Nomos Duo: four elegant women's watches, fresh from Baselworld

Design-led German brand Nomos is playing the ‘sheer elegance’ card with its latest series of ladies’ watches, released on the eve of Switzerland’s annual Baselworld watchfest.

The new Duo models embraces Nomos’ Bauhuas philosophy – one which is typically associated with a clean yet never-boring minimalism – by stripping the face back to just two hands.

There’s no sweeping second hand or busy little sub-dial, no date window: just the basics, delivered with the crisp and uncluttered aesthetic which has made Nomos a watch of choice for designers, artists, architects and others with a creative bent.

Each Duo watch belongs to a different member of the core Nomos family: the Orion, Tangente and Ludwig have a traditional circular face of 33mc diameter, while the square Tetra is 27mm along the side.

So yes, these are not large watches by any stretch: they’re slim delicate timepieces for dainty wrists, small delights which are certain to delight whomever they are gifted (with space on their stainless steel backs for a personal engraved message, just to seal the deal).

The Duo series all feature a slim hand-wound mechanism built by Nomos. These movements are almost entirely produced at Nomos’ headquarters in the tiny and formerly East German town of Glashütte which is considered the birthplace of the German watchmaking industry.

The essential difference between each Duo are the hour markings: a single uncomplicated baton on the Orion, numbers at every second hour mark (starting at 12) on the Tangente and Tetra, and Roman numerals instead of numbers on the Ludwig.

This makes it relatively easy to choose the right style, although maybe also challenging when each Duo looks so appealing.

Mocha-brown typography on the hour markers, a white silver-plated dial and two slim golden hands make each watch an understated piece of jewellery on its own, while the beige velour leather strap adds contemporary flair.

Nomos will send the new Duo models out into the world, and we estimate onto many many wrists, in April. Prices, ranging from $1,920 for the Ludwig Duo to $2,260 for the Tetra Duo. Who could ever have guessed that such elegance could also be so affordable?

David Flynn

David Flynn is the Editor-in-Chief of Executive Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.