Mirko Heyne and the reimagined technology of Nomos Glashütte

He actually wanted to be an actor. And if you've ever seen Mirko Heyne at his annual lecture at the Nomos Forum in Glashütte, you can imagine that he would have been successful on stage and in front of the TV camera.

The fact that he didn't end up acting, nor computer technology – one of his other passions – is a stroke of luck for Nomos Glashütte.

He has been working there as Head of Research & Development since 2002. He trained as a watchmaker at the A. Lange & Söhne manufactory. And after a few years as founder and owner of the watch brand Lang & Heyne, he has now dedicated himself passionately to the watches of the Glashütte-based manufactory Nomos Glashütte for over two decades.

Mirko Heyne: „Modern technology, used in the spirit of the classic tradition of watchmaking.“

Mirko Heyne is a regular participant in the Nomos Forum, which has been held annually in Glashütte for six years now. And he consistently manages to captivate his audience with technical details from the world of watchmaking, both quickly and for extended periods.

He conveys complex relationships, complicated issues, and modern research methods in an equally understandable and entertaining way. Whether it's about rotational or moment fidelity, automated calculation series, or cycloids.

He consistently draws a connection to the fascinating watchmaking tradition in Glashütte, the comparatively short history of Nomos Glashütte, and the emotional evocation that mechanical precision combined with appealing design evokes. "Modern technology, applied in the spirit of classic watchmaking tradition," is his credo.

Mirko Heyne spoke about this and the latest developments at Nomos Glashütte in a major interview with Insight Luxury.

Insight Luxury: At last year's forum, you said in connection with the DUW 4601: "It's yet another small piece of evidence that we at Nomos seize every opportunity to make our watches a little bit better." What's the story behind that?

Mirko Heyne: There's always room for improvement! Even though what we had before was already very good.

As with our hand-wound caliber DUW 4601, which we introduced last year, we were able to increase the power reserve from 42 to 52 hours thanks to new material properties. At first glance, this may seem like a small change, but it was only recently made possible and represents a significant advantage for wearers of our watches. Therefore, we are also applying this improvement in the form of increased power reserve to our other hand-wound calibers.

A longer power reserve means that the watch not only runs longer, but also more reliably during the crucial first 24 hours. This is a huge benefit for us, but especially for our customers.

IL: That means that at the beginning of an improvement there is not a problem to be solved, but rather the vision of something new or better.

MH: That's right. We don't use our watches to look for what's wrong with them. Because they are good. But when we further develop certain aspects as part of new developments, we incorporate these into existing designs.

Incidentally, when developing new models like the DUW 4601, we also take our customers' feedback into account. Regarding magnetism: In today's highly technological world, we encounter magnetic fields almost everywhere. It's a troublesome issue. The negative effects on the accuracy of a mechanical watch are well known.

Therefore, we developed our own testing method through an internal project simulating magnetic fields. This allowed us to precisely determine the dependence of a watch's accuracy on the magnetic field strength. By using special materials, we achieved effective shielding, protecting the watch movement from the effects of everyday magnetic fields. We were able to equip almost all of our watches with this innovation.

IL: Why are in-house developments so important for Nomos?

MH: This is related to our strategy of independence – more important today than ever. In-house development always requires in-house production. Only in this way can we control our own growth, as it is not dependent on who supplies us with what. Our factories and their technology play a central role in this.

Our high level of vertical integration and the high priority we place on our own research and development are therefore not only crucial for the technical optimization processes, but also ensure our independence.

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How Nomos Glashütte landed on the moon with the Swing system

Under the direction of Mirko Heyne, Nomos Glashütte developed its own escapement system and presented it to the amazed watchmaking public as the Swing System in 2014.

The escapement, also called the assortment, is the central element of the watch movement and consists of the balance wheel, balance spring, escape wheel, pallet fork, pallets, and the corresponding bridge for securing it within the movement. This regulating mechanism of a mechanical watch ensures the controlled release of the energy stored when the mainspring is wound. This allows for precise regulation of the watch movement.

With its own range of components, Nomos Glashütte is one of the few watch manufacturers capable of producing this technically demanding assembly almost entirely in-house. This makes the company a true exception in the industry. Most watch manufacturers have to purchase the escapement, without which a mechanical watch won't tick or tock.

And although this assembly is small and light, the introduction of its own Swing system in 2014 was a significant step for Nomos towards greater independence from suppliers and greater vertical integration.

This project involved seven years of research in collaboration with the Technical University, studying geometry, kinematics, torque and amplitude measurement, and investing a good eleven million euros. There was neither specialist literature nor any machines, tools, or mathematical calculations or formulas available as templates.

The quartz revolution of the 1970s and 1980s had led to the loss of much expertise and records on the construction of mechanical watch movements and assortments, making them a closely guarded secret of a few manufacturers.

Nevertheless, in 2014 Nomos Glashütte started series production of its own regulating system – a sensation in the watchmaking world. "For us, it feels a bit like landing on the moon," said Nomos Glashütte CEO Uwe Ahrendt at the time.

And indeed, with its own assortment, the Nomos swing system, a new universe opened up for the company, which gradually expanded to all calibers and completely redefined the status of Nomos Glashütte as a manufactory.

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IL: Let's stick with the technology. What is the secret to the flatness of the neomatik movements, that is, the automatic movements from Nomos?

MH: It all started in 2005 with the "Tangomat" model, which featured our first in-house automatic movement. Until then, all Nomos watches had been equipped with our hand-wound Alpha caliber, which was naturally thinner than an automatic movement. Our customers were therefore quite accustomed to slimness.

And so, from the very beginning of developing our own automatic calibers, we faced the challenge of designing them to be as flat as possible. We quickly came to the conclusion that automatic movements needed to be completely rethought in order to design them not only flatter, but also more efficient.

This meant, among other things, finding solutions to accommodate all the necessary components of the automatic winding mechanism, except for the rotor, between the main plate and the three-quarter plate in a particularly space-saving manner.

From 2015 onwards, we called the result of these considerations neomatik – meaning new automatic movement. That was a year after we had introduced the Nomos Swing system and thus raised our independence to a whole new level.

The first neomatik movement was the DUW 3001, measuring only 3.2 millimeters in height. Efficient winding played a crucial role in its development.

IL: Could you please explain that in more detail?

MH: If I want to wind a mainspring, I can do it with little force, many turns, and a very high gear ratio. Or I need a lot of force, few turns, and a lower gear ratio. That was the crux of the matter. Because the higher the gear ratio, the flatter the movement can be. But then it's less efficient. That didn't meet our requirements.

We already had a very efficient winding mechanism in the automatic caliber Epsilon, which was later renamed DUW 5001. However, we wanted to make it even better and more powerful. We achieved this with a bidirectional winding rotor featuring a double pawl wheel instead of a rocker arm.

A rocker mechanism always requires a certain reversal angle. This means that when the rotor changes direction, there is no idling during this so-called reversal angle, and no lifting action is performed. Rotors that wind in one direction only therefore require more power and thus more weight. Consequently, they are also thicker. If a flatter design is desired, the lifting mechanism must be made more efficient.

We achieved this by converting the rocker principle for a bidirectional winding mechanism into a double-pawl wheel. This allowed us to significantly reduce the reversal angle. This was a crucial development, because it enabled us to increase the gear ratio without sacrificing efficiency, as the rotor could be made lighter and therefore automatically flatter.

But there's another factor that benefits the slim design of our neomatik calibers: the high precision of the components, 95 percent of which we can manufacture in-house. This allows us to keep the so-called safety margins between the circuit boards and parts very small.

IL: You mentioned the high level of vertical integration at Nomos Glashütte and its advantages. There's also the Glashütte regulation. According to this regulation, at least 50 percent of the added value of the caliber must be generated in Glashütte or the immediate vicinity for it to be considered "Made in Glashütte." What does this mean for you as a developer? Does it potentially limit your innovation possibilities?

IL: That's a fascinating question, one I've pondered for quite some time. I think the conditions here in Glashütte foster innovation. It's practically forced upon us. Of course, we could also purchase new technical solutions or movements from other manufacturers and adapt them. But then we wouldn't be the only ones doing it, and our watches wouldn't be unique.

IL: What does that mean for you as a design engineer?

MH: As you know, I completed my watchmaking apprenticeship at A. Lange & Söhne. At the time, they were looking for designers. One requirement was that they couldn't be watchmakers themselves.

What sounds paradoxical at first is precisely the right approach. Because when developing a new mechanism for a clockwork, one must be free in one's ideas and consider more than just the one supposedly correct way.

And even the best CAD software cannot design a new clockwork mechanism. Because it doesn't have its own ideas and questions like the creative human mind.

This was evident, for example, in the development of our first world time clock, which was released in 2011. We didn't ask ourselves: What is possible, how do conventional world time clocks work, what blueprints exist?

We asked ourselves: How and why is such a watch used? What makes it user-friendly? My answer was: When I travel, I don't want to have to read the time on a subdial or a second display with a 24-hour scale. Instead, I want to be able to tell the time comfortably with a quick glance at the main display of the watch.

That was added to my list of tasks, and I started thinking about how to solve it mechanically. And without looking up how others did it in books. The result was the "Zurich World Time," where the local time is selected at the touch of a button and the home time is read on the 24-hour display at 3 o'clock.

IL: So, humans, with all their creativity and focus, remain irreplaceable in watch design. But what about the manufacturing process, given all the high-precision machines available? 

Productivity and value for money always play a role in all of this. Ultimately, it is the balanced combination of true specialists and modern precision machinery that delivers the best results.

IL: You have been with Nomos Glashütte for 23 years. Which development do you remember most fondly?

MH: That's not so easy to answer. Many things were particularly challenging in their time. Take, for example, our first in-house automatic movement, the Epsilon. It all started one evening in a restaurant when Roland Schwertner said to me: "Why don't you make an automatic movement?" That was the beginning of many exciting and innovative designs that I was privileged to be involved in and to work on creatively for.

Another really big deal was the completely new approach at neomatik and our own Swing system. The fundamental research, all the calculations and simulations, which we also carried out with the support of TU Dresden, were incredibly complex and wide-ranging.

This also included enabling production and finding suitable suppliers. However, we encountered many dead ends along the way. Until we finally said: We'll do it ourselves. That was the starting point for our own Swing system.

But what works in theory or simulation must also be producible with consistent quality and in sufficient quantities. Furthermore, the quality must be verifiable during the production process. This required specialized measuring equipment. However, nobody was manufacturing such equipment anymore at that time, because virtually nobody produced their own assortments.

We then found a company that had previously manufactured such equipment. They, in turn, were able to put us in touch with a company that still had some of these devices in their basement. These were refurbished for us. Only in this way could we begin production of our swing system.

That was true pioneering work and an incredibly exciting project from which I learned a lot.

IL: So you don't regret not becoming an actor or a computer specialist?

MH: No, not at all. Besides, as a design engineer, I spend a lot of time working on the computer. And my annual presentation at the Nomos Forum also satisfies my passion for acting.

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About Nomos Glassworks

Nomos Glashütte was founded by Roland Schwertner in Glashütte, Saxony, shortly before German reunification in January 1990. A bold move.

Although the town has been closely associated with watchmaking since the mid-19th century and was a world-renowned center for precision mechanical devices and watches until 1945, it remained a watchmaking town in the Ore Mountains during the subsequent GDR era. The state-owned Glashütte Watch Factories (GUB) produced watches for its own population, as well as for other socialist countries and West Germany.

After the fall of the GDR, the Glashütte watchmaking industry, geared towards mass production, was practically on the verge of collapse due to its outdated technology. This also applied to the local infrastructure. Allegedly, the fledgling company Nomos even shared a telephone line with the neighboring snack bar at the beginning.

What remained unchanged, however, is the great watchmaking tradition of the small town of Glashütte. Thanks to courageous investors, visionary founders, and people from this region whose family history has always been intertwined with watches, the small town with its twelve districts and just under 6,700 inhabitants is now synonymous with the finest watchmaking craftsmanship for watch enthusiasts worldwide. That things would turn out this way, however, was by no means foreseeable in 1990.

„I didn’t even know this Saxon town existed until the fall of the Berlin Wall. But the watchmakers at the vocational schools had tears in their eyes when they talked about Glashütte. So I went there and took a look,“ Roland Schwertner recalled in an interview with Manager Magazin.

And so, in 1990, the business graduate, photographer, and IT specialist ventured to found a completely new watch brand in Glashütte. The first models appeared as early as 1992, including the "Orion," the "Ludwig," the "Tetra," and the "Tangente." The latter is now almost synonymous with Nomos Glashütte and the brand's geometric, clean design.

Today, the company offers 13 model families, 13 in-house mechanical calibers, and holds numerous patents. More than 175 international prizes and awards further adorn the company's relatively short history, during which it has become Germany's largest manufacturer of mechanical watches. These watches range in price from approximately €1,200 to €18,000, with the core price segment between €2,000 and €4,000. The watches are sold in over 60 countries.

But Nomos Glashütte is known not only for its high-quality craftsmanship and design at moderate prices, but also for its commitment to democracy, equality, and tolerance. For this, Roland Schwertner, Uwe Ahrendt (Managing Director and Shareholder), and Judith Borowski (Shareholder and Managing Director and Chief Designer until the end of 2024) were awarded the Federal Cross of Merit last year.

The reason given was:

„"Nomos Glashütte is considered a very special German-German success story. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the watch manufacturer was the first company to be newly founded in Glashütte – and indeed, it was established on January 1, 1990, while the GDR still existed. This is thanks to Roland Schwertner. Together with Judith Borowski and Uwe Ahrendt, he built a company that contributes significantly to Glashütte's current worldwide reputation as a traditional center of the watchmaking industry and excellent craftsmanship. A major concern for the trio of entrepreneurs is their commitment to democratic values and keeping them ever-present in their company. Because, as they say, democracy thrives on the participation of everyone. And they repeatedly emphasize something else: Without the courageous participants of the Peaceful Revolution, Glashütte's rise would not have been possible."“

And here, in addition to the headquarters of Nomos Glashütte in the old train station, are the manufacturing and finishing of the caliber parts in a production facility built in 2017 according to sustainability principles, as well as the chronometry in a historic building, where the Nomos calibers are designed, assembled, regulated and cased.

nomos-glashuette.com