Brand
NOMOS GLASHÜTTE Tangente Sport watch
What's not to like about NOMOS Glashütte? The German brand has built up quite the impressive pedigree in a little over 25 years, showing the rare ability to combine serious watchmaking know-how with an aptitude toward design that is mid-century in character and timeless in appeal. It's a company that just gets the details right – a quality we at fashiontourbillon.com appreciate more than anything else. NOMOS GLASHÜTTE Tangente Sport
For our second collaboration with the brand, we started with a compact 36.5mm by 7.5mm case in stainless steel that is taken from the discontinued Tangente Sport line (not to be confused with the automatic Tangente Sport Neomatik 42 released this year), filling it with a chronometer-certified version of the brand's manually wound Alpha caliber. As a sportier alternative to the classic Tangente, the watch's water resistance is tested to 100 meters and the indexes and heat-blued hands are filled with white Super-Luminova, which glows green in low-light conditions. To make the watch as versatile as possible, we selected a dark grey dial, applying a soft lacquer-like coating to it that gives off a heather grey feel. The small seconds sub-dial features a subtle snailed decoration, offering a touch of added texture to the timekeeping display. And after the long-awaited arrival of NOMOS's first bracelet in January of this year, we knew we had to include it, making this only the second time NOMOS has offered this style of bracelet on any version of the Tangente. Only 300 numbered editions of the NOMOS Tangente Sport Limited Edition for fashiontourbillon.com will be produced.
The mixture of grey tones on the watch, from the slight warmth of the dial to the coolness of the polished stainless steel case, mean it will match almost every kind of outfit, and its slim design allows it to fit underneath any sleeve. Further, the sapphire crystal lays completely flat, adding to a surprisingly svelte feeling on the wrist. The design of the new bracelet also just gives off that classic NOMOS vibe, meaning it's sleek, thin, and, most importantly, comfortable on the wrist. The bracelet comes fitted with quick-release spring bars, making switching straps a no-fuss process.
If the Tangente is considered the definitive NOMOS timepiece, then the Tangente Sport is its more multifaceted, younger sibling. It was originally released in 2003 and was one of the few athletically minded watches in NOMOS's greater collection until it was discontinued in 2013 after the release of the Ahoi. The Tangente Sport maintains the immaculate spacing and symmetrical lines that have always characterized the Tangente range, but it has a flatter and thicker bezel, hinting at its inherently sporty nature. While some versions of the Tangente Sport featured a date at six o'clock underneath the small seconds, we went without in a bid to preserve dial real estate and focus on the watch's straightforward nature. In keeping with NOMOS's preferred minimalist design palate, we incorporated a closed, stainless steel caseback that is numbered XXX/300 and engraved with "Limited Edition for fashiontourbillon.com." NOMOS GLASHÜTTE Tangente Sport
But you don't have to be particularly design-minded to appreciate the Tangente Sport Limited Edition for fashiontourbillon.com - just consider the fact that the watch is a manually wound chronometer. We had the in-house produced Alpha caliber inside each Tangente Sport Limited Edition for fashiontourbillon.com tested to the DIN 8319 standard at the Wempe Observatory in Glashütte, Germany, the country's sole chronometer testing center.
While being a manually wound chronometer is impressive in itself – and serious bait for purist-minded collectors – we selected the Alpha caliber for more than one reason. When it was announced in 2005, the Alpha became the first in-house produced NOMOS movement, a pivotal moment that jump-started the brand's pursuit of vertical integration that continues today.
When we started talking with NOMOS's Saxon headquarters about the Tangente Sport Limited Edition for fashiontourbillon.com, we made it clear that we wanted it to be the next NOMOS classic, combining the company's nearly three decades of watchmaking know-how inside a single watch. So what better choice than the Alpha, the one that started it all? It is still the most commonly used movement at NOMOS, powering watches in collections from Ludwig to Orion, Tetra to Club, and it can, of course, be found within a large number of Tangente models. It has a 43-hour power reserve when fully wound, a traditional rhodium-plated Glashütte three-quarter plate, and decorative touches like Glashütte ribbing, Glashütte sunburst on the ratchet and crown wheel, and heat-blued screws.
Most watches will ship immediately via expedited service, with a small number shipping by February 2020. Those purchasers whose watches will deliver in early 2020 will receive communication about their delivery timeline in their order confirmation.
A relative newcomer to the field of collectible mechanical timepieces, NOMOS appeals to us on several levels. Not only does the German watchmaker draw on the heritage of its home city of Glashütte to craft its movements in house, NOMOS is also marked by a strong affinity for the world of design. Manifested in a Berlin-based design studio, that affinity becomes immediately apparent upon glimpsing one of the company’s Bauhaus-inspired creations. Few brands have so impressed us over the past five to seven years as an entrypoint for owning watches equipped with in-house movements.
