Fair Value Measurements - Asset Acquisition Contingent Consideration - Additional Information (Details) - Video Signal Processing and Management Technologies $ in Thousands, € in Millions	3 Months Ended
Mar. 29, 2019 USD ($) Installment	Dec. 14, 2016 USD ($)	Dec. 14, 2016 EUR (€)
Asset Acquisition Contingent Consideration [Line Items]
Date of Acquisition Agreement	Dec. 14, 2016
Number of contingent consideration installments \| Installment	4
Undiscounted range of outcomes, minimum		$ 0
Undiscounted range of outcomes, maximum		$ 6,600	€ 5.5
Changes in fair value of contingent consideration	$ 0

Asset acquisition contingent consideration.

No definition available.

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- Definition

For contingent consideration arrangements, this element represents an estimate of the high-end of the potential range (undiscounted) of the consideration which may be paid.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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- Definition

For contingent consideration arrangements, this element represents an estimate of the low-end of the potential range (undiscounted) of the consideration which may be paid.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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- Definition

Date when the acquisition agreement was executed, in CCYY-MM-DD format.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	novt_DateOfAcquisitionAgreement
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- Definition

Number of contingent consideration payment installments.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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- Definition

Amount of increase (decrease) of financial instrument classified as a liability measured using unobservable inputs that reflect the entity's own assumption about the assumptions market participants would use in pricing.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 820
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (c)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=99377789&loc=d3e19207-110258

+ Details

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- Details

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