NOMOS Glashütte Launches New Additions To Its Adventure Watch Family
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Combining a long-standing tradition of skill and craftsmanship with a heritage grounded in rural Germany, NOMOS is a brand known for its elegant yet functional watches.
This year, the brand launched a new addition to their family of sports watches, Ahoi, with faces in two earthy colours reminiscent of natural elements. The Ahoi neomatik 38 date is designed with the quality and finesse you’d expect from a luxury brand – but with a ruggedness and outdoor aesthetic to suit the most style-conscious adventurers.
Below, we take a closer look at NOMOS’ latest timepieces, as well as at the origins of the brand and its homeland of Glashütte, which is itself an idyllic valley location surrounded by forests and mountains just waiting to be explored.
The latest versions of Ahoi, in the colours sky and sand © NOMOS Glashütte
Form that follows function
NOMOS Glashütte is one of only a handful of owner-operated watchmaking companies worldwide, crafting elegant dress watches to robust sports models with serious technical credentials, united by a common underpinning of outstanding product design and strict adherence to the principle that ‘form follows function’.
First introduced in 2013, the Ahoi model from NOMOS has established a reputation as an incredibly reliable, all-rounder timepiece in the past decade. Its elegant dial design makes this watch suitable for more formal occasions, while its technical features make it a reliable choice of wristwear for a wide range of outdoor pursuits. The Ahoi family of timepieces are designed to keep up with an active, outdoor lifestyle.
its technical features make it a reliable choice of wristwear for a wide range of outdoor pursuits
This watch is a robust sports model with impressive credentials, particularly when it comes to water resistance. Indicated by the whale engraved on the watch model’s back, Ahoi is water resistant to 20 atm. Equivalent to 20 atmospheres, or the pressure of a water column at 200 meters’ depth, this level of water resistance makes the watch model suitable for diving. Other accompanying features are likewise designed with adventure in mind. The crown guard protects against accidental knocks or blows to the screw-down crown. To ensure that no accidental leaks get into the case via the winding stem, a red warning ring is visible when the crown is not fully screwed in. Six screws hold the sapphire crystal glass back firm.
The town of Glashütte – home of German watchmaking © NOMOS Glashütte
The latest versions of Ahoi, brand new for summer 2023, are in the colours sky and sand. Offering the robust features and high level of water resistance that this watch model is known for, these two new releases with dials in sky blue and golden sand are reminiscent of the outdoors, even when you’re indoors. The sapphire crystal above the dial has a colourless antireflective coating on both sides, guaranteeing clear legibility, even in direct sunlight. In low-light conditions, white Superluminova on the hands and hour markers glow green. The finishing touch are waterproof textile straps in blue-black or dark grey, which are custom woven in France. These straps have a casual but smart look, are comfortable to wear, and keep Ahoi securely on the wrist.
© NOMOS Glashütte
© NOMOS Glashütte
Powered by Innovation
Like all watches from NOMOS, these new Ahoi models are powered by mechanical calibers, expertly crafted in Glashütte, Germany. Here the DUW 6101 automatic caliber is at work, also known as ‘neomatik date’, which features a patented, bidirectional date function. The term ‘neomatik’, coined by NOMOS Glashütte, represents a new generation of automatic calibers. At only 3.6 millimeters in height, the DUW 6101 caliber is also extremely thin. That’s because it was redesigned from start to finish, and the date mechanism has been integrated into it — rather than placed on top, which is often the case in other watch movements. This mechanical caliber was specially adapted for these new watches to accommodate a smaller case size.
The date can be set quickly and easily in both directions in these new Ahoi neomatik models, with only a few turns of the crown needed for any adjustment. They also feature three crown positions. In the home position, the watch can be wound by hand (if you like); in the second position, the date can be set forwards or backwards quickly; in the third position, you can set the time. It only takes the caliber 30 minutes to change the date. The time frame in which the date should not be changed manually via the crown is 90 minutes—in other words, particularly small.
The NOMOS swing system, the brand’s proprietary escapement, ensures the timekeeping precision of its calibers. For those unfamiliar with the fine details of mechanical watchmaking: Escapements are incredibly fine components, and the tiniest miscalculation in production or assembly means the entire escapement will not function at all. This NOMOS development, denoted by its tempered blue balance spring, is accompanied by several watchmaking characteristics typical for timepieces crafted in Glashütte — such as the three-quarter plate, ribbed polishing, and tempered blue screws. The result is an automatic caliber that combines the best of both worlds: traditional features drawing on a rich heritage of watchmaking, as well as innovative components that ensure precise timekeeping for divers, mountaineers and urban explorers.
The delicate art of watch design © NOMOS Glashütte
Details of the reverse of the Ahoi neomatik 38 date © NOMOS Glashütte
© NOMOS Glashütte
Sunset over Glashütte © NOMOS Glashütte
The heritage behind the brand
If you know your watches, you’ll likely have heard of the small town of Glashütte in Saxony, Germany. Nowadays, Glashütte is widely regarded as the birthplace of German watchmaking, but it wasn’t always so. From the 15th century onwards, mining was the primary industry in this region. When the silver and copper ore in the ground began to run out, a new industry was required. In 1845, master watchmaker Ferdinand Adolph Lange brought a new era to Glashütte — teaching the people there how to make watches, and establishing a watchmaking industry.
In the 20th century, economic crises, war, and political changes created huge challenges for Glashütte and its watchmaking industry, yet the local watchmakers preserved their knowledge and expertise. Once Germany was reunified, the industry flourished again—with new companies founded and old ones restarted. NOMOS Glashütte was the first company to start producing watches after the reunification of Germany and is now the largest German producer of mechanical watches by volume. NOMOS timepieces are highly regarded for their modern aesthetics and innovative functionality. To date, the brand has received over 170 awards and prizes for design, sustainability, and quality watchmaking.
Over 175 years later, the tradition of watchmaking in this small German town is hard to find anywhere else in the world. Watches that reflect a love of handcraft, tradition and functionality within them. Watches for all aspects of life.
Find out more about the NOMOS Glashütte Ahoi watch family here.
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