Each year Nomos creates a watch to benefit the Nobel-Prize-winning-organization Doctors Without Borders. This year’s model, the Tangente 38 – 50 ans de Médecins Sans Frontières, is limited to 2,021 units worldwide and highlights the medical rescue organization’s mission with a large red twelve on the dial.
The Nomos Tangente 38 – 50 ans de Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders).
Red is the universal color of emergency and has been the color of Doctors Without Borders for fifty years.
At the top of the dial, the twelve in red celebrates the color of Doctors Without Borders for half a century.
According to Nomos, the red twelve is also intended to “raise aid awareness, encouraging even more people to provide support. Helping has quite possibly never been more important than now and with this watch.”
To specifically mark the emergency medical aid organization’s fiftieth year, Nomos has also attached a dark gray textile strap to the watch and adds an inscription at six o’clock that reads “50 ans de Médecins Sans Frontières”. The same inscription can be found engraved onto the solid steel caseback.
The Tangente 38 is a classic for the Glashütte-based Nomos. A best seller for twenty-five years, the watch is the clearest example of the brand’s minimalist tenets. The watch is fit with a Nomos Alpha in-house manual-wind movement, which Nomos adjusts to chronometer standards.
Nomos will donate 100 euros to per unit sold directly and without deduction to Doctors Without Borders. At $2,030, the special edition is priced exactly the same as the existing Tangente 38 model.
A. Lange & Söhne releases its 1815 Rattrapante with a platinum case, adding a new look to the highly complex chronograph with split-seconds mechanism. The German watchmaker had previously offered the watch, its first pure split-seconds model, only cased in its own Honey Gold alloy.
The A. Lange & Söhne 1815 Rattrapante, now in platinum.
The new look also provides a bright silver dial and dark blued hands that add a regal air to the watch. The watch’s classical railway-track minute scale and the large Arabic numerals retain watchmaker’s own historic style, especially apt for a collection named for the birth year of its founder Ferdinand A. Lange.
While the dial appears traditional, its layout is somewhat unusual for an A. Lange & Söhne chronograph. Watchmakers opted to place the 30-minute counter and the subsidiary seconds dial at 12 o’clock and 6 o’clock, respectively, on the vertical center axis, veering from the more traditional positions at 3 o’clock and 9 o’clock.
The watchmaker’s beautifully decorated caliber L101.2, fully visible through the sapphire-crystal caseback, treats the wearer to a micro-engineered show as gears and levers slide and click through elapsed and lap-time measurements, a display centered on the movement’s two column wheels. (See specifications below for details).
A. Lange & Söhne equips the movement with bridges and cocks made of untreated German silver, a screw balance, screwed gold chatons that secure the jewels and a hand-engraved balance cock. And of course all the levers, springs and jumpers are decorated with straight graining while all peripheral chamfers are polished.
A. Lange & Söhne will make the 1815 Rattrapante with a platinum case as a limited edition of 200 pieces. Price: Initially listed at $154,200, the price is now upon request.
Specifications: A. Lange & Söhne 1815 Rattrapante
(Ref. 425.025, 200-piece limited edition)
Movement: Lange manufacture caliber L101.2, manually wound, decorated and assembled by hand; precision-adjusted in five positions; plates made of untreated German silver; balance cock and chronograph bridge engraved by hand. Shock-resistant screw balance; balance spring crafted in-house, frequency 21,600 vph, precision-beat adjustment system with lateral setscrew and whiplash spring. Power reserve is 58 hours when fully wound.
Case: 41.2 mm by 12.6mm platinum. Crown for winding the watch and setting the time, two chronograph pushers, one pusher to operate the rattrapante (split-second) mechanism.
Dial: Solid silver.
Strap: Hand-stitched black alligator leather with platinum buckle.
Price: Initially listed at $154,200, the price is now upon request.
Tutima Glashütte releases the M2 Seven Seas S-PVD, an addition to one of its best selling collections, with a smaller steel case, a hardened black PVD coating and spectacular yellow dégradé dial that melts to green at its edges.
The new Tutima M2 Seven Seas S-PVD.
Now with a debut 40mm case, considerably smaller than the collection’s standard 43mm diameter, Tutima’s new M2 Seven Seas S-PVD retains its sportiness, notably with an ultra-hard black ceramic unidirectional rotating bezel and a full 500-meter water resistance rating.
For those who prefer a moderate-sized sports watch, this new 40mm case fits well on narrower wrists, especially with the M2 Seven Seas’ integrated lugs. The lugs support a sharp-looking leather and rubber strap, which has its rubber underneath (on the skin) and its top with green-stitched leather, nicely matching the green color around the dial’s edge. All hands and indexes are coated with a generous helping of SuperLuminova.
As ever, Tutima fits a practical folding clasp to the strap to allow the wearer easy adjustment. Inside you’ll find Tutima’s automatic ETA-based Caliber 330.
Even though I’ve never met Torsten Nagengast in person we have been friends for several years. It started back in 2013 when I featured his ‘Unique Repeater Watch 18k Diamonds’ on my website. That particular model is a unique 1/1 piece that is powered by a LeCoultre caliber from 1908.
I was massively impressed to discover Torsten is a black belt master, fourteen times regional and four times German Champion in Kickboxing. He has also won the bronze medal at the World Championships.
This competitive spirit was the catalyst for a really exciting project called Extreme, which he conceived around 2016. After years of fastidious research and development, the timepieces are now ready to hit the market.
The Firefly, from Torsten Nagengast’s Extreme Project.
At this stage, I should give context and explain Torsten has also worked in the automotive industry for years. Within this period he has collaborated with prestigious clients such as BMW, Mercedes and Porsche. Ultimately this experience was the catalyst for the Extreme project. Torsten’s vision for this watch was to create something special constructed from cutting edge lightweight materials.
For example, he uses a case constructed from forged carbon and a multi-layered dial from carbon fiber. However, the most ambitious part of the project was to create an in house mechanical hand-winding movement from anodized aluminum.
Richard Mille has been creating these types of timepieces for several years. Most notably their collaborative series with tennis legend Rafael Nadal. Unfortunately (due to price point) most people would have to sell their homes and live in the car to afford them. Torsten was very keen to make a similar style watch that is also highly accessible. While this Firefly example is a one-off watch, Extreme watches like it are priced at around $2,300.
Carbon composites
Early on in the process Torsten and I realized there was a certain symmetry and our respective paths were aligned. As well as being a multi-published award-winning author, I’m also an industrial designer. I’ve created numerous watches from different carbon composites that have previously not been used in the industry.
I spoke in detail to Torsten about these creations and we agreed it would be mutually beneficial to co-create a watch. The result is a unique version of the Extreme called the Firefly.
What makes this timepiece so special is the vibrant orange carbon composite case. This complements the orange chapter ring and small second counter showcased on the multi-layered carbon fiber dial.
For Torsten Nagengast, Extreme is far more than just a watch brand. It combines three of his passions, which are automotive technology, exercise and horology. A few years ago Torsten (by his own admission) was approaching middle age as an unfit, workaholic. Extreme symbolizes a renewed lust for life.
From a consumer perspective, it’s also a win-win scenario because they can get a really cool watch, which utilizes state of the art lightweight materials. From an aesthetic point of view, it also is very successful and will appeal to a broad demographic.
Steve Huyton is an industrial designer, illustrator and author who publishes Total Design Reviews.
Nomos cools its classic Tangente neomatik with two new ‘platinum’-gray-dialed models offered in two sizes (35mm and 39mm).
The Nomos classic Tangente neomatik is now available in platinum gray. And in two sizes (35mm and 39mm.
The pair expands the number of metallic-dialed Nomos watches just a few months after the German-based independent watchmaker debuted several gold and silver metallic watches.
As the brand’s top-selling, original collection, Tangente is identified by its thin Arabic numerals, slender bezel, coin-shaped steel case and smooth sapphire crystal.
The new pair offers a cooler look for Tangente with a new dial tinged with rhodium, a platinum-family metal that creates a sophisticated gray color. Rhodium also colors the thin hands, which match the slimness of the golden font proclaiming the ‘neomatik’ moniker.
The neomatik series refers to the automatic caliber DUW 3001 that powers the new Tangente pair.
And while most collectors will likely enjoy a clear view of the nicely decorate in-house caliber from the clear caseback, others will opt to save a few dollars by purchasing the solid caseback edition on either size of the new Tangente neomatik platinum grey. Also available with the steel back version is the chance to request that Nomos add a personalized engraving (up to 88 characters) to the back.
With the clear caseback you can observe the proprietary automatic Nomos caliber DUW 3001. A solid caseback edition is also available.
This solid caseback option means the price for the watch will differ by about $400, which for the 35mm model means a choice between a $3,070 model (solid steel back) and a $3,460 model. For the 39mm model, prices are $3,390 (solid steel back) and $3,780.
Case: 38.5 mm diameter. Height: 6.9 mm (solid steel back) or 7.1mm (sapphire back). Sapphire front crystal with anti-reflective coating on inner side. Water resistance to 50 meters.
Movement: Automatic caliber DUW 3001, in-house built Nomos neomatik caliber with automatic winding, power reserve up to 43 hours. Movement features Nomos swing system, tempered blue balance spring, Nomos balance bridge fixed by screws on both sides, stop-seconds mechanism, bidirectional winding rotor, Glashütte three-quarter plate, DUW regulation system adjusted in six positions, tempered blue screws, rhodium-plated surfaces with Glashütte ribbing and Nomos perlage.
Dial: Galvanized, rhodium-plated, hands also rhodium-plated.
Case: 35mm diameter. Height: 6.7 mm (solid steel back) or 6.9mm (sapphire back). Sapphire front crystal with anti-reflective coating on inner side. Water resistance to 30 meters.
Movement: Automatic caliber DUW 3001, in-house built Nomos neomatik caliber with automatic winding, power reserve up to 43 hours. Movement features Nomos swing system, tempered blue balance spring, Nomos balance bridge fixed by screws on both sides, stop-seconds mechanism, bidirectional winding rotor, Glashütte three-quarter plate, DUW regulation system adjusted in six positions, tempered blue screws, rhodium-plated surfaces with Glashütte ribbing and Nomos perlage.
Dial: Galvanized, rhodium-plated, hands also rhodium-plated.
