You want dial colours? Nomos has the answer!
Tom Austin- Nomos Glahshütte has let loose with the colour wheel for its latest pieces, celebrating 175 years of watchmaking in Glashütte with 31 colourful versions of the Tangente 38.
- Each colourway is limited to 175 pieces and focuses on one of Nomos Glashütte’s best-selling models.
- This time, the Tangente 38 is fitted with a hand-wound DUW4101 movement, bringing the addition of a large date window at 6-o’clock.
The watch world has been leaning on fancy dial colours for a while now, and Nomos is one of the brands that hasn’t been afraid of colour, ever. It seems as though someone at Nomos found a store room where they were hiding all the leftover paint because they’ve really gone to town this time. Introduced at Watches and Wonders 2024, Nomos has unveiled the new Tangente 38 date, a celebratory piece proudly commemorating 175 years of watchmaking in the town of Glashütte. Clearly, Nomos wanted to show the watch world how they do colour, and so have released no fewer than 31; yes, you did read that right, 31 different colourways of the watch, each colour limited to just 175 pieces in each style.
The watch itself is a standard Tangente 38, in stainless steel with straight lugs, a 37.5mm round case and all the regular Bauhaus-style features you expect to see on a Nomos. However there is a difference with this model. Inside the watch sits the manually wound Caliber DUW4101 movement, an in-house built Nomos calibre, which is adjusted to chronometer standards. The movement has been modified to accept a patented date mechanism that allows for a large date wheel to be placed around the outside, and ensures the movement remains exceptionally thin. This has resulted in an overall thickness of the watch coming to 6.8mm, which for a watch like this with an exhibition caseback, is fairly impressive. Each date wheel on every model is colour-matched to the dial, with contrasting printed numerals.
The dial colours are dramatic selections, with each style having contrasting chapter rings, and a darker sub-second dial. Alongside this, they feature all the standard dial furniture you would find on a standard Tangente, with the thin typeface for numeric hour markers and the almost needle-like hands. It’s a simple, no-nonsense design that just works, and doesn’t call for anything else. All too often, a date wheel can interrupt a dial badly, and with a dial so minimalist as the Tangente’s, you would think it would be the case here too, however the colour matching means that it almost disappears, despite it being relatively oversized.
Part of the Tangente’s appeal is its ability to be dressed up or dressed down with ease. Its clean and clear presentation means that it can be worn with pretty much anything and now that these wild dial colours have been introduced, that perhaps has added a further dimension to the watch. Not only can you pretty much still wear this with anything, but you can also use the colour to your advantage and pair it with particular outfits or specific items of clothing; generally, this was something you wouldn’t have been able to do that easily with a Nomos before.
Flip the watch over, and you will see each limited edition number and watch name engraved on the case back, along with a sapphire crystal caseback exposing the hand-wound mechanical movement. Again, this is something you don’t see too often with watches that carry these proportions, and this is just one of the things you will always hear said about a Nomos, because they just seem to do lots of things you don’t expect for a watch of this size, or of course at this price point.
Nomos Glashütte Tangente 38 Date pricing and availability
The Nomos Glashütte Tangente 38 Date 31 Colours is a limited edition of 175 pieces per colourway. Price: A$3,160
| Brand | Nomos Glashütte |
| Model | Tangente 38 Date |
| Case Dimensions | 37.5mm (D) x 6.8mm (T) |
| Case Material | Stainless steel |
| Water Resistance | 30 metres |
| Crystal(s) | Sapphire crystal front and back |
| Dial | 31 different colourways |
| Strap | Woven textile strap in light grey |
| Movement | DUW4101, in-house, manual-winding |
| Power Reserve | 42 hours |
| Functions | Hours, minutes, small seconds, date |
| Availability | 175 pieces per colour |
| Price | A$3,160 |