Nomos Goes Gray with a New Tangente Neomatik

The trajectory of Nomos in the consciousness of watch collectors at large is kind of a curious thing. Six or seven years ago, Nomos was an insider’s secret, a hot and rising brand for people who were really in the know. In a watch landscape already lousy with big sports watches, they offered something genuinely different with their conservatively sized watches that sat squarely on the dressier side, with legitimately fancy movement finishing uncommon at their modest price point. In the years since, I think it’s fair to say that Nomos has fallen into a solid groove – they’re no longer the “it” brand, but make a reliable product that is better understood by the masses now than it was when many of us were first learning about them. Their newest watch, the Tangente Neomatik Platinum Gray, is a perfect example of how Nomos is comfortable iterating without necessarily breaking any new molds. 

The name of the new watch really gives it all away (as a watch writer, it’s alway appreciated when a watch is named in a straightforward way that tells you everything you need to know). It’s a Tangente. It uses a Neomatik automatic movement. It’s in platinum gray. Simple, straightforward, and not drastically different from any other Tangente that’s ever left the Nomos factory. 

The gray dial certainly offers a subtly different impression than the clean and sharp silvered finish that you normally find on the core Nomos references. It’s not as bright, and perhaps veers a bit modern compared to the silver dial, but that could just be a matter of how used to that traditional tone we’ve all become over the years. Gray is an undeniably great dial color though. It works with just about everything, and feels right in any style of watch I can think of. Its complete absence of flash is precisely its appeal. 

The real MVP here, though, is the DUW 3001 movement. This is an in house automatic caliber designed by Nomos from the ground up to be nearly as thin as their well regarded hand wound Alpha caliber. To the extent that it works at all (and all wrists are different, of course) the Tangente is successful because it’s so thin and flat. To bulk this watch up with a stock movement would rob it of all its character, but with the DUW 3001 you get virtually the same wearing experience as the super-thin hand wound version. The caliber is still nicely decorated, and an automatic movement in a watch like this is incredibly practical. 

The new Tangente Neomatik in platinum gray is available in both 35mm and 39mm case shapes. Anyone who has ever experimented with Nomos watches understands that they tend to wear large thanks to their expansive dials and thin bezels, so don’t brush off that 35mm size if you think it’s too small. By the same token, the 39mm case might wear unexpectedly large if that’s a measurement that normally seems about right for your wrist. The bottom line, as always, is that it’s best to try these on before a purchase, if possible.

The new watches are available now through Nomos, and pricing starts at $3,070 and goes up from there depending on size and whether you choose a stainless steel or sapphire crystal caseback. Nomos