iW Magazine Winter 2019 | Page 92

The Nomos Autobahn Nomos dial designs The Nomos DUW 3001. Tangente Bauhaus, in three sizes Nomos Ludwig, back side showing movement The new Nomos Orion neomatik 41 date olive gold date, the window is at 4 o’clock, an unconventional position. “We wanted to show that we could make our own movement, construct our own date mechanism and put it on the outside, which is technically more pleasing,” Höhnel said. “And that we could go much bigger with the date.” In a unique design twist for the new Tangente Neomatik 41 date, the date window is replaced with dots around the edge of the watch. Two red dots frame the current date. Michael Paul, another in-house designer, designed this watch. In collaboration with German furniture designer Werner Aisslinger, Nomos this past year produced the Autobahn Neomatik 41 Date, a new watch designed specifically for the DUW 6101. This four-year project resulted in a watch with a deep, curved dial with a seconds subdial at 6 o’clock and rounded stripes from 4 o’clock to 8 o’clock, echoing the look of a car dashboard. Beneath the seconds subdial is the date window, which is opened to reveal three dates with the proper date in the middle. “Autobahn stretches our brand identity a little,” Höhnel said. “It’s a little bit sportier and very close to the Nomos core identity. The typography changed by opening up the very narrow numbers. For 92 | INTERNATIONAL WATCH | WINTER 2019 me it’s a very special watch.” Berlinerblau is precisely what one would expect a design studio in Berlin to look like. The long narrow space in a pre-war industrial building contains color swatch posters, 3D mood boards and dial designs in draws. The studio is also in line with the clean and reduced style of the Bauhaus esthetic that is very much a part of the brand. The staff in Berlin designs every part of the watch, including the case and straps. In addition, it creates all the advertising and marketing materials (print and online) and all of the point-of- sales materials, which explains the consistent look for all Nomos marketing materials. “We started with printing materials fifteen years ago and decided that it’s a good idea to keep all the creative and design work in house and manage it in Berlin,” Höhnel said. “It’s proper to have the office in Berlin with its vibrant culture and art and its international climate.” It’s this combination of traditional Glashütte watchmaking and modern Berlin design that makes Nomos one of the most original watch brands in the world. iWMAGAZINE .COM