Nomos Super 30 LE Tangente Gold-Plated Movement

Reuven Malter shares the fascinating story behind his Nomos Super 30 LE, a watch acquired for his grandfather's 70th birthday. This piece delves into the unique aspects of this limited edition, from its gold-plated movement to its unusual pricing strategy. Malter's personal connection to the watch, inherited from his grandfather, adds a layer of sentimentality to its already intriguing history.

Today, i want to share the story of my very special Super-30 with you. Back in 2004 (i was 15 at the time), my Granddad celebrated his 70^th Birthday. My mother and her sister wanted to buy him a nice watch to celebrate this occasion. They had no idea what to buy, so they went to an AD.

It turned out that their timing was near perfect since the glashütte-based brand Nomos just created a nice special edition, the „Super 30“. The idea was simple: They created 30 special colours for a otherwise regular piece of their collection – the Tangente - with a limitation of 100 pieces per colour, numbered on the back of the watch. Even more special with this LE was the gold-plated movement that i think no other Nomos has ever had.

Every retailer had to buy a set of 30 watches, so there were just 100 Ads who could sell this special edition. The amazing thing: Because retailers were forced to buy 30 pieces, Nomos reduced the price: 590 instead of the regular 690 Euro that a „normal“ Tangente did cost in 2004. So you got a arguably nicer version for less money.

I have read that about 50 % of the 3000 watches were sold on day 1, and further 45 % of the watches on day two. These pieces are quite sought-after even today (proof for this is the value of this piece today – yet this should not matter).

Some of the colour-variations were really spectacular – on these two pieces you see below, the entire (!) sub-seconds and the numerals are printed with luminova, creating an amazing effect in the dark.

And then, there are – well – not so timeless versions you see here.

These are the good but not great versions:

I wish my mother picked a little more special version, but on the other hand, the watch is amazing, because it is an almost exact replica of this Lange und Söhne watch from 1940. They are even the same in terms of diameter – 35 mm. (see first picture)

In 2017, my granddad started to wear more legible pieces (he could neither wind nor see the time ) so he gave me this piece so that i can enjoy it.

And i do enjoy it, even though the watch is a bit light on the wrist (35mm x 6,6mm). Its 40 gram (my SS Rolex GMT Master II has 144 gram just to give you an idea of the weight)

Its a very nice collectors piece and much cooler than a watch you have to pay 100 k for, because imo, its one of the few limited editions in that segment, that is a limited edition in terms of demand. Many pieces are limited because the manufacture knows they arent selling more pieces anyways.

Cheers.