NOMOS Glashütte Updates Its Icons With New Neomatik Date Caliber

NOMOS Glashütte has managed to develop its classic watches further by adding an entirely new caliber: neomatik date.

NOMOS Glashütte presented its newest in-house built caliber at Baselworld 2018: neomatik date (DUW 6101). The watchmaking company has equipped three NOMOS icons — Tangente, Orion, and Ludwig — with this new caliber and created a tailor-made date design for each. The date display is not only aesthetically innovative; it can also be set both forwards and backwards quickly and easily.

All three watches, at just under 41 millimeters in diameter, have considerably grown in size and yet remain slender. Thanks to the large new caliber within, each also has its own date display: Orion neomatik 41 date wears a generously proportioned date on the edge of the dial at three o’clock — balanced, classical, and with a unique typography. In Ludwig neomatik 41 date, the date is also placed at the edge of the dial — this time at four o’clock, elegantly integrated into Roman hour numerals. And Tangente celebrates its update around the clock: The date ring features two red dots, which frame the current date and underline Tangente’s design-orientated character. This type of date display is entirely new and exclusive to NOMOS Glashütte.

“The date simply shows what this caliber can do,” says NOMOS designer Michael Paul, who gave Tangente its update. For the caliber not only allows designers to create tailor-made solutions and the perfect date display for each watch; it also conveys a sense of the concentrated watchmaking expertise behind the dial. The movement side of the new watches is also something special: The neomatik date caliber is richly equipped and luxuriously decorated — with the embossed and gold-plated engraving on the rotor, for example.

NOMOS Glashütte brought the first neomatik caliber (DUW 3001) onto the market in 2015, which caused a sensation: Such slender automatic watches had not been produced in series until then. Now, with DUW 6101, the second neomatik caliber, NOMOS Glashütte is setting a pioneering new standard for date watches as well.

The goal was a quick-set date — and should that bring further technological advances, then all the better. The result, DUW 6101, offers several advantages thanks to its intelligent construction. With a diameter of 35.2 millimeters it is not only very large, but at a mere 3.6 millimeters in height it is extraordinarily flat, too, since this movement was constructed completely new to integrate the date. As such, it is perfectly suited for classic watches that fit wonderfully underneath the shirt cuff.

Here’s an overview of what the DUW 6101 offers:

• The date on watches with this caliber is located exactly where it belongs — both traditionally and aesthetically: at the edge of the dial. This is unique for timepieces with a diameter beyond 40 millimeters.
• The new caliber facilitates a particularly large, legible date. The date ring was set around the DUW 6101 movement, which afforded the maximum possible freedom in terms of the design of these new watches; for a highly individual and harmonious timepiece aesthetic. Each watch has its own date ring design.
• The new NOMOS date mechanism is quick and easy to set — in both directions: A few turns of the crown is all that is required to change the date. Despite the limited movement height, this was made possible by a specially shaped gear wheel, which connects with the date disk.
• High precision is also ensured by the NOMOS swing system, the proprietary escapement recognizable by the tempered blue balance spring.
• Unique to DUW 6101: The gold-plated lettering on the rotor is embossed; and the words “reguliert in 6 Lagen” (regulated in 6 positions) are engraved in two colors on the bottom plate. This NOMOS caliber is lavishly polished and decorated — a piece of classic Glashütte watchmaking, in other words, and a rarity today.
• The process of patenting this caliber is underway. The four NOMOS models equipped with this neomatik date technology are Tangente neomatik 41 Update, Orion neomatik 41 date, Ludwig neomatik 41 date, and Autobahn.

In addition to outstanding craftsmanship, NOMOS Glashütte is also known for prizewinning design—with more than 140 awards, there’s hardly another watchmaking brand out there with as many honors. In the traditions of Bauhaus and the Deutscher Werkbund, the designers at NOMOS allow form to follow function. Now, for the first time, the German brand is presenting a collection large automatic watches with a tailor-made date display that are uncompromisingly elegant: the Update series, featuring Tangente neomatik 41 Update, Orion neomatik 41 date and Ludwig neomatik 41 date. The Update series is now available at retailers, including Tourneau, Govberg, and many more, as well as in the NOMOS online store.

All materials and photos provided by NOMOS Glashütte.