NOMOS Glashütte watches: history, innovations and models

Background of NOMOS Glashütte.

NOMOS Glashütte is one of only a handful of owner-operated watchmaking companies worldwide and based in the historic watchmaking town of Glashütte. The company crafts fine mechanical timepieces by combining German engineering skill, outstanding product design (in the traditions of Bauhaus and the Deutscher Werkbund), and, above all, Glashütte watchmaking craftsmanship; thanks to these three aspects, NOMOS watches are of the highest quality in every respect. To date, they have been awarded more than 150 prizes for design, quality, and value for money.

1990 - Founding of NOMOS Glashütte.

Roland Schwertner founds the watchmaking company in Glashütte, Germany, only two months after the fall of the Berlin wall.

His vision is to create timepieces that combine traditional mechanical watchmaking with modern, Bauhaus-inspired design.

1992 - Tangente: the birth of a design classic.

NOMOS Glashütte unveils the first collection of four watch models—Tangente, Orion, Ludwig, and Tetra.

All four of them have become design classics over the years, and continue to be made in a wide range of versions based on the original designs.

2005 - In-house production.

This year NOMOS Glashütte becomes one of only a handful of independent caliber producers in the whole of Germany (and still is!). NOMOS’ first in-house movement, the self-winding Epsilon, is debuted in the Tangomat, and marks the start of the shift to in-house production for NOMOS’ hand-wound movements as well (which has long since been completed).

At this point, NOMOS Glashütte has seven different movements—all of them built by NOMOS, all of them beautiful, all of them winners of many prizes.

2014 - NOMOS swing system.

Assortiment, reglage, escapement, swing system: The system of the balance, balance spring, escape wheel, and pallet has many names in the watchmaking world. NOMOS Glashütte now has its own, designed and built in-house—the NOMOS swing system.

This independence in production and quality assurance of the movements will secure the growth of NOMOS Glashütte for the years and decades to come; the NOMOS swing system is a declaration of independence in the world of fine watchmaking.

2015 - neomatik - the motor of the next generation.

For a long time, the rule for automatic calibers was that they could be either slender or precise. Both at the same time? Unthinkable. But the NOMOS engineers were not happy with the status quo.

So they developed the neomatik caliber DUW 3001—which, at only 3.2 millimeters in height, is exceptionally slender and yet highly precise. Its release sets a new standard for self-winding calibers—and for NOMOS Glashütte it is the foundation of a new market segment.

2018 - High-end mechanics from Glashütte: neomatik date.

The eleventh caliber from NOMOS Glashütte, DUW 6101, is a new design from start to finish and features a cutting-edge date mechanism. It allows the user to set the date both forward and backward quickly and easily via the crown. Furthermore, it means that the date display can be placed at the edge of the dial—even in larger watches. At a height of just 3.6 millimeters, this neomatik caliber is also exceptionally slender.