Nomos Glashütte is a German watch-making company that was founded in 1991 in Glashütte, Saxony by Roland Schwertner.The name includes Glashütte to distinguish it from a different "Nomos" watch-making company called Nomos-Uhr-Gesellschaft, Guido Müller & Co. (Nomos Watch Company), which imported Swiss watches and sold them under the prestigious label Glashütte / Sachsen. This firm was sued by A. Lange & Söhne, leading to the end of the company in 1910.
The new Nomos has focused on manufacturing mechanical watches with hand-wound movements. The basis for the movement was, until 2005, the Swiss-made ETA SA / Peseux 7001. These watches bear the label "Glashütte / SA" and "Made in Germany", and have gilded movements.
Since April 2005 Nomos has only used in-house movements called "Alpha" (standard manual movement), "Beta" (with date display), and "Delta" (with date and power reserve display). These new movements are labelled "Glashütte" and "Germany" and are nickel plated with Geneva stripes. In the summer of 2006 the "Tangomat" was introduced. This watch includes the movement "Epsilon" (automatic) or "Zeta" (automatic with date display).
The watches were designed in 1990 in the Bauhaus purist style by Susanne Günther and have won several design awards.
In 2007 they started manufacturing the more expensive Chronometerwerke range of watches for Wempe, a German jeweller.
The manufactory NOMOS Glashütte
Manufacturers who build their own movements can almost be counted on two hands. NOMOS is one of them. The brand’s hand-wound calibre is long since “Made in Glashütte”. In 2005, the first automatic calibre, completely designed, developed and built on site, appeared on the market. These watches are now available as Tonneaus, which NOMOS has produced for WEMPE: “NOMOS has achieved its goal without being sold to a large enterprise”, says Roland Schwertner, the company’s founder. “We have also become one of the few manufactories of fine watchmaking.”The production of one’s own movement is what separates the wheat from the chaff in watchmaking. Firms that can do this may call themselves a manufactory. Development and construction is one thing; being able to produce parts in series and with the greatest precision is something else. A combination of high technology and craftsmanship is what gives rise to the best watches.
