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ReviewNomos Metro Datum Gangreserve: Avant-Garde Design Meets Watchmaking Excellence

Find out why the new Gangreserve from NOMOS is a highly recommended timepiece

May We Recommend

I have written about this before for The Watch Guide, that a big attraction of Glashütte for me is the drive from Dresden. It is inexplicably beautiful, as you wind through agricultural lands and witness the beautiful countryside speckled with windmills . Many travellers who undertake this journey will visit at least one of the watch manufacturers based there—Nomos Glashütte, A. Lange & Söhne or the Swatch Group-owned Glashütte Original. Though unmatched on the legacy front, having been set up not so long ago in 1990, Nomos has been making delightfully well-designed and technically efficient mechanical timepieces ever since.

The Nomos Gangreserve is an impressive timepiece from the German watch manufacturer—reflecting the brand’s expertise in the craft of watchmaking

The History Of Nomos

Nomos Glashütte was founded by Roland Schwertner, an entrepreneur of varied interests who owned several businesses, just a few months after the fall of the Berlin Wall 28 years ago. In 1990, Schwertner was keen on building a German watch brand and, hence, acquired a watchmaking establishment in the early 1900s called Nomos, meaning ‘law’ in Greek.

The first important model from the house of Nomos Glashütte was the Tangente—with thin, faceted lugs, a white dial and large hour markers at two, four, eight, ten and twelve o’clock. Schwertner, along with the help of a few watchmakers and designer Susanne Günther, produced this piece after a couple of years of research and development.

Initially, Nomos sourced a majority of its parts from Switzerland. Largely using ETA and Peseux movements, Nomos assembled and handcrafted mechanical movements in Germany, continuing to establish itself as a strong German watchmaker. In 2005, Nomos released its first in-house movement, the Epsilon, which is fitted in the Tangomat model.

Well-proportioned designs, in-house movements and honest pricing were the reasons Nomos grew rapidly and finally became the largest producer of mechanical watches in Germany, with a presence in almost fifty countries.

Know more about Nomos Glashütte here.

The Metro Datum Gangreserve

The Nomos Metro Datum Gangreserve features a manual-winding movement, and a power reserve indicator seen off-centre towards one o’clock

Nomos is a modern-day wonder in the world of watchmaking, with high reliance on in-house manufacturing based out of Glashütte. Additionally, the brand has a design studio in Berlin where they create avant garde designs to take the brand’s design philosophy forward. The Metro Datum Gangreserve is yet another Nomos success story. Launched at Baselworld 2016, the model has two versions. One of them is equipped with a power reserve indicator, which I am reviewing here.

Suitable for any age, and versatile when it comes to accessorising, the clean design of the Gangreserve is available even without the power reserve indicator

Design by Mark Braun: The Nomos Gangreserve is a product of collaboration with designer Mark Braun, who also has his own design studio. The watch carries the design philosophy that Braun believes in. “I want to design things so that they seem familiar to people, even though they are new,” he states.

Dial and hands: The dial is precise in execution. The hands have this lovely tapering at the end, which allows them to indicate the time without cluttering the outer ring.

The movement that powers the Gangreserve is made entirely in-house by Nomos, including its escapement—the Nomos Swing System—an exceptional feat in watchmaking, considering that 95 per cent of the Swiss watch industry depends on outsourcing their escapements

The exceptional Nomos Swing System: This watch boasts the famous Nomos Swing System, the proprietary escapement, developed over seven years and with an investment of approximately €12 million. Nomos worked with the University of Dresden, which it relied on the mathematical front, for this Swing System. Making an escapement—the part of the mechanism that gives a watch its heartbeat—is a big deal in watchmaking. About 95 per cent of the Swiss watch industry depends on one supplier, Nivarox FAR, for their hairsprings—a crucial part of the escapement. Considering this, it is clear that for a watch brand to develop their own escapement is a significant achievement. This 2mg component is extremely difficult to make with consistency in large numbers. It’s also great to see a brand like Nomos, which sells watches at an attractive price point, invest so much time and capital to make their own escapement.

A Manual-winding movement: There is always an old-school charm attached to a hand-wound movement and this watch is no exception. The power reserve indicator will ensure that you don’t run out of juice. Seen off-centre, towards one o’clock, the green and red circle tells you exactly when the watch is running out of power and needs to be wound.

The gender-neutral Nomos Gangreserve follows clean lines in its design, making it sophisticated and suitable for any wrist

A clean and classy appeal: The watch is meant for an individual with refined taste. With a neat size of 37mm, the watch sits perfectly on any wrist. The asymmetric look of the green and red power reserve indicator lends a boho-chic appeal to the watch. For people who’d rather have a more classic look, there is also a version of the Gangreserve without the power reserve indicator.

This timepiece perfectly reflects the spirit of the Bauhaus art movement. The movement is named after an art school in Germany, which was the birthplace of a particular style of design, architecture and art.

Other details: The watch features a silver dial, which is housed in a steel case. The timepiece is fitted with a black leather strap. It offers a power reserve of 42 hours. The Gangreserve is also water resistant up to 30m.

The Nomos Metro Datum Gangreserve watches are available exclusively at Ethos Watch Boutiques and on Ethoswatches.com.

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