Shortly after the fall of the Berlin wall in 1990, serial entrepreneur and businessman Roland Schwertner founded a small watchmaking company in the hills of Saxony, Germany. Having previously worked in photography and IT, Shwertner became intent on a watch brand, acquiring the rights to several defunct German manufacturers. He named his company NOMOS Glashütte, incorporating the name of a small pocket watch company active in the early twentieth century.
Setting up shop in a rented flat with only three watchmakers, NOMOS began in the town of Glashütte. The watches made in Glashütte are world-famous, and the watchmakers who work their count among the leaders in fine watch craftsmanship. So how did the small company in the ancient town tucked away between the forest and hills of Saxony in the eastern Ore Mountains south of Berlin begin to produce globally recognized watches?
By enrolling German designer Susanne Günther, NOMOS produced their first four watches after two years of research and development. Designing and manufacturing clean, simple watches, NOMOS first sourced many of their parts from Switzerland. By hand finishing and adjusting the Swiss parts, the company could keep their prices reasonable and begin to build their notoriety as a German watch-making company.