TIME ZONE
NOMOS WATCHES — MADE IN GLASHÜTTE, DESIGNED IN BERLIN
N OMOS timepieces are made by hand exclusively in Glashütte but, in a certain way, they are born in Berlin. This is where the watches are designed, and the famous NOMOS look is created. Berlin, a two hour and ten minute drive north of Glashütte, is where NOMOS’ in-house design studio, Berlinerblau, is located. Glashütte and Kreuzberg may seem worlds apart, but at NOMOS Glashütte they belong together. The combination of 175 years of watchmaking tradition and modern design have led to over 150 awards for design, branding, and quality.
The entire process often takes years before an initial idea is ready to wear on the wrist. The designs for a new watch are first drawn up on a computer monitor, or sometimes the old-fashioned way — in a sketchbook. Working together with the watchmakers is essential here. Generally speaking, there is often quite a period of back and forth between the experts in Glashütte and the design staff in Berlin. Everything depends on the tiniest of details — fractions of millimeters. The perfect wristwatch should combine mechanical accuracy with appealing design, and each
change to the external form could impact the function of the caliber within, and vice versa. Thomas Höhnel, the creative force behind NOMOS’ sports model Ahoi, is Berlinerblau’s senior product designer. What satisfies him most about his work is the challenge of designing to fit the wrist. “Like an architect who’s always working to scale and only sees his design when it’s complete, here it’s the same thing in the other direction — you always draw and think in large dimensions, but the watch will turn out to be relatively small.”
Tangente neomatik 41 Update midnight blue, $4,100.
Club Campus 38 blue purple, $1,650.
Tangente neomatik 39 platinum gray $3,780.
10 RICHTER & PHILLIPS JEWELERS MAGAZINE
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