Double-Dating: NOMOS Glashütte Unveils an Artful New Display with the Tangente 2date

Okay, here’s the deal: everyone understands, on a basic level, that a date like the 24th is near the end of any given month, right? But given that understanding, why does the end of the month invariably seem to sneak up on me (and probably you, too)?

With NOMOS Glashütte’s new Tangente 2date, you have the current date right where you’d expect it (in a window at the six o’clock position), but the brand has also added a new “ring date” function, giving the watch its two-date moniker.

Let’s dig into it.

As with standard date watches, NOMOS Glashütte’s new double-date display allows for a quick read of the date. However, it also offers a second display with the entire month at a glance. How is this possible?

Just like the brand’s Metro neomatik 41 Update, on the Tangente 2date, every day of the month is displayed around the perennially underused outer edge of the dial. Here, two small capsule indicators bookend the current date – the same date in the six o’clock window – displaying either white on the blue galvanized dial version or red on the silvered white dial version.
 

The result both reinforces the current date and presents it in a kind of relative circular countdown for the month. If you have some things you need to accomplish by the end of the month, the Tangent 2date tells you in no uncertain terms that by, say, the 24th, you’re quickly running out of time.

I was fortunate that my time wearing the Tangente 2date was around the end of the month, and, honestly, it improved my productivity. So, don’t think of the ring date as redundant – think of it as a kind of graphic retrograde month countdown.
 

The highlighted markers on either side of the current date are small, elegant, and relatively unobtrusive, leaving the easy-to-read dial clean and in the Bauhaus aesthetic NOMOS is known for. Yet, even though the date markers don’t disrupt the beauty or legibility, their relative position in regard to the month at hand is unmistakable. And incredibly useful.
 

I must also confess that when the ring date indicator reset to the first of the month before I had to (regrettably) return the watch, I experienced a bit of visual joy at the nice long runway for the new month that I now had to squander and diddle away.

The four words in this subhead don’t just describe the new Tangente 2date but the overarching modernist design zeitgeist of NOMOS timepieces. While the ring date function has appeared on other Tangente neomatic models in the past, this is the first time it’s been used in conjunction with a traditional date window.
 

This seemingly simple innovation is not only inspired but also required the watchmaker to create its latest in-house movement: the manually-wound DUW 4601.
 

A triple threat, this new calibre combines two very different date functions, offers a robust 52-power reserve, and features a very satisfyingly tactile date adjustment feature from the single crown at three o’clock.

The traditional date wheel and the ring date are both gauged at 31 days, but pop the crown out one click and turn it, then the date window and ring date highlights reset simultaneously. The new movement also preserves the tell-tale NOMOS small seconds indicator at the bottom of the dial above the traditional date window.
 

To top it all off, the DUW 4601 – like all mechanical movements from NOMOS – was developed, designed, and manufactured in-house in Glashütte, Germany, giving the model the prestigious “Made in Glashütte” distinction.

Full disclosure: I’m a big fan of NOMOS Glashütte. That said, I sometimes have an issue with the appropriateness of a transparent caseback for some of the brand’s models.

That is because with such a clean and modern dial approach, seeing an overly elaborate movement can sometimes spoil the minimalist fun (at least in my humble opinion). Instead, I prefer a simple plain caseback cover for NOMOS creations most of the time.
 

However, the Tangente 2date’s DUW 4601 – and any future models that use this movement – are (and will be) an exception to my rule.

Both the outer ring date mechanisms and most of the main movement area are covered by elegant yet clean and unfussy sunbeam-ribbed plates, isolating most of the visual emphasis on the marvelous balance wheel, skeletonized balance cock, and surrounding bridges and housings.

To me, this entirely new movement construction perfectly fits the definition of modernism and begs to be seen. However, a plain stainless steel caseback cover (that can be complementarily engraved) is offered as an option.
 

Finally, the all-new NOMOS Tangente 2date is presented with a 37.5mm steel case in both a gleaming galvanized blue dial (the model I test-drove) and a very clean white silver-plated dial. Each model comes on a luxurious black Chicago-tanned Horween Genuine Shell Cordovan leather strap with a 19mm lug width.