By Dhananjay Pathak
German watch brand Nomos Glashütte is known for making some nice looking elegant and understated timepieces. Founded in the year 1990, most of the watches from Nomos follow a minimalist design approach, but that is not to say that they are boring, as the beauty of these watch lies in the finer details. So, here we are today talking about what we feel are the top 5 watches from the current Nomos catalog.
5. Nomos Tangomat (Reference 601/641)
The Nomos Tangente is a classic looking simple 3 hand watch, which has been one of the hot selling models for the brand for nearly 25 years. But, the watch we are looking at right now is its elder brethren the Nomos Tangomat. Akin to the Tangente, the Tangomat features a Bauhaus inspired dial which is a mix of printed Arabic numerals and baton markers along with a thermally blued handset which provides an excellent contrast against the white dial and is perfectly proportioned making it a highly legible watch. But that is where the similarities end.
The Tangomat as the name suggests is an automatic watch which is powered by the brands first in-house automatic caliber DUW 5001 instead of the manually wound alpha caliber found on the basic Tangente. This movement comprises of 26 jewels and also offers time only functions similar to the Alpha caliber, which includes hours, minutes and sub seconds at 6. Then comes the stainless steel case which possesses the same angular and crisp lines as present on the Tangente but the case on the Tangomat is slightly thicker and bigger at 38.3mm offering more wrist presence. So, in case you are on the lookout for a clean looking everyday watch without the hassle of winding it on a daily basis, the Tangomat might be the watch for you. The watch is accompanied with a black Horween genuine shell cordovan strap and is priced at EUR 2260 for Reference 601 (Stainless Steel case back) and EUR 2480 for reference 641 (Sapphire crystal case back).
4. Nomos Orion (Reference 301/309)
The Nomos Orion is one of the dressiest watches from within the brand’s current watch collection. The dial on this watch is white in color but when looked at closely has a nice silver hue to it. The applied baton-shaped hour markers give a sense of depth and in this instance, their golden tone adds some warmth and zing to an otherwise plain looking dial. The minute and seconds markings have been presented in the form printed black stick indices conforming to the minimalist design ethos of the watch. The stainless steel case on this watch has a diameter of 35mm and has some smooth flowing lines and curves. Now, we do understand that 35mm might small by today’s standards and there are several other variants of the Orion available, we chose this particular variant as in our opinion it best exhibits the qualities of a dress watch.
The movement powering the Orion reference 301 is the brands trustworthy in-house alpha caliber. This is a manually wound movement with 17 jewels, offering time only functions including hours, minutes and sub seconds at 6. When fully wound the movement the movement offers a power reserve of around 43 hours. It has been beautifully decorated using blues screws and Glashütte ribbing, and can be looked at in case one opts for a sapphire crystal exhibition case back. All in all in case you are the kind of person who suits up regularly the Nomos Orion could be a great wrist companion for you. The watch comes mated to a black Horween genuine Shell cordovan strap and is priced at EUR 1600 for Reference 301 (Stainless Steel case back) and EUR 1820 for Reference 309 (Domed sapphire crystal case back).
3. Nomos Metro (Reference 1101)
One can say that the watches that we looked at till now were quite traditional in design and more so, a bit serious looking, but folks at Nomos are definitely capable of designing an interesting and playful watch such as the Nomos metro. Now as is the case with other Nomos watches, the Metro also comes in several different variations but we chose the reference 1101 because of that quirky looking power reserve display below and between 12 and 1. The Metro comes with a 37 mm stainless steel which gives this watch a unisex appeal and making the case unique are the wired lugs which look similar to the ones found on trench watches from the past. The dial on the Nomos Metro is the star of the show and is what really separates it from the watches we just looked at. The base color of the dial is once again white/silver with hour markers presented in the form of printed dots which are an interesting mix of black and a light shade of blue making the dial look fresh. The minute markings once again feature printed black dots but in a smaller size along with Arabic numerals at intervals of 5 making it easier to read the time.
The hour and minute hands have a unique shape which seems to be inspired from the shape of a tall skyscraper, while the seconds hand is of simple baton style and has been rendered in red giving the watch some more pop of color. Finally, there is also a date window below the seconds subdial at 6 and has an interesting trapezoidal shape to it. With the Metro Nomos achieved another important milestone in the form of the caliber DUW4401. This was the first movement by the brand to feature their proprietary Nomos swing system which is indeed a great feat to achieve. The movement offers a power reserve of 42 hours and can be seen in all its glory through the sapphire glass case back. With the Nomos Metro, the brand has certainly stepped out of its shoes to create something fresh and different. The watch comes attached to a Genuine Shell cordovan strap with quick change spring bars and retails at a price of EUR 2980.
2. Nomos Club Campus Night (Reference 736/738)
Every watch collection needs a sports watch and the Nomos Club is exactly that, a fun and versatile sports watch. In 2017 the brand launched the Nomos Club Campus collection keeping the youth in mind by offering some interesting dial variations and a friendly price tag, and the watch featured here is the Club Campus Night. As the name suggests this particular variant of the Club Campus features a dark anthracite colored dial. The hour markers are a mix of Arabic numerals, hash marks and Roman numerals leading to a dial configuration which is also popularly known as the “California dial”. Some playful touches on the Nomos Club Night can be seen in the form of a blue outline on the hour markings as well as the red colored second’s hand which really stands out against the dark background.
This watch also offers great low light visibility as the hour marking along with the hour and minute hand are nicely coated with Beige superluminova which glows blue. The case is made out of stainless steel with a diameter of 38mm and height of just 8.45mm which is courtesy of the in-house manually wound alpha caliber that powers this watch. Water resistance is marked at 100 meters which makes it suitable for light swimming. Overall, the Nomos Club Campus Night is a great point of entry to the world of Nomos. The watch comes fitted with a Velour leather anthracite strap and retails at a price of EUR 1200 (Stainless steel case back) or EUR1400 (Sapphire crystal case back)
1. Nomos Zürich (Reference 807)
With relentless growth in technology and innovation people around the world are now more connected than ever. One of the important aspects while working in this globally connected network is to keep track of time. And while we do have the technology to take care of our time zone related needs, it is not at all bad to have traditional world timer such as the Nomos Zurich to do the honors. A world timer as the name suggests is a watch which can keep track of multiple time zones at the same instant. Sounds complicated, it surely is, but as is the case with Nomos the brand has to keep things relatively simple yet interestingly functional. The dial on the Nomos Zurich has a visually striking shade of blue and comprises of multiple layers giving it a good sense of depth. The outermost chapter ring constitutes the square-shaped hour markings (except for the triangles at 12 and 3) and the baton-shaped minute markings.
Sitting at a layer below in the center is a big disk which has a distinctive shape to it courtesy of the protrusion at 3 and 6 to accommodate the home time indicator and the running seconds subdial at 6. Just below this disk sits a small circular disk representing the current home time hour markings and below this layer, you have the final disk with the names of cities across the world printed on it. The way it works is that the red triangle at 3 points to the current home time, while the triangle at 12 points to time of the other city that you want to track. And just in case you want to switch to the time in another city simply press the pusher at 2 until the triangle at 12 points to the desired city. Making all this happen in the background is a complicated amalgam of the calibers Epsilon, Zeta and DUW5201, the brand’s world time movement. The movement has a self-winding mechanism with the Nomos swing system and can be looked at through the sapphire crystal exhibition case back. Being a wroldtimer the Zurich is sized moderately with a case diameter of 39.9 mm but should still wear comfortably on most wrists because of the downward sloping lugs. So, in case you are a globetrotter or are in the need of a watch to keep track of multiple time zones, the Nomos Zurich is definitely worth a consideration. The watch comes packaged with a black shell cordovan strap and retails at a price of EUR 4620.
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