In 1906, Guido Müller founded the Nomos company in Glashütte. At that time, watches from Glashütte already had an unchallenged worldwide reputation for their quality and exclusivity. However, because Müller incorporated significantly cheaper Swiss movements into his watch models at the time, while marketing them as Glashütte watches, legal proceedings were initiated in 1907, which, after five years of negotiations, led to the closure of the factory. It wasn't until 1991 that Roland K. Schwertner re-founded the Nomos company, inspired by the history and reputation of the "Glashütte watch manufacturers." Initially, as in the brand's early days, a Swiss series-produced movement of the ETA/Peseux 7001 caliber was installed. However, after intensive further development, only a few parts of this movement are still in use today.
“Chronometry” on the Erbenhang above Glashütte
“Department store” in Glashütte in the founding house of A. Lange & Söhne
The company Nomos Glashütte was founded in 1990 by the Düsseldorf photographer Roland Schwertner. The company name refers to the Nomos-Uhr-Gesellschaft Guido Müller & Co. , which produced Swiss watches from 1906 to 1910. to Saxony and then sold them with the more prestigious (and profitable) suffix "Glashütte/Saxony." The watch manufacturer A. Lange & Söhne, based in Glashütte since 1845, took legal action to stop this business practice, so the original Nomos company ceased operations in 1910. However, the "Nomos-Uhr-Gesellschaft" and the current company "Nomos Glashütte/SA" have little in common other than the name Nomos .
In 2002, Nomos acquired the site of the old Glashütte Observatory from the city. Nomos planned to build an observatory and a guesthouse. Since this plan could not be realized due to other projects, Nomos sold the property to the Hamburg jeweler Wempe in 2004.
Nomos Glashütte currently maintains three locations in Glashütte . The administration is located in the former reception building of Glashütte train station , and the majority of its watchmakers work at Chronometrie on Erbenhang above Glashütte. A further production facility opened in the Schlottwitz district in September 2017. Marketing is handled by a subsidiary in Berlin .
For a watch to be called a "Glashütte watch," a manufacturer must, according to a 2022 regulation, generate at least 50 percent of the value added for the caliber locally in Glashütte and the surrounding area. At Nomos Glashütte, this figure is currently up to 95 percent.
The management is shared by Uwe Ahrendt, who, as managing partner, is responsible for production in Glashütte; Judith Borowski, who, as co-owner, is responsible for brand and design; and founder Roland Schwertner, who heads sales. Co-owner Borowski was among the first entrepreneurs in 2023 to vehemently point out the dangers posed by the AfD to the globalized economy (regarding the open business climate, the recruitment of skilled workers, the consequential international image damage for an export-oriented company, a possible "Dexit," etc.) and has since repeated this repeatedly in interviews. [ 8 ] [ 9 ] [ 10 ] Managing Director Ahrendt sits on the Glashütte city council for the Green Party.
On October 1, 2024, the Nomos management team, consisting of Uwe Ahrendt, Judith Borowski, and Roland Schwertner, was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany by the Federal President in Berlin for the “German-German success story” that Nomos has been writing since 1990.
Nomos Glashütte is a member of the German Werkbund
