Nomos Glashütte has added two new versions of its smallest watch to the permanent collection: the Tetra 27 white and the Tetra 27 duo.
The German company has been making square watches out of Glashütte since 1992, when the Tetra launched alongside the Tangente, Ludwig, and Orion. (Fun fact: the name Glashütte is a legally protected designation of origin.)
The case on both is polished stainless steel, 27.5mm on each side, 6.1mm thick.
That reads tiny on a spec sheet, but in practice, a square case covers noticeably more wrist than a round one of the same width.
Tetra 27 white is the more traditional of the pair — white silver-plated dial, temperature-blued hands, an integrated sub-seconds display, and a minute track that squares off the circle with a single dot marking six o’clock.
Tetra 27 duo strips things further. Two blued hands, hours and minutes, no seconds at all.
Inside both is the hand-wound DUW 4001, Nomos’s evolution of its old Alpha caliber, which was itself an in-house reworking of the Peseux 7001. The white gets a stop-seconds function; the duo runs a variant built for two hands.
Both ride on a black Horween shell cordovan strap, with a choice of solid steel back or sapphire crystal.
Making small watches before it was a trend
The watch industry spent about fifteen years convinced bigger was the only direction, and has spent the last few frantically reversing course. Lucky for Nomos, they never took the ride.
The Tangente has been 35mm since 1992. The Tetra has lived at 27 and 29mm for its entire existence, which means the brand didn’t have to reissue anything to look current — it just kept going.
These are also the same in-house calibers and same finishing you’d find in a larger case. A 27.5mm watch with a proprietary escapement is not a common object.
That’s also my argument for why rectangular and square dress watches have become one of the most interesting corners of the watch world; a Nomos drop isn’t just another round dive watch, and it likely never will be.
Where to Buy It
The Tetra 27 white runs $2,400 and the Tetra 27 duo is $2,090, both available now through Nomos Glashütte and authorized retailers. Neither is limited — they’re permanent collection, so there’s no rush.
