandate to not
violate the original elemental aspects of the dial and case.
The addition of the crown guards, found on the new Sport Neomatik 42
($4,980), or the external date ring on the Neomatik 41 update Ruthenium
88 | INTERNATIONAL WATCH | FALL 2019
($4,100), which won the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG)
Challenge Prize, required months of design deliberations and hand wringing
before they were green-lighted for production.
“The development process on movements and cases can take up to two
years,” says Höhnel. “Every model is reflective of the sensibilities of our
audience. We must know how the end user thinks, what they like in design, in
architecture, in cars, how they will interact with and use the watch.
Sometimes we bring in outside designers, like Mark Braun who worked
on the Metro Date Power Reserve ($3,780), a fantastic model with a unique
power reserve indicator, to bring a new feel to the line. We work with all
kinds of materials and colors just to get to a 3D-printed version that enables
our team to interact with the product. Sometimes you just have to put a
project down and let it sit for awhile.”
Outside parties involved in the process include the case makers, hand
makers and strap makers, with a supply chain that stretches all the way to
the United States.
AND THEN THERE WAS GLASHÜTTE
Two hours south of Berlin, near the famous city of Dresden, lies the small
town of Glashütte, population 7,000, located in a valley that is home to more
than ten watchmakers and manufacturers. It is here that the Nomos
production facilities turn the ideas of the Berlin studio into a tangible
product. The pioneering work of Ferdinand Adolph Lange (of A. Lange and
Söhne) established the area as a source of German watches, an alternative