Introducing Nomos × Revolution Tangente neomatik 41 Replace ‘Resilience’

NOMOS Glashütte and Revolution current the Nomos Tangente neomatik 41 Replace ‘Resilience’ that’s an ode to humanity’s means to transcend the chances.

Restricted Version

By
Wei Koh

Aug 11, 2023

Of all human qualities, the one I like essentially the most is resilience — that’s, the power to face up to, adapt and develop within the face of adversity or trauma. Within the historical past of the trendy world, only a few cities are as synonymous with resilience as Berlin, the inventive residence of German watch model Nomos Glashütte. Whereas at the moment we contemplate Berlin one of many world epicenters for artwork and tradition, with the world’s best nightclubs and an progressive epicurean scene embodied by chef Tim Raue’s eponymous two Michelin starred restaurant, it wasn’t so way back that the capital metropolis of Germany was within the worldwide highlight for a really completely different purpose: Between 1945 and 1990, Berlin was a hotspot within the superpower rivalry often known as the Chilly Struggle.

Berlin Landscape — Right this moment Berlin is without doubt one of the world epicenters of artwork and tradition, by elxeneize

Caught within the ideological battle, the town was divided into East and West Berlin; the previous was run by the Sovietbacked Communist authorities of East Germany, whereas the latter was deemed a territory of West Germany. The 96-milelong Berlin Wall, constructed within the Sixties by East Germany, was essentially the most infamous image of the battle between the Japanese/ Communist bloc and the Western/Capitalist bloc. The Wall divided households and mates and separated Germans from their jobs, resulting in anguish and generational trauma. But, one way or the other encoded within the DNA of each Berliner, was the dedication to battle again towards this oppression. Nothing may crush the spirit of Berlin and its folks. They withstood. They tailored. They grew.

A SYMBOL FOR RESILIENCE

Someday, sitting on the terrace of Berlin’s Soho Home with Martina Etti of NOMOS Glashütte and my pal Amo Völker, the dialog discovered its option to the topic of Berlin, Glashütte and resilience. At this level, Nomos and Revolution had been discussing the concept of a collaborative look ahead to a while, however we simply couldn’t discover the suitable thought. Then, Amo paused for a second earlier than stating, “Truly I’ve an thought.”

_79A5386_web — Mannequin-photographer Amo Voekler carrying the restricted version Nomos x Revolution Tangente neomatik 41 Replace ‘Resilience’

Now earlier than we get to the watch, let me describe my pal Amo. She’s a mannequin who has graced Revolution’s cowl and appeared in a number of picture spreads in The Rake journal. She’s additionally an artwork director and a terrific photographer. We met throughout a job she did for The Rake when she was capturing Savile Row’s subsequent technology of rockstar feminine tailors, and we turned mates. I quickly acknowledged in her the standard of resilience that I discover so admirable in others.

For instance, after a protracted bout of COVID, she determined she wished to be of assist to her metropolis. So, she enrolled in paramedic coaching and, after a grueling yr of coaching whereas battling her personal lengthy COVID signs, turned an formally licensed paramedic. Throughout the years of the pandemic, she would trip at the back of ambulances and administer help to these injured or in want. I used to joke along with her that folks being resuscitated by her is perhaps at risk of pondering that that they had handed away and ascended to Valhalla. What’s spectacular is that two years after the pandemic, she stays firmly dedicated to the trigger, dedicating part of her week to working as a paramedic in Berlin.

Amo defined, “I’ve been performing some analysis and found that the image for resilience in nature is the helix. Helix patterns type when stress, adversity or trauma is skilled by an entity in nature. When a root finds a barrier, it types a helix round it. It twists round and conquers its former foe and transforms itself into an emblem for stability. Nautiluses and seashells additionally type this sample after they expertise stress of any type.”

05_NOMOSGlashütte_Tangente_neomatik_41_Update_Web — The Fibonacci sequence is subtly built-in into the minute observe of the Nomos × Revolution Tangente neomatik 41 Replace “Resilience”

Martina Etti instantly replied, “I like this concept. The story of resilience is essential to the city of Glashütte and to our brand Nomos.”

THE STORY OF NOMOS GLASHÜTTE

For these of you who don’t know the story, “Nomos” which implies “legislation” in historical Greek, was based in early 1990, only a few months after the autumn of the Berlin Wall. Model founder Roland Schwertner, an expert photographer with no expertise as a watchmaker, was remarkably prescient in understanding the unimaginable savoir faire that existed in Glashütte. He wished to revive the watchmaking know-how that had been virtually buried when the watchmaking factories in Glashütte had been taken over and nationalized by the Communist authorities of East Germany.

03_NOMOSGlashütte_RolandSchwertner_web — Roland Schwertner,
founding father of NOMOS
Glashütte

There may be the well-known story of Walter Lange, his father and uncles rebuilding the A. Lange & Söhne manufacturing facility, which had been bombed in one of many final air raids of World Struggle II in Europe (the Glashütte watchmaking firms had been seemingly targets of air raids as a result of that they had been used to fabricate conflict gear below the Nazi regime). Nonetheless, in 1948, the Lange household had been knowledgeable that their enterprise can be nationalized as a so-called “Individuals’s Personal Enterprise” or “Volkseigener Betrieb” (VEB). The Lange firm was absorbed into Glashütter Uhrenbetriebe (GUB), and its position henceforth can be to provide dependable watches for nations within the Japanese bloc in addition to for export to different nations. Walter Lange was given the choice to work for them or be despatched to a uranium mine; he selected as a substitute to go away his hometown and escape to Pforzheim.

But one silver lining amidst all of the Chilly Struggle restrictions was that the Quartz Disaster by no means affected East Germany, which continued by way of the GUB to provide tens of millions of dependable mechanical watches.

From the start when he based Nomos, Schwertner’s mission was clear. He wished to faucet into the strengths of precision watchmaking in Glashütte to create accessibly priced, nice worth, dependable and really good-looking Bauhaus inflected timepieces that showcased German manufacturing and design. His first watches launched in 1992 had been the round-cased Orion, Ludwig and Tangente, in addition to the square-cased Tetra.

Nomos-Tetra-1 — The square-cased Nomos Tetra

All of the watches had been refreshingly daring and minimalist in design. The spherical watches measured 35mm in diameter, whereas the square-cased Tetra measured 29.5mm × 29.5mm. From the start, high quality was of paramount significance. Actions had been sourced from ETA and Peseux, however Nomos modified, improved on and refined the ETA uncooked actions or ébauches with cease seconds, the standard Glashütte click on and different Glashütte options, similar to a three-quarter plate, sunburst on the ratchet and crown wheels, and tempered blue screws. As well as, a separate mainspring was used, and the motion was given a Triovis effective adjustment; even then, it was finely regulated in six positions.

On this means, a extra purposeful, extra exact and finely adorned NOMOS Glashütte caliber was created from a dependable Swiss ébauche, which bore the designation Nomos 1 TSP till 2005.

Early success gave option to an funding made by a German retailer which Schwertner used to create his personal in-house actions. Says Martina, “From the start, it was his [Schwertner’s] goal to create watches with the best integrity, and for him that meant in-house calibers that showcased the talent embedded within the city of Glashütte.”

NOMOS-Glashütte-Tangente-Update-1 — Nomos Tangente

Extremely, in 2003, Schwertner purchased the shares again from the retailer and re-established the model as a totally unbiased entity. Whereas he doesn’t discuss it, I think about that this era will need to have been a problem for him on a number of fronts. The transition for Nomos that he initiated, from a brand new model to a full-fledged manufacture, after which buying again the shares in order that Nomos turned not solely an unbiased model once more, but additionally a profitable one outfitted with its personal in-house actions, had been an apt demonstration of exceptional resilience in addition to an excellent instance of tactical management.

Werk_Epsilon_Boden_01_PR-1 — The model’s first in-house caliber, the handbook wind Nomos Alpha

By 2005, Nomos unveiled its first in-house caliber, the handbook wind Nomos Alpha, and shortly afterwards, its first computerized motion, the Epsilon. As greater than 50 p.c of every Nomos watch was now created in Glashütte, it formally joined the ranks of the city manufactures. In 2013, Nomos created a brand new line of actions named Deutsche Uhrenwerke Nomos Glashütte. And by 2014, extremely, Nomos started the manufacturing of its personal escapement known as the Nomos swing system.

In 2015, Nomos launched the DUW 3001, an unimaginable 3.2mm-thin computerized motion. This motion which includes a full traversing stability bridge is 94.2 p.c environment friendly, that means that simply 5.8 p.c of its power is misplaced to the sliding friction of the escapement.

05_NOMOSGlashütte_DUW_3001_Detail_2 — Nomos’ authentic DUW 3001 caliber

What’s exceptional about Nomos’ progress is that it has largely eschewed conventional promoting, relying as a substitute on partnerships, phrase of mouth and neighborhood constructing by way of numerous platforms similar to its personal web site and on-line retailer, which, earlier than the accelerated progress of e-commerce introduced on by the pandemic, was uncommon for a luxurious model.

All through all of it, Schwertner has remained an understated, certainly mysteriously elusive determine, giving hardly any interviews and preferring to let his timepieces communicate for him.

01_NOMOSGlashütte_HQ — NOMOS Glashütte Headquarter

What that you must perceive is that at the moment Nomos is an absolute juggernaut. It’s the largest manufacture by way of variety of timepieces made in Glashütte by a big margin. Its manufactory is residence to 300 staff and consists of a number of buildings, with the administration and gross sales departments positioned within the headquarters on the former prepare station constructing of Glashütte village. The model’s satellite tv for pc inventive workplace, named Berlinerblau, is 2 hours away by automotive in Berlin.

05_NOMOSGlashütte_Chronometrie — NOMOS Glashütte Chronometrie

In 2018, Nomos created a watch that undoubtedly spoke to me. It was the Tangente neomatik 41 Replace that includes the caliber DUW 6101. That is an evolution of the unique DUW 3001. The motion on this watch has a singular complication — a double patented date mechanism with ring show and fast adjustment in each instructions with considerably shortened locking time. To me, the ensuing watch represents Nomos’ Bauhaus impressed design code at its inventive greatest.

12_NOMOSGlashütte_TangenteUpdate_Wristshot — Nomos Tangente neomatik 41 Replace that includes the caliber DUW 6101

The dial of the watch options the Tangente signature iconography that dates again to 1992 and that’s deeply rooted in Walter Gropius’ philosophy of “type follows perform.” However on the perimeter of the dial is a full date observe abbreviated by small rectangular apertures in between every marker. The right date is marked by coloured indicators on both aspect that can soar instantaneously at midnight. Nomos was capable of combine this complication by including only a mere 0.4mm to its in-house motion — a powerful engineering feat.

02_NOMOSGlashütte_DUW 6101 — The caliber DUW 6101 powering the Tangente Neomatik 41 Replace

The ensuing watch is extraordinarily good-looking and, whereas at 40.5mm at the moment, it may be thought-about giant in mild of the present development for smaller timepieces, I’d level out that almost all of François-Paul Journe watches are additionally round this measurement for one easy purpose: legibility. To make the Tangente neomatik Replace in a means that may compromise the legibility of the date indication, within the eyes of a model with a slavish devotion to perform, simply wouldn’t fly.

NOMOS × REVOLUTION TANGENTE NEOMATIK 41 UPDATE “RESILIENCE”

05_Nomos-0235_DI_Final_01_sRGB_web — Nomos × Revolution Tangente neomatik 41 Replace “Resilience”

At Nomos’ Berlin inventive company, Berlinerblau, we spent a day engaged on the design of our Tangente neomatik 41 Replace “Resilience.” The Fibonacci sequence, talked about in my earlier dialog with Martina Etti and Amo Völker, is a set of numbers the place the following digit is at all times the worth of the 2 earlier numbers added collectively.

03_Nomos-011_DI_Final_01_sRGB_web — Nomos × Revolution Tangente neomatik 41 Replace “Resilience”

These numbers had been described as early as 200 B.C. by the Indian mathematician and poet Pingala as a means of illustrating patterns in Sanskrit poetry. Right this moment, they’re named after Leonardo di Pisa, in any other case often known as Fibonacci, who launched the sequence to Western arithmetic. These numbers are the mathematical underpinning of the helix form, which is often present in pure constructions, to the extent that one may say nature orders its types across the Fibonacci sequence. As such, I felt that the sequence is a robust illustration for the standard of resilience that’s so related to Nomos, my pal Amo and myself. Martina Etti shared, “I checked with our founder and he actually likes this concept.”

11_Nomos-0520_DI_Final_01_sRGB — Nomos × Revolution Tangente neomatik 41 Replace “Resilience”

To me, the standard of resilience additionally displays Darwin’s philosophy about evolution and his thought of the “survival of the fittest.” It’s not essentially the strongest, greatest or fittest that survive, however reasonably the people which might be most able to adapting. This was demonstrated in the course of the COVID pandemic when one of the best of us emerged stronger than earlier than. Within the watch business, I’d argue that your entire style of unbiased watchmakers, together with Nomos, demonstrated extraordinary resilience all through the difficult interval and emerged from it at an all-time peak of recognition.

_79A521311_web — Nomos × Revolution Tangente neomatik 41 Replace “Resilience”

As soon as we built-in the Fibonacci sequence into the minute observe, we started a prolonged backwards and forwards associated to the design. On this case, I’ll admit I finally relinquished the design of the watch to Nomos’ Berlinerblau workplace, as a lot of our extra adventurous or graphically daring concepts didn’t fall in alignment with the model’s strict design philosophy.

Nomos in the end took an extremely pure strategy with this watch, contrasting its midnight blue dial with white indexes and palms, and an Yves Klein blue date indicator for a pared again, virtually Zen reductionist minimalist timepiece that could be a refreshingly understated and delightful watch. The looks of the Fibonacci sequence could be very subtly built-in into the minute observe in order that except your eye is looking for it, it virtually disappears. But, on the identical time, it’s an ever-present reminder of how necessary it’s to at all times face up to, adapt and develop it doesn’t matter what we face in life.

09_Nomos-0502_DI_Final_01_sRGB — Nomos × Revolution Tangente neomatik 41 Replace “Resilience”

I wish to thank Nomos and, specifically, Martina Etti for this collaboration. The Nomos × Revolution Tangente neomatik Replace 41 “Resilience” shall be made in 55 items (a quantity from the Fibonacci sequence) and is priced at USD 4,100, excluding taxes.

Nomos × Revolution Tangente neomatik 41 Replace “Resilience” is obtainable on the market on RevolutionWatch.com on 16 August 2023, 10pm SGT / 4pm CET / 10am EST. For enquiries, please e mail store@revolutionmagazines.com.

Tech Specs

Nomos × Revolution Tangente neomatik 41 Replace “Resilience”

Motion: Self-winding caliber DUW 6101; 42-hour energy reserve

Features: Hours, minutes, small seconds and date

Case: 40.5mm; stainless-steel; water-resistant to 50m

Dial: Midnight blue with rhodium plated seconds subdial and patented date show with Yves Klein blue indicator; white Arabic numerals and hour markers

Strap: Darkish grey woven textile and extra white rubber CTS strap; stainless-steel pin buckle

Value: USD 4,100, excluding taxes

Availability: Restricted version of 55 items