Wristwatch Tangente Ø 35 mm manual winding

The Tangente is a Nomos design that caused a sensation as soon as the watch appeared at the beginning of the 1990s – especially its looks: for example the slim case and the minimalistic watch-face, both of which go back to the 1920s’ Glashütte designs – uncluttered, cool, pragmatic. When we first included this watch in our range, we didn’t feel inclined to call it a ‘classic’ – a word that is sometimes twisted to mean simply ‘something that outlives the critics’! Well, it hasn’t got as far as that yet: but one thing has happened in the meantime, namely an extraordinary number of cheap imitations. So perhaps there is some justice in the use of the term ‘Classic’!

We offer the Tangente in a steel-backed version, without date indicator. Each watch has its own engraved serial number and the Greek ‘alpha’ letter specifying that it is manually wound and (see above) without the date indicator.

Nomos clocks and watches recommenced manufacture in Glashütte, East Germany in 1991 and quickly made a name for themselves – with designs drawing inspiration both from the ideas of the German Work Federation (the combination of up-to-date production techniques, affordability and durability together with modern taste) and from the Bauhaus School ("form follows function"). In the early days the Nomos people added traditional Swiss standards (which they refined at home for their own purpose) to these principles: the net result, to say the least, is a watch to be proud of.
A final note: Nomos have for some years now been making their watches with a hand-winding mechanism exclusively designed and manufactured themselves in-house.

The watchmaking brand Nomos Glashütte was established in 1991 in Glashütte, a town in the easternmost part of the Ore Mountains in the Free State of Saxony: the birthplace of the German watchmaking industry. Nomos Glashütte quickly made a name for itself with designs inspired by the ideas of the Deutscher Werkbund, a still existing German association of artists, architects and designers established in 1907 and the Bauhaus school. The Dessau maxim "form follows function" is an approach that Nomos Glashütte has emulated in an exemplary manner to this very day, using good design to make timeless products that are unaffected by ever-changing fashions and tastes. Nomos Glashütte stands out among watchmakers not just for aesthetic but also for technical reasons. Rather than depending on tried and tested Swiss calibres and adding refinements to them, as was done in earlier years, Nomos Glashütte can now rightfully claim the title of manufacture: for years now, Nomos Glashütte has relied exclusively on manual movements developed in-house and made almost entirely of individual components manufactured in Glashütte. Working in cooperation with the Technische Universität Dresden and the Fraunhofer Institute, Nomos Glashütte made a quantum leap toward complete independence when seven years of in-house development culminated in the completion and subsequent series production of its very own swing system, which is responsible for driving the watch movement and keeping it accurate. The Nomos Glashütte swing system replaced the escapement assembly composed of the balance, balance spring, escape wheel and pallet fork that until then had been made only by the Swatch subsidiary Nivarox. Nomos Glashütte is one of only a few companies that have the technical capabilities needed to carry out such manufacturing and calibration tasks, on the scale of thousandths of a gramme, within their own facilities. Even the particularly difficult task of putting together the entire escapement assembly is done in-house by Nomos Glashütte.

Nomos Glashütte, one of the world's few owner-managed watch manufacturers, has been building fine mechanical timepieces in Glashütte, Saxony, since 1990. Product designers at Nomos' Berlin branch take care of the masterful designs, which are inspired by the ideas of the Deutscher Werkbund, the forerunner of the Bauhaus movement. Nomos Glashütte continues to implement the Werkbund's approach in an exemplary manner today: to decouple the service life of products from changing fashions and contemporary tastes through good design. Several models have long been considered classics - and have won numerous awards for their design and quality.
Nomos Glashütte also stands out from the crowd of watch manufacturers in technical terms. In a combination of the best craftsmanship and German engineering, but also with the help of research and high technology, manufactory calibers and watches of the very highest quality are created there. This is because the manufactory exclusively develops and produces its own calibers; every watch is made on site in Glashütte: the vertical range of manufacture of Nomos movements is up to 95 percent.
A quantum leap on the way to this independence was the Nomos Swing System, the escapement assembly consisting of balance and balance spring, escape wheel and pallet lever, which is decisive for the rate accuracy. To manufacture such a perfect watch heart oneself is considered a great art. Almost all brands therefore source their systems from a single specialist manufacturer in Switzerland. Nomos Glashütte has spent seven years developing the Nomos Swing System to the point where it is ready for series production - with the support of the Technical University of Dresden and the Fraunhofer Institute. It is thus one of the few companies to carry out such manufacturing and calibration work running at the microgram level in-house.