Nomos Glashütte, a leader in the field of watch production, has built a reputation in the watch industry. Its one-of-a-kind approach to bringing revolutionary innovations to watch manufacture has earned Nomos a reputation that many long-established Swiss watch brands have coveted. Tangente, Nomos’ main series, was responsible for most of the company’s success.
When they debuted in 1992, these watches were greatly acclaimed by watch enthusiasts due to their simple design and simple and bright dial. Even after a long trip with the company, these Nomos watches continue to enjoy the same prestige among watch enthusiasts. To know more about the brand, this article is made for you, tackling its history to the advancements applied to its watches.
Nomos Glashütte History
Nomos is a self-employed German watchmaker situated in Glashütte, Saxony. The 7,000-person town is nestled in a valley approximately two hours south of Berlin and is home to almost a dozen manufacturers and watchmakers, including Glashütte Original and A Lange & Sohne. While A Lange is the most profitable of the Glashütte watchmakers, Nomos produces the most timepieces. Nomos Glashutte is now a member of the Deutscher Werkbund, a German union of architects, artists, and designers. It was established in 1907 and contributed to the Bauhaus movement and design patterns ethos of the early to mid-1900s.
Roland Schwertner, a computer geek, and photographer with no watch expertise created Nomos in January 1990, just two months after the Berlin Wall fell. It was formed at the same time as the current A Lange & Sohne, and Glashütte watchmaking started a resurgence that has continued to this day, despite the Swiss watch industry’s struggles. While the Richemont Group owns A Lange and the Swatch Group owns Glashütte Original, Nomos is an autonomous watchmaker. One of the few genuine independents in the watchmaking business, and maybe the only independent producing watches at affordable pricing. The Nomos name, like A Lange, had previously existed, although only briefly in the early 1900s.
The Nomos headquarters, which houses the majority of the company’s 300 employees, is a reconstructed train station in Glashütte’s charming little neighborhood. The remainder of the company’s employees is based in Berlinerblau, the brand’s in-house creative studio in central Berlin. For a watch to have the coveted “Glashütte” label, at least half of its value must be manufactured locally, an achievement that Nomos took years to accomplish as it pushed to transfer its movement manufacturing in-house and away from ebauche movements.
First Watch Line and the Tangente
In 1991, Nomos debuted its inaugural collection, which included Ludwig, Orion, Tangente, and Tetra. Susanne Gunther designed all of them, and they all had the same allure: sleek, basic, Bauhaus. All of the models also fall into a size sweet spot for both sexes: 35mm for the round versions (the square tetra is 29.5mm), which feels almost reactive to the flamboyant two-tone watches that marked the 1980s. However, Nomos was ahead of its time in this regard: creating watches that either sex could wear pleasantly, with gender-neutral advertising to match, is a mix that other firms have yet to grasp.
The Tangente, a 35mm round watch with the most conventional Bauhaus influence of the group, was important in the collection’s popularity. The watch was greatly influenced by the earliest Bauhaus timepieces of the 1930s: both the first Stowa Antea and the first Bauhaus-style Lange watch were launched in 1937.
Just as the Tangente was a replica of previous Bauhaus-style timepieces, the Tangente’s popularity has inspired a new generation of imitators, ranging from online direct-to-consumer imitators trading low-cost quartz pieces to true luxury watch rivals. As a result of this accomplishment, Nomos received funding from a German store to help extend the brand. With the financing, Nomos embarked on a massive project to create its in-house movement. By 2003, Nomos had repurchased the shares it had sold to the partner, reestablishing itself as a wholly independent firm.
Nomos In-House Movements
Nomos utilized Swiss ETA or Peseux ebauche movements from its inception in 1992 until early 2005. The movements were inspired by the Peseux 7001, but with Glashütte finishing touches such as solar grinding on the barrel wheels and crown, Glashütte stripes on the bridges, and blued screws. The plates were also rhodinated to make them oxidation-resistant before being gilded and blasted.
As a result of these alterations, ETA insisted that Nomos refrain from using their title on the movement as early as 1997, thus Nomos began altering it even further. The firm renamed this upgraded caliber Nomos 1 T in March 2002. At the Nomos factory, this caliber substituted the Peseux’s plate and balance cock with gold-plated components embellished with perlage. Triovis fine regulation was now used for regulation, hence the “T” in the name. The advent of the Nomos 1 TSP and its derivatives, which included Glashütte-style three-quarter positions, was the next major development.
Finally, in 2005, Nomos introduced the Tangomat, its first watch with an in-house mechanism. Simultaneously, the Tangente’s manual movement was transformed into an in-house production. Nomos was finally producing far more than half of its watches in Glashütte, and it could legitimately enter the ranks of real Glashütte producers.
The Nomos Epsilon (in the Tangomat) was the first self-winding movement, whereas the Nomos Alpha (in the Tangente) was the first manual movement. Both movements have three-quarter Glashütte plates, Glashütte stripes, hacking seconds, rhodium-plated surfaces with stripes and “Nomos” perlage, tempered blue screws, and a sunburst surrounding the crown wheel. The motions continued to employ an externally soured escapement until 2014.
Takeaway
Nomos has also developed several limited or special edition items over the decades. Perhaps the most commendable of these initiatives is its continuous collaboration with Doctors Without Borders. Doctors Without Borders is an organization that helps people in need, victims of man-made or natural disasters, and victims of military confrontation. Nomos has also remained a pioneer in the sector known as “unisex watches.” The majority of its offerings are neither macho nor feminine. The Bauhaus aesthetic is as genderless as it is eternal, and Nomos deserves praise for presenting it to a current audience in a way that honors tradition while being contemporary. Nomos’ designs pique your interest in the mid-century design, history of Bauhaus, and everything in between.
