Since its founding in 1990, Germany’s Nomos Glashütte has produced watches whose design falls into the classic school known as Bauhaus, German for “building house,” which is characterized by minimalist features, simple colors, and clean lines. Nomos also takes inspiration from other historical touchstones and figures of its native country, the latest example to be found in its recently released “four-piece serenade” of timepieces in honor of Ludwig Van Beethoven, for what would be his 250th birthday this year.
The new releases, all based on Nomos’s familiar Tetra design and featuring a quartet of new dial colors, pay tribute to the famous German composer (1770-1827) and are geared towards the ladies’ market. Each of the four models is named for a famous Beethoven composition, including Ode to Joy (with olive green dial), Divine Spark (copper), Immortal Beloved (turquoise), and Fidelio (dark blue).
All the watches will be familiar to fans of Nomos’s original, manually-wound Tetra. The polished steel case measures 29.5 mm × 29.5 mm in diameter and 6.3 mm thick, and sits squarely and quite close to the wrist due to its relative thinness. Its lugs also use a quadrilateral style in their stepped construction, while a simple signed crown is set tightly to the case on the right side.
Within a slim square bezel and underneath the sapphire crystal, we find a distinctly colorful dial on each model. On its outer edge lies a simple, minimalist minute ring that matches the square silhouette of the case. Printed black hour markers alternate between elongated tick markers and Nomos’s signature Arabic script numerals. Toward the bottom of the dial is an indented subdial at 6 o’clock for the seconds, balancing the shrunken brand logo below 12 o’clock. At the center of the dial, stick-style golden hands count the hour and minutes, matching the stick-style hand on the small seconds subdial.
Flipping the Tetra over, we discover the round caseback window that really highlights the polished square construction of the case. Within its frame is a view of the manually wound Nomos Caliber Alpha, the very first in-house movement produced by the brand. The mechanism is capable of a 43-hour power reserve, and features Nomos’s signature finishing, with elements including tempered blue screws, rhodium-plated surfaces, Glashütte ribbing, and a sunburst pattern on the ratchet and crown wheel.
Each of the new models are available now, both directly through Nomos and via authorized retailers, for $2,080. According to the brand, the series is currently being produced as a regular collection, though as the models have been developed and released in accordance with what would be Beethoven’s 250th birthday, the quartet may very well fall out of production in the next year or so.
For more information and to inquire for purchase, you can visit NOMOS Glashütte’s website here.
