Earlier this year, I got a whole new appreciation for the Nomos Metro after sitting down with its creator, Mark Braun. The collection first came into the Nomos catalog back in 2014 and debuted the brand’s proprietary swing escapement system, which was developed over seven years with the Fraunhofer Institute and TU Dresden. Form was equally important to function in the original design, featuring a galvanized and silver-plated dial with a soft white color punctuated by black, red, and green markings in an arrangement that subtly played with asymmetry.
Over the past 12 years, the Metro has gone on to take many other forms – some ditching the asymmetry by removing the power reserve indicator and shifting the Nomos logo to 12 o’clock and others ditching the white dial for full color alongside versions in rose gold as well as special editions for select markets. Today, we get the next evolution with the Metro Date Power Reserve Ice Blue. True to the collection’s DNA, this new incarnation offers new details both aesthetic and technical, including a brand-new mechanical caliber.
With the latest addition to the Metro lineup, we see Nomos continue to use this collection as a launch point for new technical advancements. It marks the first model in the Nomos catalog to house the new hand-wound caliber DUW 4701, which offers a patented quick-set date and a power reserve of up to 52 hours. This entirely new movement continues the story of mechanical innovation that began with the initial launch of Metro line and will also be made available in the original white dial variant.
Despite the new movement, the dial configuration takes us back to the original 2014 model. Here, the periphery contains a lot of structure, with the unique delineation of the minutes in five-increment Arabic numerals as opposed to traditional indices and the hours defined by small circles. The new Metro Date Power Reserve Ice Blue even reprises the green color scheme for the hour markers. However, for this model, the cool-toned color palette continues throughout with the dial itself featuring a metallic finish that shifts from cool light blue to almost white and giving the watch its name. This is complemented by a three-color power reserve indicator in white, light blue, and green.
Moving on, the small seconds register and the central hour and minute hands line up vertically above the date aperture at 6 o’clock. Then, the asymmetry comes in with the Nomos logo offset between 9 and 10 o’clock and a power reserve indicator floating around 1 o’clock.
The Metro Date Power Reserve Ice Blue joins Nomos’ permanent catalog today. In addition, the ice blue dial is also available in an automatic version: Metro Neomatik 41 Update Ice Blue. This model combines the new color with the Nomos ring date. Here, the date display frames the current date with two green markers while displaying the whole month at a glance. At 40.5mm, this watch offers an alternative interpretation of the new icy dial finish in a larger size, with automatic winding, and a patented complication. For more information on both models as well as pricing, head over directly to Nomos.
