Nomos Glashütte Zürich Weltzeit: A Different “Welt” of Watchmaking (VIDEO BLOG)

Nomos Glashütte is independent, ambitious, and deeply-rooted in Saxon watchmaking tradition. The Nomos Glashutte Zurich Weltzeit automatic travel watch embodies the fruits of these virtues in a 40mm stainless steel case.

Roland Schwertner founded Nomos Glashutte to channel the pent-up creative energy that had mounted for five decades under the Soviet yolk. In 1990, as Saxon watchmaking began to experience a renaissance, Glashutte Original formally debuted at the onset of the greatest outpouring of Saxon watchmaking fever since Glashutte watchmaking godfather F.A. Lange established his first workshop in 1845.

Although Schwertner’s larger neighbors ALS and Glashutte Original have “gone corporate” and been absorbed into luxury parent firms, Nomos Glashutte remains fiercely independent. The company’s Zurich Weltzeit exhibits all of the hallmarks that have made Nomos a celebrated manufacture in only its third decade of business.

First, a classical 40mm round case frames a stately silver dial. The combination is time-tested, and it exudes mid-20th century elegance. As a bastion of discreet style and traditional values, Nomos Glashutte builds watches with proportions to match; the 40mm case ranks among the largest in the company’s catalog. A slim and debonair shell cordovan calf leather strap maintains the balance of discretion and style.

Nomos refinement arrives in the form of a 24-city travel time reference ring. Unlike world time watches on which the ring rotates continuously with respect to a fixed index, the Zurich Weltzeit employs the ring as a shortcut for setting the correct time on the second time zone disc at three o’clock.

When the local time (center hands) and reference time (disc) are synchronized, the user simply advances the center hands to display the local time (where the user is) and selects a world time city to represent the remote time zone of interest; the small disc at three will track the hour in the remote time zone.

Nomos Glashutte is a true manufacture that builds its own movements, and it has been since 2005. The Nomos caliber “Xi” movement in the Zurich Weltzeit features automatic winding, dual time, hacking (stop) seconds, and a 42-hour power reserve. Masterful aesthetic balance is achieved via engraved stripes, complex brushed graining, cobalt kiln-fired screws, and different shades of PVD ruthenium.

A skeletonized winding rotor avoids the awkward futility that confronts owners of conventional automatic watches, and timing adjustments in six positions assures excellent precision to match the fine finish.

Nomos Glashutte flies the flags for two great movements in modern horology: Saxon watchmaking, and independent horology. See the best of both worlds in the Nomos Glashutte Zurich Weltzeit üon www.watchuwant.com.