Owner’s Review: The Nomos Tangente 38 Date Ziegelblau - 175 Years Watchmaking Glashütte
The first thing to say about this watch is that it’s probably the one piece in my collection that gets the least wrist time. When I ordered it online directly from the manufacturer, it ticked a lot of boxes: it would be my first Nomos, it would replace the only red dial I’ve ever had in my collection (an Oris Fratello Limited Edition, stolen in the infamous Vallog robbery in Berlin) and it was one of a very limited edition of 175 in the Ziegelblau color configuration, commemorating 175 years of watchmaking in Glashütte, Germany. And truth be told, it does tick all of those boxes, but in the metal it feels rather tiny.
At 38mm, it is not really an extremely small watch. In fact, the 38-39mm range is the Goldilocks size for many a watch collector in a world dominated by gaudily humongous watches. Yet, for a guy with puny wrists who wears a Big Pilot (perhaps I need to talk to my shrink about this compensatory impulse) the Ziegelblau feels slightly insubstantial. I tend to think it’s not just the size, but how thin and fragile the case feels at 6.8mm.
A few weeks after it was delivered and in the hope of giving it more wrist time, I took it off the rather insipid canvas strap that Nomos shipped it with and put it on a Delugs calf leather strap that provides a nicer contrast with the dial. However, I still can’t bring myself to wear it too often. I have a bit of a strange relationship with it: I always wanted to have the Bauhaus awesomeness of Nomos in my collection, I do love the color configuration of the dial and I think a very limited Nomos of this nature is an insanely cool thing, but I suppose I am used to watches that have much more wrist presence. The other more practical nitpick is the fact that the there is no way to quick-set the date, so I need to spend some time and patience moving the hour hand back and forth past 12am in order to correct the date window every time I pick it up from my watchbox. Some folks are OK with wearing a watch that indicates the wrong date, but that doesn’t work for me, so there is an added sense of chore to getting the Tangente ready to wear.
On the upside, there’s two things I love about it apart from the fact that it was produced in very small amounts: The incredible attention that Nomos paid to the color configuration, specially on the date window, which matches the color of the numerals and the chapter ring. And the exhibition case-back: The in-house DUW 4101 manual-winding caliber is a beauty to behold and punches way above its weight at this price point. It has so much substance that it makes me wonder why Nomos wasn’t able to echo the same robustness in the case.
I haven’t yet given up on it, so it will stay in my collection and will hopefully get some more wrist time soon, but there are two lessons to be learned: firstly, be careful of buying watches online without trying them on, even if they have the “limited edition” allure. And second: The watches that I enjoy wearing the most have significant wrist presence and substance. Collectors who prefer those types of watches might do well by staying away from the Tangente 38.
Pros:
It’s a limited edition of 175 in this particular color configuration. If you believe in the future of Nomos, this is a really cool thing.
The color configuration is awesome, including the contrast between the blue subdial and the predominant red of the dial.
It’s a German in-house movement visible from the caseback and decorated in a way that seems to exceed the decoration standards at this price point. it is a very nice thing to behold.
Cons:
The case: It does feel rather tiny and fragile. It is not very suitable for folks who like watches with a lot of wrist presence.
There is no quick-set date, so you would need to move the hours hand back and forth past 12am many times in order to set it. Do not underestimate this, it feels like a total chore to do this for a watch that is not that complicated, no matter how cool that bauhaus dial is.
The Important Specs:
Reference: 179.S27
Power Reserve: 42 hours (this does feel short in my experience).
Movement: Manual winding, In-house Caliber DUW4101
Case size: 37.5mm
Other reviews worth checking:
Here is a rather cool styling guide by Brian Sacawa for the Tangente 38 175 years LE, albeit in other color configurations.
