Nomos Glashütte

"Nomos" (νόμος) means law or rule in Greek. In 1906, a company called "Nomos-Uhr-Gesellschaft, Guido Müller & Co." started importing Swiss watches and distributing them with the more prestigious addition, “Glashütte/Sachsen”. For a watch company to include “Glashütte” in their name, at least 50% of the caliber must be manufactured in Glashütte; this is up to 95% for NOMOS Glashütte, but was not the case for the Nomos-Uhr-Gesellschaft. The renowned company A. Lange & Söhne took them to court and in 1910 the Nomos-Uhr-Gesellschaft ceased business operations. The Nomos-Uhr-Gesellschaft from the early 1900s and today's NOMOS Glashütte have nothing more than the name Nomos in common.

In 1990, Roland Schwertner, an IT expert and photographer from Düsseldorf, registered the trademark NOMOS Glashütte/SA. The first collection of NOMOS watches came out shortly thereafter in 1992. NOMOS Glashütte currently has three sites in Glashütte, a place renowned for its tradition of watchmaking. The administration department can be found in the former Glashütte station building, while most of the watchmakers are located on Am Erbenhang street. Since 2017, a further manufacturing facility can be found in the Schlottwitz district. Annual production is approximately 20,000 pieces. In its early years, the company focused on manufacturing mechanical watches with hand-wound movements. Until 2005, the basis for these movements was the Swiss-made ETA SA/Peseux 7001. Since April 2005, NOMOS Glashütte has only used in-house movements. Beginning with α (Alpha), a manual winding caliber, the range has since been expanded to include a range of other manual winding movements with additional functions. The first automatic NOMOS watch, the Tangomat, was first introduced in the summer of 2005.

In 2014, the company unveiled its own in-house escapement, known as the NOMOS swing system, which made it no longer reliant on Swiss manufacturers. This new component was gradually introduced into NOMOS’ caliber range. Since 2016, the company has concentrated on upgrading its caliber range with the NOMOS swing system; once upgraded, the calibers receive a name beginning with "DUW". This acronym stands for "Deutsche Uhrenwerke" and is intended to highlight the company's in-house caliber production.

The calibers in the company's neomatik (“new automatic”) series are considerably thin. NOMOS Glashütte introduced DUW 3001, its tenth in-house caliber, in 2015.

The brand started production in 1992 with four basic models: Tangente, Orion, Ludwig, and Tetra. NOMOS Glashütte has since gradually expanded its range of watches to include new models and sizes, such as Club and Metro. In 2013 the company introduced two gold models to its collection, Lambda and Lux. There are currently thirteen NOMOS watch models, which come in a number of variations. These are:

Tangente (1992): originally hand-wound with optional date function, power reserve indicator, white or champagne-colored dial, in 33, 35, 38, 39, and 41 mm diameter; also available as a limited edition for Doctors Without Borders in the UK, USA, and Germany.

Tetra (1992): hand-wound with optional automatic winding, power reserve indicator, various dial colors, square in 27, 29.5, and 33 mm diameter; also available as a special edition for Doctors Without Borders in Germany.

Orion (1992): hand-wound with optional automatic winding, date function, various dial colors, in 33, 35, 38, 39, and 41 mm diameter.