When Germany was still a divided nation, watchmakers in the West would become teary-eyed whenever conversation turned to the small town of Glashütte in Eastern Germany. Roland Schwertner was already familiar with this cradle of German precision watchmaking, thanks to his family ties in the Ore Mountains; and so it was that his entrepreneurial spirit led him to found Nomos Glashütte in 1990, just a few weeks after the Wall came down. He was driven by two ideas – firstly, manufacturing watches of the highest quality that would combine craftsmanship and modern technology. Secondly, and more personally, he wanted to make watches for his friends, and for himself. Both ideas proved highly successful. The most famous Nomos model, the Tangente, has won many awards, and has been a classic since 1992. At the same time, Schwertner’s ambition was to achieve an increasing degree of manufacturing integration: today, the figure stands at 95%. He also pulled off a major coup in 2014 when he introduced the Nomos swing system, an in-house escapement that allowed him to break free from the Swiss watch industry. Two ultra-thin automatic movements (dubbed ‘Neomatik’ by Nomos Glashütte) have also allowed greater freedom in design. The fact is that nobody actually needs a mechanical watch. Even a model worth €2,000 is pure luxury, and this has to be conveyed through its aesthetic appearance and an appeal to the emotions.
From a technical point of view, Schwertner’s creation, Nomos Glashütte, has long been on an equal footing with many more expensive brand. Likewise, a lot of work also goes into his models in terms of design. A new watch is not ready until it is both good and beautiful, and both these qualities are prerequisites for any Nomos timepiece. This reasoning is mirrored by the brand having two sites: one in Glashütte for watchmaking, and the other in Berlin for design and branding. The arrangement is also highly pragmatic: most watchmakers refuse to live in town, while creative types shun the provinces. Clients, meanwhile, may or may not be creative, and live in all kinds of places. What they have in common is that they have all come to the same conclusion: wearing a Nomos watch on your wrist isn’t a statement about how much money you have – rather, it says something about your heart and soul.
*Written by Thomas Wanka
*On the occasion of GMT Magazine and WorldTempus' 20th anniversary, we have embarked on the ambitious project of summarising the last 20 years in watchmaking in The Millennium Watch Book, a big, beautifully laid out coffee table book. This article is an extract. The Millennium Watch Book is available on www.the-watch-book.com, in French and English, with a 10% discount if you use the following code: WT2021.
