The Square Nomos Tetra Origins Series Goes For Earthy Tones

It’s a well-known fact that many people express their personality through their clothing. Your personality can be reflected by your choice of clothes, hairstyle or the jewellery you wear. The same goes for watches, which are often considered an extension of the person wearing them. Nomos caters to personal expression with multiple (sub-)collections, such as the Club Sport Neomatik 34 from last year. This year, the German brand finds inspiration in nature for its new quartet of Tetra Origins, featuring fresh, earthy tones.

The Tetra was part of the first four collections launched by Nomos, and has remained in the catalogue ever since. Next to the Ludwig, Orion and Tangente, the square Tetra has stood the proverbial test of time thanks to its minimalist design ethos and playful use of shapes and colours.

For this new series, the case remains unchanged from the previous Tetra models, so we’re still dealing with a lovely compact 29.5 by 29.5mm square case. The height is always important to Nomos, and this quartet of Tetras comes in at just 6.5mm. The stepped lugs add an Art Deco element, and there’s a square sapphire crystal on top. The crown on the right is relatively flat but nicely sized and knurled, providing excellent grip to wind and set the watch.

The Origins series is all about embracing the beauty of nature. Four dials are introduced, named Ochra, Terra, Salvia, and Basalt (yellow, reddish, green, and charcoal). The dials look fresh and playful, and have a finely grained texture with contrasting recessed subdials. The needle-shaped hands for the hours and minutes are polished, and pass along elongated Arabic numerals and baton hour markers. And Nomos being Nomos, the small seconds hand pops with vibrant and eye-catching colours.

Beating away on the reverse side, and visible through a circular sapphire crystal, is Nomos’ own DUW 4001 movement. This is based on the architecture of the Peseux 7001 and was previously known as the Alpha calibre. However, and this is important to us and probably to a few of you as well, it now features the Nomos Swing System escapement. Nomos has been somewhat quiet about it, but this means the entire movement is now made in-house and no longer relies on an outsourced escapement. Well played, Nomos!

By looks and specs, it’s very familiar territory, though, as the hand-wound calibre runs at a rate of 21,600vph and delivers 43 hours of power reserve. The finishing is typical of Nomos, with blued screws, gold-coloured engravings, perlage and Glashütte ribbing.

The new Tetra Origins series by Nomos comes on a beige vegan leather strap with a stainless steel pin buckle. They join the permanent collection and retail for EUR 2,180 (incl. VAT). For more information, please visit NOMOS-Glashuette.com.