Made in Glashütte: How watch brand Nomos Glashütte celebrates its latest German-made models

South of Berlin and tucked between forests and hills is a small German town near the Czech border called Glashütte. But don't be fooled by its modest population and location – Glashütte is the unassuming home to some of the finest German watch manufacturers. A town sign even reads: Hier liebt die Zeit, or Where Time Lives.

Time is indeed alive and well in Glashütte, as I discovered on a recent trip to attend the annual Nomos Forum.

Founded in 1990 by Roland Schwertner, Nomos is the biggest manufacturer in Glashütte but, more importantly, the largest German manufacturer of mechanical watches.

Just how many watches does Nomos produce every year? “More than A. Lange & Söhne, but less than Rolex,” says Nomos Glashütte CEO, Uwe Ahrendt. A qualified guess would be around 25,000 watches a year (for comparison, A. Lange & Söhne produce around 5,000 watches a year and Rolex close to a million).

During this year’s Forum, two new iterations of the Club Sport neomatik were unveiled. Not only did their striking new dial colours impress – polar blue and petrol green – their 37mm diameter looks good on everyone’s wrist.

These new neomatik models feature everything you’d want in a timepiece. Not only are they made in the Glashütte watchmaking tradition – precise and highly reliable – but they are also robust and beautiful and meet the demand for a smaller case. The stainless-steel case and link bracelet fuse seamlessly, framing the sunburst dial-finish. Elegant and sporty; delicate and importantly, made in Glashütte.

Made in Glashütte means that the watch is made under the strict ‘Glashütte Rule.’ A rule that until recently was not carved in stone, but has been agreed upon by the local manufacturers, including A. Lange & Söhne, Glashütte Original, Union Glashütte, Tutima, Moritz Grossmann, Mühle Glashütte, Wempe Glashütte, and Nomos Glashütte themselves.

Since being passed by the German Bundesrat in 2022, Made in Glashütte is the highest protected designation of origin that has ever existed for a technical product in the industrial nation of Germany.

The recently inked rule claims that at least 50% of the value-added chain must come from Glashütte itself, and a couple of adjacent communities. However, Nomos claim a 90% Glashütte production, with only watch cases and dials being made elsewhere, while 95% of their movement parts are produced locally.

“Almost everything is made by hand,” says Nomos. “Milling plates, bridges, wheels, bluing screws, beveling edges, and finely regulating calibres – building the best watches requires great patience. It often takes years from the first design drawing to market readiness."

It’s an easy assumption that Nomos watches are costly due to the strict production laws, but this isn’t accurate. Nomos watches cost from €1,000 to €4,000; the sweet spot being €3,000 to €3500, according to Judith Borowski, a member of the management board, as well as being responsible for the design and brand management at the company.

Inside the automatic high-precision calibre, measuring an ultra-flat 3.2 millimetres in height (in-house DUW 3001 neomatik calibre), every piece works efficiently: the rotor winds the calibre with movements in both directions which leaves less rotor noise compared to movements with a rotor that winds one way only. Both Club Sport neomatik polar and the Club Sport neomatik petrol are water resistant to 200 metres and are priced at €3,780.