Site icon Grail Watch Reference

Nomos Alpha Family

The Nomos Alpha family of movements is an evolution of the original Nomos 1 family, itself based closely on the classic Peseux 7001. The Alpha family was the first movement constructed in-house by Nomos in Glashütte, though the assortment was sourced from ETA. Although based on the 7001 design, the plates and bridges are entirely different and reflect the classic Glashütte three-quarter plate concept. Nomos also manufactured the wheels in-house.

Nomos counts the 2006 automatic Nomos Epsilon as their official first in-house movement. It added a Nomos-designed bi-directional automatic winding system to the Alpha base which was entirely novel.

Hand-winding members of the family locate the balance wheel just past 3:00, when viewed from the back with the winding stem at 9:00, on a dog-leg cock. This is the same as the Peseux movement. Automatic versions use a very different balance wheel and cock located at 4:00.


The Nomos 1 was based on an ETA/Peseux 7001 Ebauches
The Nomos Alpha was produced in-house except for the escapement
The DUW 4000/5000 includes the in-house Nomos Swing System

Starting in 2014, the Alpha family movements are being phased out in favor of the newer DUW 4000/5000 family, which includes the in-house Nomos Swing System assortment.

Nomos initially used Greek letters exclusively when naming these movements. Over time, they began specifying the name in Latin characters as well (i.e. “ξ (xi)”) before moving almost exclusively to Latin characters (i.e. “Nomos Alpha”) in the 2010s.

Nomos Alpha Family Movements

ComplicationsHand-WindingAutomatic
No DateNomos α (Alpha)
Nomos Alpha.2
Nomos ε (Epsilon)
DateNomos β (Beta)Nomos ζ (Zeta)
World TimeNomos ξ (Xi)
Power ReserveNomos γ (Gamma)
Date and Power ReserveNomos δ (Delta)

Exit mobile version