The archive · Product Ideas · Technical decision · 2025–2026
NOMOS builds a 9.9 mm mechanical worldtimer — Red Dot Best of the Best 2026
NOMOS built the worldtime complication into the gear train itself, producing a 4.8 mm caliber and a 9.9 mm case — the flat, Bauhaus worldtimer.
NOMOS Glashütte
What it had to solve
Worldtime watches tend to be thick and complex. NOMOS wanted one for younger frequent travelers: robust, intuitive, and slim enough to wear every day — while keeping an in-house movement and clear Bauhaus legibility.
How it works
Worldtime watches are usually thick, complex instruments for connoisseurs. NOMOS Glashütte aimed the Club Sport neomatik Worldtimer at a different wearer: young people whose work and life constantly cross time zones, who wanted the function without the bulk. The brief was a robust, everyday watch that makes a worldtime complication simple to read and set.
The breakthrough was mechanical. NOMOS's R&D built the worldtime function directly into the gear train of a new caliber, the DUW 3202, measuring just 4.8 mm tall. That allowed a 40 mm case of only 9.9 mm — one of the world's thinnest mechanical worldtimers. One pusher advances the city ring and hour hand across 24 time zones; a subdial at 3 o'clock keeps home time with color-differentiated day and night; a red ring on the crown signals when it is not screwed down.
The design team's greatest challenge was visual: balancing the subdials so no single element dominated the rhodium-plated dial. The result won Red Dot's Best of the Best 2026 and, earlier that year, the iF Design Award — a second major design prize within months of the watch's 2025 launch.
Why it lands
- It solved the core constraint — thickness — inside the movement, where the complication was integrated into the gear train rather than stacked on top of it.
- The target user was specific: younger frequent travelers, not traditional worldtimer collectors, which shaped every choice from 40 mm size to intuitive pusher operation.
- Function led the design in the Bauhaus tradition, so legibility and tactility emerged from the mechanism rather than decoration.
- The engineering feat itself became the story: an ultra-flat worldtimer rare in its category, recognized by two major awards in one year.
What it did
The 9.9 mm Club Sport neomatik Worldtimer won Red Dot Best of the Best 2026 and the iF Design Award 2026, with the jury praising an 'extremely flat design... exceptionally rare in this category'.
What you can take
When the spec that matters is thickness, redesign the mechanism, not the housing: solving the constraint at the source lets design, ergonomics and complexity all improve together.
Since then
After winning the iF Design Award in early 2026 and Red Dot Best of the Best in July 2026, NOMOS extended the DUW 3202 platform with limited-edition color variants and a 'Night Navigation' model, while continuing to position the worldtimer as its travel watch for a younger, globally connected audience.
Sources
- Club Sport neomatik Worldtimer — NOMOS Glashütte
- Red Dot Design Award: Club Sport neomatik Worldtimer silver
- Designer Profile: NOMOS Glashütte/SA, Roland Schwertner KG — Interview with Michael Paul
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