The Bite Magazine - Spring 2019 - Issue 24

bite watches few years later, the first NOMOS world time function, the DUW 5201 movement, came out which ticks inside both the Zürich Weltzeit and the Tangomat GMT models – making them de facto 24 watches in one. Working in coopera- tion with the Technical University of Dresden and the Fraunhofer Institute led to the develop- ment of their own gear wheel train and ensures that the latest discoveries about materials could contribute to their watch-making work. As the heart and pacesetter inside the calibres of all mechanical timepieces, a watch cannot tick and tock without the escapement. There was a time when Glashütte watchmakers had the expertise needed to create these mecha- nisms but with the advent of the quartz revolu- tion in the 1970s and 1980s, made the skills and equipment for the production effectively van- ish from the town. NOMOS Glashütte decided to bring this much-needed skill back by liaising with the Technical University of Dresden to de- velop an escapement of their own. Escapements are known to be incredibly fine components, with no other part within a me- chanical watch reserving such a small margin of error. The balance itself and the balance spring must operate flawlessly in relation to each other’s individual properties; the escape wheel teeth must be perfectly concentric—the tiniest miscalculation means the entire escape- ment will not function at all. In short: many years of intense studies, elaborate experiments, and failed prototypes lay ahead but a break- through was about to come forth for NOMOS Glashütte. Finally creating the swing system, this was un- veiled at Baselworld in 2014 and powered the NOMOS watch model Metro. The company re- alised they were officially capable of something that hardly any other company in the world was able to do: an in-house escapement, produced in series. “Managing to do this feels a little like landing on the moon,” said NOMOS CEO Uwe Ahrendt. FAZ , the popular German newspaper, suggested that “even Apple were keeping a close eye” on the small watch-making company from Glashütte. At the presentation given byTheo Prenzel, Dep- uty Head of Research and Development, and Head of Construction, we learned more about the NOMOS swing system, and the DUW 3001 and DUW 6001 movements. The DUW 3001 is an incredibly thin and yet highly precise piece measuring 3.2 millimetres in height. It has an efficiency of 94.2 percent, meaning that the friction loss is down to 5.8 percent. Whilst this neomatik calibre with automatic winding has been created in-house by hand, there are some elements of high-tech capacity in the motor. It features a NOMOS swing system tempered with a blue balance spring and balance bridge fixed by screws on both sides. It has a stop-sec- onds mechanism, bidirectional winding rotor, Glashütte three-quarter plate, DUW regulation system adjusted in six positions, 27 jewels and tempered blue screws. The rhodium-plated surfaces have Glashütte ribbing and NOMOS perlage. With a diameter of 28.8 millimetres the DUW 3001 has a power reserve of up to 43 hours. This calibre can be found in models such as Minimatik, Metro, Tangente, Ludwig, Orion, Ahoi and Club Neomatiks. DUW 6101 is the first neomatik calibre with a date design, measuring 3.6 millimetres in