New watches for the next generationThe motor of tomorrow: NOMOS caliber DUW 3001
The NOMOS neomatik series is powered by an entirely new caliber, DUW 3001. At only 3.2 millimeters in height, this motor is incredibly flat—flatter than almost everything else in the watchmaking world that self-winds and is produced in series—and extremely accurate as well.
The few other self-winding calibers on the market are either not particularly precise or extremely expensive. Or thicker by a half. NOMOS Glashütte is not departing from its established price range with the new series - and is now able to offer chronometer-capable, slender, and very elegant automatic watches.
How did the watchmaking company manage it? A prerequisite was the in-house gear train, which design engineer Theodor Prenzel and his colleagues from the NOMOS research and development department optimized by changing the order, angle, and number of teeth - raising the efficiency of the gear train to 94.2 percent. “To only have 5.8 percent friction loss in a watch movement is simply enormous—twenty would be normal,” says CEO Uwe Ahrendt of the latest laboratory results.
A further challenge for the watchmakers: Less space means, of course, less room for tolerances as well. These had to be halved, since in DUW 3001 almost all the watchmaking parts are inserted between the base plate and the three-quarter plate, where the construction space is only a millimeter in height. The ratchet wheel, for example, is now placed entirely under the three-quarter plate - and so needed to be flatter than before. To avoid friction between the wafer - thin parts, a special new material was used; it has excellent, low friction properties, is extremely even, and is easy to form and harden.
The result is that DUW 3001 is a chronometer-capable, high-quality, and very elegant inhouse caliber - unique in the watch industry. And, thanks to new machines and technologies, also ready for large-scale series production. The best example? The neomatik series in which this motor of the next generation will start ticking, the ten new watches from NOMOS Glashütte.