This paper proposes a technique to estimate the angular velocity of a rigid body from vector measurements. Compared to the approaches presented in the literature, it does not use attitude information nor rate gyros as inputs. Instead, vector measurements are directly filtered through a nonlinear observer estimating the angular velocity. Convergence is established using a detailed analysis of the linear-time varying dynamics appearing in the estimation error equation. This equation stems from the classic Euler equations and measurement equations. A high gain design allows to establish local uniform exponential convergence. Simulation results are provided to illustrate the method. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.