Description
Nomos Glashütte has added two new versions to the Tetra 27, the smallest square in its catalogue, announced on 16 July 2026. The Tetra 27 white (reference 402) is about as classic as a Nomos gets — a silver-plated dial with the Tangente's black-printed Arabic numerals and a small-seconds register — while the Tetra 27 duo (reference 410) is a stripped-back, two-hand piece with a two-tone white-and-grey dial and no seconds at all.
Both are hand-wound, both use the in-house DUW 4001 calibre, and both sit at the affordable end of genuine German manufacture watchmaking. Prices run from EUR 1,660 for the duo with a solid steel back to EUR 2,120 for the white with a sapphire display back, and the watches join the permanent collection rather than being limited.
Design
The case is a compact 27.5mm × 27.5mm square, just 6.1mm thick, in polished stainless steel with Nomos's signature double-stepped lugs and a slim polished bezel. A sapphire crystal sits up front, and buyers choose between a solid steel caseback or a sapphire display back that reveals the movement. Both watches come on a black Horween shell cordovan strap with an 18mm lug width and a steel pin buckle.
The white version carries a galvanised, silver-plated dial with black-printed Arabic numerals and markers shared with the Tangente, tempered-blue steel hands, and a flat round small-seconds sub-dial. The duo swaps that for a two-tone white-and-grey dial and a pared-down two-hand layout — hours and minutes only — for the cleanest possible read of the stepped square case.
Specifications
- References: 402 (Tetra 27 white) / 410 (Tetra 27 duo)
- Case dimensions: 27.5mm × 27.5mm square, 6.1mm thick
- Case material: Polished stainless steel; double-stepped lugs; polished bezel
- Lug width: 18mm
- Crystal: Sapphire front; choice of solid steel or sapphire display caseback
- Water resistance: 5 ATM (per Monochrome; single-sourced)
- Dial (ref 402, white): Galvanised silver-plated white dial; black-printed Arabic numerals; tempered-blue steel hands; small-seconds sub-dial
- Dial (ref 410, duo): Galvanised two-tone white-and-grey dial; two-hand layout (hours and minutes)
- Movement: Calibre DUW 4001 (white, with small seconds and stop-seconds) / DUW 4001 duo (duo, hours and minutes) — in-house, hand-wound; upgraded Alpha base; Nomos swing system with in-house blue hairspring; ¾ plate, Glashütte ribbing, perlage, blued screws
- Movement size: 23.3mm × 2.6mm
- Jewels: 17
- Frequency: 21,600 vph (3 Hz)
- Power reserve: 53 hours
- Functions: Hours, minutes, small seconds (white) / hours, minutes (duo)
- Strap: Black Horween shell cordovan, steel pin buckle
- Prices: EUR 1,660 (duo, steel back) / EUR 1,880 (duo, sapphire back) / EUR 1,900 (white, steel back) / EUR 2,120 (white, sapphire back)
- Availability: Permanent collection
What's Exciting
This is the value-for-money in-house story of the week, and it isn't close. A hand-wound German manufacture movement with its own balance spring — the Nomos swing system, one of the very few genuinely independent hairspring programmes outside Rolex, Patek and the Swatch Group — starting at EUR 1,660 keeps embarrassing watches costing twice as much. The duo is the sharper buy of the pair: dropping the seconds hand and its cut-out leaves the purest expression of that stepped square case, and shell cordovan over a DUW swing-system movement for under EUR 2,000 is close to unrepeatable elsewhere. The square silhouette will always be a taste test against the round Tangente, but measured on engineering-per-euro, this is the most watch you can buy in its price bracket right now.
History
Nomos Glashütte was founded in 1990, immediately after German reunification, in the Saxon watchmaking town of Glashütte. It built its reputation on clean, Bauhaus-influenced design and, crucially, on developing its own movements — culminating in the DUW swing system, an in-house escapement and balance spring launched in 2014 that freed the brand from external suppliers. The Tetra, Nomos's square line, dates to 2005 and has always been the maison's most playful, design-forward family. The Tetra 27 is its most compact case, and these two additions extend it with the brand's most classic dial (the white) and one of its cleanest (the duo two-hander).
