Nomos Glashütte

Who are Nomos Glashütte?

Nomos Glashütte is an independent German watchmaker in Glashütte, Saxony, founded in January 1990 by Roland Schwertner, two months after the fall of the Berlin Wall (Wikipedia). It makes mechanical watches with its own movements. This page covers its history, collections and ownership, then what to check when buying a pre-owned Nomos in the UK.

The company describes itself as “an independent Glashütte manufacture” and lists 13 model families and 13 mechanical calibres (Nomos Glashütte). Wikipedia puts output at about 20,000 watches a year. Staff figures vary by source and date: English Wikipedia gives 300 (2016), German Wikipedia about 200 (end of 2023), and Swisswatches Magazine more than 180 in the Glashütte buildings (2024).

The history of Nomos Glashütte

Nomos Glashütte’s history runs from a new company in the last days of East Germany to a maker of its own movements and escapement. The key dates are the founding (1990), the first four models (1992), the move to in-house movements (2005) and the Nomos swing system (2014).

The name. Nomos is Greek for law or rule. An earlier firm, Nomos-Uhr-Gesellschaft Guido Müller & Co., sold imported Swiss watches as Glashütte watches from 1906 until A. Lange & Söhne stopped it in court, and it closed in 1910 (Wikipedia; Wikipedia, German edition). The modern company shares only the name.

Founding. Roland Schwertner, a photographer and IT specialist from Düsseldorf, founded the company in January 1990 and registered the NOMOS Glashütte/SA trademark the same year (Wikipedia). Swisswatches Magazine gives the date as 1 January 1990 and calls it the first company to be re-established in Glashütte after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The first collection, drawn by Susanne Günther in a Bauhaus-influenced style, was launched in 1992 with four models: Tangente, Orion, Ludwig and Tetra (Wikipedia).

Own movements. Until 2005 Nomos used movements based on the Swiss ETA/Peseux 7001. From April 2005 it used only its own movements, starting with the hand-wound Alpha, and that summer it launched its first automatic watch, the Tangomat (Wikipedia). Nomos says it introduced the “Made in Germany” marking on its watches in mid-2003 (Nomos Glashütte).

The swing system. After seven years of development with TU Dresden and the Fraunhofer Institute, the Nomos swing system, the company’s own escapement, went into series production in 2014, first in the Metro Datum Gangreserve (Swisswatches Magazine). In 2015 Nomos introduced the DUW 3001 automatic calibre, its tenth in-house calibre. Updated calibres carry the prefix DUW, for Deutsche Uhrenwerke; English Wikipedia dates this naming to 2016 and German Wikipedia to 2015.

Recent years. A production site in Schlottwitz opened in 2017 (Wikipedia). In 2018 the Tangente Update won at the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève, making Nomos the second non-Swiss brand to win there after A. Lange & Söhne (Wikipedia). In 2020 a limited Lambda marked 175 years of watchmaking in Glashütte (Wikipedia), and on 1 October 2024 Uwe Ahrendt, Judith Borowski and Roland Schwertner received the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (Swisswatches Magazine).

Glashütte, the watchmaking town. Glashütte is a small town in the Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge district of Saxony, with a population of about 6,300 (Wikipedia, Glashütte). Its watch industry began in 1845, when Ferdinand Adolph Lange founded what became A. Lange & Söhne and encouraged his apprentices to set up their own supplier firms (Wikipedia). The town’s companies were nationalised in 1948 and merged in 1951 into one state company, VEB Glashütter Uhrenbetriebe (Wikipedia). After reunification, Nomos was founded, Lange was re-established, and the remainder of the state company became Glashütte Original in 1994 (Wikipedia). Other makers in the town include Mühle-Glashütte, Tutima, Union Glashütte, Wempe and Moritz Grossmann (Wikipedia, Glashütte). Nomos’s own address is on Ferdinand-Adolph-Lange-Platz (Nomos Glashütte). Since 2022, a German federal regulation has controlled who may call a watch “Glashütte”. The movement must be assembled and started, regulated, fitted with its dial and hands, and cased entirely within the town, and more than 50 per cent of the value added in the main production stages must come from the defined area (GlashütteV, section 5). The Saxon Ministry of Justice described this as putting the so-called “Glashütte rule” into law. For Nomos, Swisswatches Magazine reports a manufacturing share of about 95 per cent, and Wikipedia says up to 95 per cent of the calibre is made in Glashütte.

What is Nomos Glashütte known for?

Nomos Glashütte is known for plain, modernist dial designs, for making its own movements and escapement in Glashütte, and for being independent in a town where most watchmakers belong to larger groups. The details below are each sourced.

Design. Nomos describes the Tangente as following the Bauhaus principle of “form follows function” (Nomos Glashütte). The designs come from Berlinerblau, the company’s in-house design department in Berlin, which Swisswatches Magazine reports has about 20 staff. Some families are by outside designers: the Metro by Mark Braun and the Autobahn by Werner Aisslinger (Nomos Glashütte).

Its own escapement. The escapement is the part of a movement that releases its energy in regular steps. Nomos developed its own, the swing system, over seven years with TU Dresden and the Fraunhofer Institute (Swisswatches Magazine). Swisswatches Magazine reports that the DUW 3001 movement is 3.2 mm high, and Nomos states it is adjusted in six positions (Nomos Glashütte). Our guide to in-house and outsourced movements explains why this interests buyers.

Independence. Nomos is privately owned, while A. Lange & Söhne belongs to Richemont and Glashütte Original to the Swatch Group (Wikipedia). German Wikipedia’s account of the awards in 2024 quotes the German president describing the company as a “German-German success story”.

Which Nomos Glashütte collections are there?

Nomos Glashütte’s current range has 13 model families: Tangente, Orion, Ludwig and Tetra from 1992; Tangomat, Club, Zürich, Ahoi, Lambda, Lux, Metro and Minimatik from later years; and the Autobahn from 2018 (Nomos Glashütte; Wikipedia).

The collections table gives a one-line description of each. A few points help when you are reading listings:

• Check the calibre, not just the family. Nomos uses 13 calibres across its 13 families (Nomos Glashütte), so check the reference and the calibre named in the listing, not just the family name.
• Neomatik and DUW. Calibres with the DUW prefix are the updated movements with the swing system (Wikipedia); the DUW 3001 is a neomatik automatic (Nomos Glashütte). Older watches may have earlier calibres.
• Water resistance. The Club family is rated to at least 200 metres, and its 42 mm models to 300 metres; the Ahoi is rated to 200 metres (Nomos Glashütte). Our guide to water resistance ratings explains what the numbers mean in practice.
• Gold families. Lambda and Lux are made in 18-carat gold and have their own calibres, the DUW 1001 and DUW 2001 (Nomos Glashütte).

Who owns Nomos Glashütte?

Nomos Glashütte is privately owned. The company trades as NOMOS Glashütte/SA Roland Schwertner KG, a German limited partnership named after its founder. German Wikipedia names Uwe Ahrendt as managing partner for production, Judith Borowski as co-owner for brand and design, and Roland Schwertner as head of sales.

The full legal name and the Glashütte address appear in the company’s own terms (Nomos Glashütte). The company is not listed and does not publish how its ownership is divided. Nomos is not part of a watch group (Nomos Glashütte; Wikipedia).

Buying a pre-owned Nomos Glashütte in the UK: what to check

Check that the numbers on the watch match the papers, which calibre it has, and that it is not recorded as stolen. Then decide what guarantee you need: Nomos gives a two-year warranty to buyers from its authorised dealers or its own store, and claims go through the dealer with the original invoice and warranty book.

1. Papers and the full set. Ask whether the original invoice and the warranty book come with the watch, because Nomos asks for both when you make a warranty claim through the dealer (Nomos Glashütte). Our guide to what “full set” means explains what each item proves and what it does not.

2. Model and calibre. Check the reference and calibre against the listing, because Nomos uses 13 different calibres (Nomos Glashütte). A seller who will not show the numbers before you pay is a reason to walk away.

3. Authenticity. Buy from a seller who will put authenticity in writing and accept returns, and have the watch checked by a watchmaker you choose. Our guide on how to spot a fake watch covers what a watchmaker looks at.

4. Stolen-watch check. Before you pay, check the numbers against a stolen-watch register and ask the seller to confirm the watch is not reported lost or stolen. Nomos offers owners a registration that it says can help recover a lost watch (Nomos Glashütte). Our stolen-watch check guide lists the UK registers.

5. Servicing. Ask when the watch was last serviced and by whom. Nomos advises a complete service about every five years, or at the latest after three to five years, and a water-resistance check by a retailer every year. Its service work carries a two-year guarantee, with one year on water resistance (Nomos Glashütte).

6. Warranty. Nomos guarantees a watch against defects in material and workmanship for two years from purchase from an authorised dealer or the Nomos store, and excludes wear and tear and work by unauthorised people (Nomos Glashütte). Its terms describe the cover for the buyer and do not say whether it passes to a later owner. A dealer’s own warranty is a promise from the dealer, not from Nomos. See watch warranties explained.

7. Who you buy from. There are three main routes:

Sources: Nomos Glashütte, warranty and FAQ (checked 29 October 2026).

If you buy from a seller in Germany or elsewhere in the EU, the watch is an import into Great Britain and VAT and duty can apply; our guide to import duty and VAT on watches explains how.

For the full process from setting a budget to collecting the watch, see the guide to buying a luxury watch.

Frequently asked questions

When was Nomos Glashütte founded?

In January 1990, by Roland Schwertner; Swisswatches Magazine gives 1 January 1990 (Wikipedia; Swisswatches Magazine).

Is Nomos Glashütte independent?

Yes. It is privately owned and not part of a watch group (Nomos Glashütte).

Does Nomos make its own movements?

Yes. It has used only its own movements since 2005, and since 2014 its own escapement, the swing system (Wikipedia; Swisswatches Magazine).

What does “Glashütte” on a Nomos dial mean?

Under a 2022 German regulation, a watch sold as from Glashütte must have key assembly steps done in the town and more than 50 per cent of its value added in the defined area (GlashütteV). Swisswatches Magazine reports a manufacturing share of about 95 per cent for Nomos.

Is Nomos connected to A. Lange & Söhne?

No. They are separate companies in the same town. Lange belongs to Richemont; Nomos is independent (Wikipedia). An earlier firm called Nomos was stopped by Lange in court in 1910 (Wikipedia, German edition).

What was the first Nomos watch?

The first collection of 1992 had four models: Tangente, Orion, Ludwig and Tetra (Wikipedia). Nomos presents the Tangente as its first watch (Nomos Glashütte).

How long is the Nomos warranty?

Two years from purchase from an authorised dealer or the Nomos store (Nomos Glashütte).

How often should a Nomos be serviced?

Nomos recommends a complete service about every five years, and a yearly water-resistance check (Nomos Glashütte).

Which Nomos watches are for swimming?

The Club family is rated to at least 200 metres, with 300 metres for the 42 mm models, and the Ahoi to 200 metres (Nomos Glashütte).

This page is general information. Watch60 is independent and has no commercial relationship with Nomos Glashütte.

We check the facts on this page against the sources listed, and it is correct to the best of our knowledge as of October 2026. Brands change their warranty, servicing and sales terms, so confirm them with the brand or the seller before you buy.