02/28/2022

New Modernist Classic: NOMOS Glashütte Releases The Tangente Neomatik In Platinum Gray

NOMOS Glashütte’s latest version of its best-selling Tangente timepiece explores an intriguing intersection of Bauhaus-inspired minimalism and a deft touch of new-jack metallic bling.

By Mike Espindle

Executive Editor

It might be something of misdirection to say that always-design-driven German watchmaker NOMOS Glashütte has taken a distilling step back to pure form. But, its latest novelty, the recently announced Tangente neomatik platinum gray, evokes a certain level of classicism for the flagship Tangente line.

The new NOMOS Tangente neomatik platinum gray in 35mm & 39mm

A Return to Form

While the innovative and colorful date ring function included in the recent Tangente neomatik 41 Update is not employed in this new model, that omission only serves to underline the gorgeous cleanliness and design of the timepiece.

For 2022, the Tangente neomatik is presented with a gleaming platinum-gray dial (via rhodium-plating), a perfect canvas for the perfectly proportioned, minimalist graphic approach. So perfect, in fact, it’s kind of amazing that NOMOS Glashütte hasn’t explored this shade variation for the Tangente before.

The new NOMOS Tangente neomatik 39 platinum gray

The new NOMOS Tangente neomatik 35 platinum gray

The brand dubs the effect as “platingrau” (German for “platinum gray”), and though no platinum was used in the construction of the watch, there’s just something about that term that strikes me as particularly apt. Plus, the graceful Arabic numerals, thin dial gauging and hands, and signature small seconds sub-dial at 6 o’clock not only work well on the newly colored real estate but there is also a novel air of sophistication and arctic cool to it all.

The new NOMOS Tangente neomatik 39 platinum gray

Golden “neomatik” badging just under the maker’s logo at 12 o’clock completes the picture.

Multiple Variations

Beyond the dial, this year’s new Tangente is also available in multiple sizes and caseback variations, meaning that in both 35mm and 39mm steel versions, the audience for the timepiece is essentially doubled. But more to the point, when viewed side-by-side, the larger version basically looks like a zoomed-in version of the smaller. If you really micro-hover, you might find a few very minor differences in the overall proportion relationships and design orientation between the two. You might.

The new NOMOS Tangente neomatik 39 platinum gray

The new NOMOS Tangente neomatik 35 platinum gray

However, despite the size of its case, these siblings share a slender bezel, slice-of-coin steel case, boldly angled lugs, flat sapphire crystal, and flattened crown, as well as the in-house automatic DUW 3001 movement and clean black cordovan leather strap.

Caseback of the NOMOS Tangente neomatik 39 platinum gray

The Modern Cover Up

For the first time, NOMOS is offering both sizes of the Tangente in either the brand’s traditional exhibition caseback or a gleaming, simple steel-cover caseback. The steel back not only offers a more affordable option, and an opportunity for personal engraving, but, to my eye, it completes the modern design language promise of the Tangente in a whole new way.

Simple steel-cover caseback of the new NOMOS Tangente neomatik 35 platinum gray

Certainly, NOMOS Glashütte’s movement work is distinctive and visually fascinating. I’d even go as far to say that it captures some of the minimalist zeitgeist of the brand’s beating heart, hence why we typically see this line with a sapphire caseback. And yet, there is something about the cleanliness of the solid steel caseback on the Tangente which frames the overall presentation so perfectly and completely that these options should not be overlooked.

The new NOMOS Tangente neomatik 35 platinum gray

Pricing & Availability

The 35mm Tangente neomatik platinum gray with exhibition caseback (Ref. 189) is priced at $3,460, and the version with the steel caseback (Ref. 188) is $3,070. Meanwhile, the Tangente neomatik 39 platinum gray with sapphire crystal caseback (Ref. 144) lists for $3,780, and the closed steel caseback model (Ref. 143) is $3,390.