NOMOS gives the Metro Date Power Reserve an ice blue dial and the new hand-wound DUW 4701 caliber

The ice blue version of the Metro, which designer Mark Braun created in 2014, arrives with a hand-wound caliber that adds a quick-set date and a 52-hour power reserve.

NOMOS Glashütte introduced the Metro Date Power Reserve in 2014, designed by Mark Braun, a Berlin-based industrial designer who took urban architecture as his reference. That first version, reference 1101, was the first Metro fitted with the Swing System, the escapement NOMOS develops and makes in Glashütte, housed in the hand-wound caliber DUW 4401. Twelve years later, the model gets an ice blue dial and a new caliber, the DUW 4701, which also moves into the white version.

Technical Specs

Reference	1121
Case	Polished stainless steel; 37 mm diameter, 8 mm thick; wire lugs
Crystal and back	Domed sapphire; sapphire caseback
Water resistance	5 atm (50 m)
Dial	Ice blue, electroplated and lacquered, with a metallic finish; three-color power reserve indicator; small seconds and date at 6 o'clock
Hands	Rhodium-plated stepped hour and minute hands
Caliber	NOMOS DUW 4701, hand-wound; Swing System escapement; 3 Hz (21,600 vph); 52-hour power reserve; 2.8 mm high
Functions	Hours, minutes, small seconds with stop seconds, quick-set date and power reserve indicator
Strap	Black Horween Genuine Shell Cordovan leather
Price	USD 4,500 in the United States; from EUR 3,280 in Spain

Ice blue on the Metro dial

The dial is electroplated and lacquered, with a metallic finish NOMOS calls ice blue, and it keeps the asymmetric layout of the original Metro: the power reserve indicator sits in the upper right quadrant, next to the hand stack, and the small seconds sit above the date at 6 o'clock. NOMOS matched the color of each indicator to the new dial. The power reserve disc combines white, light blue and teal, the seconds hand is light blue, and the hours are marked with teal dots, while the minutes carry white dots and gray numerals.

The rhodium-plated hour and minute hands are very thin, with a stepped profile that, according to the brand, takes its silhouette from New York's Empire State Building. The polished steel case keeps the measurements of the 2014 model, 37 mm across and 8 mm thick, with wire lugs, a narrow bezel and a domed sapphire crystal. For a dress watch of restrained proportions, that thickness is one of its strengths. The strap is black Horween Genuine Shell Cordovan, a horse leather with a smooth, glossy surface.

The DUW 4701 caliber

The DUW 4701 replaces the DUW 4401, the caliber the Metro launched with, and NOMOS describes it as its new hand-wound caliber for watches with a date and a power reserve indicator. It keeps the Swing System, the balance, hairspring, pallet fork and escape wheel that the brand makes in Glashütte, runs at 3 Hz, or 21,600 vibrations per hour, and is 2.8 mm high.

In daily use, the power reserve grows from 42 to 52 hours, so the watch runs longer without winding before it stops, and the indicator on the dial shows how much energy is left in the mainspring, which is useful on a watch wound by hand. The date, which had no quick-set on the earlier Metro, can now be corrected directly with the crown, which makes it easier to reset after the watch has been stopped for more than a day.

The sapphire caseback shows the three-quarter plate with its sunburst finish, the heat-blued screws and a skeletonized balance cock that leaves the Swing System in view.

Prices in the United States and Spain

NOMOS sells the Metro Date Power Reserve ice blue for USD 4,500 in the United States, and its Spanish online store lists it from EUR 3,280. Alongside it comes the Metro neomatik 41 Update ice blue, reference 1166, a 40.5 mm automatic with the DUW 6101 caliber and a ring date, priced at USD 5,390 and EUR 4,200. The brand does not publish official prices for Latin America, and at the end of September the shipping destinations of its online store did not include countries in the region; buyers in Mexico, Colombia, Argentina or Chile can ask NOMOS about purchase and shipping options.

A hand-wound Metro, brought up to date

The Metro Date Power Reserve ice blue combines, in a 37 mm case, the asymmetric layout Mark Braun drew in 2014 and a hand-wound caliber NOMOS makes in Glashütte with its own escapement, two traits that set it apart within the collection. The ice blue dial gives it a cooler tone than the silvery white the model was first known for, and the brand adapted every indicator to it, from the power reserve disc to the seconds hand.

With the DUW 4701, the power reserve indicator still tells the wearer when to wind, and the date now sets from the crown, which matters more on a hand-wound watch, since it stops once it is set aside. The Metro keeps its 2014 measurements and design, and the new caliber also reaches the white version, the one that introduced the model.