Nomos Glashütte

NOMOS Glashütte

Industry	Watchmaking
Founded	1990
Founder	Roland Schwertner
Headquarters	Glashütte, Germany
Products	Watches
Website	nomos-watches.com

Nomos Wristwatch, Model Ludwig (2005)

Nomos Wristwatch, Model Ludwig, Glass-back (2005)

NOMOS Glashütte is a German watchmaking company based in Glashütte, Saxony, which specializes in manual-winding and automatic mechanical watches. It was founded in January 1990, two months after the fall of the Berlin Wall, by Roland Schwertner. The designs for the first collection were drawn up by Susanne Günther, drawing influence from Bauhaus purist style. These watches have since gone on to become design classics and win numerous awards.^[1] In its early years, the company focused on manufacturing mechanical watches with hand-wound movements.^[2] The basis for the movement was, until 2005, the Swiss-made ETA SA / Peseux 7001.

Since 2005, NOMOS Glashütte has only used in-house built movements.^[3] Starting with α (Alpha), a manual winding caliber, the range has since expanded to include a range of other manual winding movements with additional functions. The first NOMOS watch with automatic winding, Tangomat, was first introduced in summer 2006. NOMOS Glashütte has gradually expanded its range of watches to include new models and sizes; more recently, this has included the ‘swimming watch’ Ahoi and the bestselling Metro model.

In 2013 the watchmaking company also introduced two gold models to its collection, Lambda and Lux.^[4] These watches are available in 18 kt white or rose gold and are powered by exclusively produced calibers, DUW 1001 and DUW 2002 respectively. These hand-wound movements feature a 84-hour power reserve, twin mainspring barrels, swan neck fine adjustment, gold chatons, and a hand-engraved balance cock.

In 2014, the company unveiled its own in-house escapement, known as the NOMOS swing system.^[5] This new part is gradually being introduced into NOMOS’ caliber range, which is also being renamed. The updated in-house built calibers are now known as DUW, which stands for “Deutsche Uhrenwerke NOMOS Glashütte”.

Models

There are currently eleven NOMOS watch models, which come in a number of variations. These are:

• Tangente (originally hand-wound with optional date function, power reserve indicator, in 33, 35, and 38 mm diameter; also available as a limited edition for Doctors Without Borders in the UK, USA, and Germany; an automatic model was released in 2015 which houses the new DUW3001 in-house caliber)
• Tangomat (automatic in 38 mm diameter with optional date function, dark-colored dial, and world time function)
• Ahoi (automatic, 40 mm in diameter with water-resistance to 20 atm, optional date function, dark-colored dial)
• Metro (hand-wound in 37 mm diameter with date and power reserve indicator)
• Club (hand-wound with optional automatic winding, date function, and dark-colored dial, in 36, 38, and 40 mm diameter)
• Ludwig (hand-wound with optional automatic winding, date function, dark dial, in 33, 35, and 38 mm diameter)
• Zurich (automatic in 40 mm diameter with optional date function, various dial colors, and world time function)
• Tetra (hand-wound with optional power reserve indicator, various dial colors, in 27 and 29.5 mm diameter; also available as a special edition for Doctors Without Borders in Germany)
• Orion (hand-wound with optional date function, various dial colors, in 33, 35, and 38 mm diameter)
• Lux (hand-wound shape watch in 18 kt white or rose gold, various dial colors, in two sizes: 40.5 x 36 mm and 38.5 x 34 mm)
• Lambda (hand-wound watch in 18 kt white or rose gold, deep blue or off-white dial, in 42 mm diameter)
• Minimatik (Automatic, 35.5 mm diameter, curved sapphire crystal, blue, red and gold dial detailing)

Calibers

NOMOS Glashütte currently produces nine in-house calibers with various complications. These are:

• α (Alpha), hand-wound with approx. 43-hour power reserve
• β (Beta), hand-wound with patented date function, approx. 42-hour power reserve
• γ (Gamma), hand-wound with patented power reserve indicator, approx. 43-hour power reserve
• δ (Delta), hand-wound with patented date function and patented power reserve indicator, approx. 42-hour power reserve
• ε (Epsilon), automatic winding
• ζ (Zeta), automatic winding with patented date function
• ξ (Xi), automatic winding with worldtimer function
• DUW 1001, handcrafted manual caliber with 84-hour power reserve
• DUW 2002, handcrafted manual caliber in tonneau shape, 84-hour power reserve
• DUW 4301, hand-wound with NOMOS swing system and power reserve indicator, approx. 43-hour power reserve
• DUW 4401, hand-wound with NOMOS swing system and power reserve indicator, and date, 42-hour power reserve
• DUW 5201 automatic winding with NOMOS swing system and worldtimer function

Literature

• Schmid, Hans Heinrich: Lexikon der Deutschen Uhrenindustrie 1850 - 1980 :
• Design Klassiker, Die Tangente von Nomos Glashütte, ISBN 3-7643-6840-3
• Nomos Glashütte - Das große Universallexikon ISBN 3-00-018473-2
• Doerr, Elizabeth: Bravo, Nomos! How The Metro will Change the Watch Game :

References

See also

• List of watch manufacturers