Gray dominates, reigns, but in the most beautiful way. There is a limited edition of 20 Orion models – “Unification-NOMOS” – twenty years after the Fall of the Berlin Wall.
Each one in gray and each one carries the name of a town.
Glashütte, March 2009. Not exactly the promised ‘blossoming landscapes’, but there is a delicate, colorful gray that is almost pink. That is Schildau. The one that appears silver or bluish, like the sky in March, is almost like Schwarzenberg.
Gray can be dark purple, like Lützen, almost azure blue, or monochrome passing into green, creating olive. Gray can be almost everything, gray can be Germany.*
20 times 20 watches, each limited to 20 items. No other NOMOS-watch was so strictly rationed. For those in a position to choose, it is not an easy choice because every watch is gray. There is nothing arbitrary about the different tones of gray: Michael Paul, 34, watch designer from Berlin, visited towns in provincial, eastern Germany, measured the different tones of gray and then used the results to make dials. The watches are called after these towns and the watch series is called Unification-NOMOS, obviously to coincide with the anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall.
“This series is the most consistent NOMOS-edition yet. Only lovers of beauty can differentiate between these nuances”, says the NOMOS-spokesperson Ute Fischer-Graf, 43. “And demonstrating humor and a sense of history in equal measure could not have been done with any other watch.”
The limited edition Unification-NOMOS that has just been completed will be available in the shops before the 20th anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall. All 20 times 20 watches are individually fitted in accordance with the standard Orion-model of the Glashütte manufactory. Some have sapphire crystal backs, some have not, some have steel indices and some have ones that are gold plated. The price is based on the back: the watches with a sapphire crystal back cost 1,240 euros, the others cost 1,040 euros. There is just one unusual watch
model Glashütte that costs 4,360 euros. At NOMOS we decided that this town deserved a solid golden case.
Special Edition UNIFICATION-NOMOS
Movement: manufactory caliber with manually wound movement (Alpha)
Case: tripartite, diameter 35 mm, domed sapphire crystal,
steel or domed sapphire crystal back
Dial: galvanized, different shades of gray
Hands: steel, gold-plated or polished and rhodium-plated
Water-resistant to 3 atm
Strap: Horween Shell Cordovan
Price: 1,040 euros and 1,240 euros; 4,360 euros with golden case
