“If you want a beautifully-designed German mechanical watch you can actually wear without anxiety, Nomos is where most buyers should start.”

GRAIL ATLAS · Nomos GlashütteShare

Image courtesy of NOMOS Glashuette, official website

Glashütte, Germany

Nomos GlashütteIn-house manufacture

Brand history

Founded by Roland Schwertner in the months after reunification; the brand's Bauhaus-derived design language and in-house calibres made it the most-recognised post-revival Glashütte name outside the haute end.

Founded January 1990 in Glashütte, Saxony, by Roland Schwertner, two months after the Berlin Wall fell. The first collections were designed by Susanne Günther in a clean Bauhaus-derived style. Tangente, Orion, Ludwig, Tetra, and the design language has remained the brand’s identifier ever since. Nomos produced ETA-based watches into the early 2000s and has progressively built out its own movement program: the Alpha (hand-wound, mid-2000s), the DUW automatic line, and most consequentially the Nomos swing system (2014), an in-house escapement that completed the brand’s technical independence from Swiss suppliers. Annual production is roughly 20,000 watches. The honest framing: Nomos is in Glashütte and meets the regional 50%-in-house naming rule comfortably (the brand cites ~95%), but it is not trying to be Lange or Glashütte Original. The finishing is good for the price band, clean, industrial, honest, not haute. The Tangente, Metro, and Orion at sub-€3K are the strongest value propositions in the European mechanical-watch market, full stop. If you want hand-anglage and gold chatons, look elsewhere. If you want a beautifully-designed German mechanical watch you can actually wear without anxiety, Nomos is where most buyers should start.

• 
  Tangente 38 · 164

  luxurymodernNomos Cal. Alpha: in-house manual-wind, 21,600bph, 43h PR, 17j; lever escapement, glucydur ring balance; NOMOS-made in Glashütte, Germany37.5mm2015–presenteditorial
  Open
• 
  Lambda (Rose Gold) · 930

  luxurymodernNomos Cal. DUW 1001: in-house manual-wind, 21,600bph, 84h PR; twin mainspring barrels; DUW signifies Deutsche Uhrenwerke in-house manufacture39mm2013–presenteditorial
  Open
• 
  Metro Date Power Reserve · 1101

  luxurymodernNomos Cal. DUW 4401: in-house automatic with date, 28,800bph, 42h PR; Swing System escapement (proprietary), bidirectional winding rotor37mm2014–presenteditorial
  Open
• 
  Orion 33 · 309

  luxurymodernNomos Cal. Alpha: in-house manual-wind, 21,600bph, 43h PR, 17j; lever escapement, glucydur ring balance; NOMOS-made in Glashütte, Germany32.8mm2014–presenteditorial
  Open
• 
  Club Campus 36 · 709

  luxurymodernNomos Cal. Alpha: in-house manual-wind, 21,600bph, 43h PR, 17j; lever escapement, glucydur ring balance; NOMOS-made in Glashütte, Germany36mm2015–presenteditorial
  Open
• Orion Neomatik 41 Date · 361

  luxurymodernNomos Cal. DUW 6101: in-house neomatik automatic, 21,600bph, 42h PR; flat disc rotor; proprietary Swing System escapement; only 3.2mm thick movement40.5mm2018–presenteditorial
  Open
• Ahoi Atlantik Datum · 551

  luxurymodernNomos Cal. DUW 5101: in-house neomatik automatic, 21,600bph, 42h PR; flat disc rotor; used in Ahoi Atlantik; Swing System escapement40.3mm2013–presenteditorial
  Open
• 
  Zürich Weltzeit · 805

  luxurymodernNomos Cal. DUW 5201: in-house neomatik automatic GMT, 21,600bph, 42h PR; Swing System, flat disc rotor; used in Zurich Weltzeit worldtimer39.9mm2011–presenteditorial
  Open
• Tangente Sport neomatik 42 date · 580

  luxurymodernNomos Cal. DUW 6101: in-house neomatik automatic, 21,600bph, 42h PR; flat disc rotor; proprietary Swing System escapement; only 3.2mm thick movement42mm2019–presenteditorial
  Open

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