All Minimatikal blog posts on the NOMOS Glashuette Zuerich watch model, including the Zuerich Weltzeit and more!
My fellow Dutchman Djaccomo81 is a longtime watch collector, motorcycle enthousiast – and aspiring photographer of cityscapes, watches, and more. A few weeks back I dropped off two watches from the Ace x NOMOS Amsterdam series, and today I am proud to share the result in the gallery below. Enjoy!
Introducing the NOMOS Zürich Weltzeit Amsterdam – a limited edition of 25 pieces created for Ace Jewelers of Amsterdam.
Friends – I am super excited to finally introduce you to the latest limited edition of Ace Jewelers: the Zürich Weltzeit Amsterdam! You may know that Minimatikal is part of Ace Jewelers. It’s like our little online NOMOS boutique. Or flagship store. Anyway, as such I’ve been closely involved with this project. It’s the third limited edition we’ve done with NOMOS and the second in the ‘Amsterdam’ sub-series.
This time we went with the Zürich Weltzeit as a base model. It’s NOMOS most complicated watch and one that I’ve written about on this blog once or twice. In its standard configuration the Weltzeit exists in either silver or blue. Other variations have been made, like the porcelain-like white of Topper Jewelers and the rose-colored ‘Red Dot’ of The Hour Glass. Never has the Zürich Weltzeit been done in black though. And that’s exactly what we’ve done!
The black dial is unique already, but we’ve added a few other subtle touches that truly make this an ‘Amsterdam’ edition. GMT+1 is now Amsterdam rather than Berlin – in bright red too – and the little home icon normally found at 3:00 is replaced by the flag of Amsterdam. Finally, the crown is engraved with the three Amsterdam crosses (like on our Club Campus Amsterdam) while the case back is engraved with ZÜRICH LIMITED EDITION AMSTERDAM FOR ACE JEWELERS X/25. Yes, 25 pieces only!
The NOMOS Zuerich Weltzeit Amsterdam is available at Ace Jewelers and in our own shop.
The undisputed king of world time watches is Patek Philippe. The Genevan masters have been doing them since the mid 1930’s, using a mechanism invented by Louis Cottier that has been continuously refined since. In the 2016 press release of the ref. 5230, they describe the function as follows:
They show all 24 world time zones at a glance. The local time is most prominently displayed for the time zone whose assigned city name is just above the small red arrow at 12 o’clock – in the classic manner with the hour and minute hands. In the other 23 zones, the times are directly readable on the 24-hour ring that rotates counterclockwise within the city disk. The minutes indicated by the minute hand are the same for all time zones.
When traveling into a different time zone, the pusher in the case at 10 o’clock is pressed as often as needed to align the respective city name with the red arrow at 12 o’clock. Each time the pusher is pressed, the hour hand will advance by one hour while the city disk and the 24-hour ring will move by one increment in the counterclockwise direction.
The key takeaway is that time is read in multiple, clearly labeled time zones simultaneously. I don’t think that there are any hard and fast rules regarding how many, but preferably 24 or more – there are some 38 in use today. With Patek it is the 24-hour ring that rotates, while with others (such as the Tissot below) it is the city disc that does.
So, the Zürich Weltzeit… This watch was introduced back in 2011. Still today it is one of NOMOS’ most eleborate watches, both in terms of movement as well as case construction. As far as stainless steel NOMOS watches go, it is top of the line. But is it a world timer? It has Weltzeit in its name, so the answer must be pretty straight forward right? Eh, no.
While the Zürich Weltzeit is one of my favorite watches, it is not a world time watch in the strict sense of the word. The city disc is there to indicate which time is shown by the central hour and minute hands. The 24-hour disc at 3:00 shows home time, as indicated by the 🏠. The button at 2:00 let’s you select a different city; when pressing it the disc will jump to the next city, and the hands will show the time accordingly. In the mean time the 3:00 disc will remain stationary, displaying the time back home. Jumping between the 24 different cities is a breeze, and the oft-flawed legibility of traditional watches with world time functions is 100% on point. As per the best NOMOS tradition!
In ‘weltweit’ we keep track of interesting NOMOS articles posted around the web.
September 13th the Arab Watch Club unveiled their special edition NOMOS Zürich Weltzeit on ArabWatchGuide.com.
I contacted my dear friend Yousef from Mansour Jewelers in Dubai and explained my idea to him: ” Youssef, I have a crazy idea and I want you to make it happen for us” – ” I want to redesign the Nomos Zurich watch in a mint green dial color that pops and is very noticeable to the wearer with a cities disk customized for each of the collectors hometown cities”. His first answer was ” Not sure this will fly with Nomos, but let me try to push for it and get back to you”
I had the chance to wear the Nomos Zurich Weltzeit for a few weeks and I have to say that it was a pretty interesting experience.
The Nomos Zürich Weltzeit was released in 2014 and comes in two different color versions. One with a white silver-plated dial and the second with a midnight blue dial. The hands are faceted and rhodium-plated. The name of the watch is a tribute to the city where the designer of the watch Hannes Wettstein was living and working.
At first glance I thought that it would be way too big for me but once I got in on my wrist, I quite liked the oversized look!
The first noticeable thing while looking at this watch is obviously the different cities that lay on the dial which makes you instantly travel in less than one second.
A button enables you to travel the different time zones very quickly just by pushing it. I have to admit that it provides a very satisfying feeling and makes the watch very playful.
In terms of caliber, The NOMOS Zürich Weltzeit has the brand’s most complicated movement. This automatic caliber is equipped with a world time and 24-hour display. As well as a proprietary escapement, the NOMOS swing system. We can read the time both at home and in 23 other time zones (but not at the same time!).
Indeed, the Zürich Weltzeit is not a true worldtimer because it can display only two different time zones at the same time. To have an idea of what is a real World Time watch, have a look at the Patek Philippe 5230G World time.
Next to the « home symbol » you can set your home time thanks to the disc next to it, while the hands can be set to your current time zone or any time zone you want to check.
The Zürich Weltzeit’s case is very elaborate and add sophistication to the watch. No less than 10 separate pieces composed the case, Nomos even compares this case as a set diamond. A very welcome and important detail that distinguishes the Weltzeit to the others Nomos models that can be sometimes a bit stead for some people.
Two important things have to be said about this watch. Its lug-to-lug distance is around 48mm, which makes it honestly difficult for a small lady’s wrist to wear it if you are not crazy about oversized watches.
Another thing is that the home time displayed on the disc is very small and can be hard to read. 50+, get your glasses on.
But overall, The Zürich Weltzeit is a true good-looking watch. It gives you a travel style without any pretention. Thanks to its versatile design, it’s very easy to wear it with casual clothes as well as an elegant suit.
Of course the watch is really handy if you often travel the world or need to have the time of a specific time zone. In Nomos’ collection, the Zürich Weltzeit is truly the watch of the world.
CASE
stainless steel, tripartite
sapphire crystal glass back
GLASS
domed sapphire crystal glass with anti-reflective coating
WINDING
automatic
DIMENSIONS
diameter 39.9 mm
height 10.85 mm
weight 74 g
WATER RESISTANCE
3 atm (splash-proof)
DIAL
galvanized, white silver-plated, with world time and 24-hour indicator
HANDS
rhodium-plated, faceted
STRAP
Horween Genuine Shell Cordovan black
lug width 20mm
