Nomos-Uhr-Gesellschaft, Guido Müller & Co, Glashütte i/S.
Nomos-Uhr-Gesellschaft, Guido Müller & Co, Glashütte i/S. was a German watch manufacturer.
On 1 November 1906 Clemens Guido Müller together with his brother Karl Nierbauer founds the Nomos-Uhr-Gesellschaft (Nomos Watch Society) in Glashütte. They sell finished watches imported from Switzerland, with the signature addition "Glashütte" in order to benefit from the reputation of the Glashütte watches. Good marketing makes Nomos successful fast.
The protest of the competitors
The company A. Lange & Söhne files a lawsuit against Nomos, and Nomos or Müller subject in 1910. Although Nomos may sell the already existing and signed watches, they must henceforth refrain from any reference to Glashütte in advertising and the signature. Because of this Nomos must close.
In a publication about the history of the Glashütte watchmaking by Kurt Herkner the following can be found: "No Glashütte watches were sold, but watches from La Chaux-de-Fonds by the company Rhetia-Watch & Co. This provided the complete and finished watches including case with inner lid embossing or engraving and the signed dials to Nomos in Glashütte. At the time, Glashütte watch manufacturers rebelled and won in a five-year legal battle over the newly arrived company. <ref>Quoted from: Hans Irrek: Die Tangente von NOMOS Glashütte, Frankfurt/Main 1998, p 29</ref>
The new Nomos
On January 1, 1991 Roland Schwertner from Düsseldorf again starts a company named Nomos Glashütte/Sa. Interestingly, the new Nomos in 2007 also brings a suit to court with similar reasons, and this time against the company Mühle, also based in Glashütte. Also Mühle then gets into trouble and must provisionally file for bankruptcy. (After that Mühle is successfully active again for long.) In this context, it is often spoken of the so-called "Glashütte Rule", according to which most of the value generation of the watches has to take place on site.