Glashütte is off the beaten path for most international travellers, and even most Germans.NOMOS Glashuette/Supplied
With a population of fewer than 7,000 residents and no cathedrals, universities or other major cultural institutions, Glashütte (pronounced glass-HOOT-ah) is well off the beaten path for most international travellers, and indeed most Germans. For tourists with a passion for mechanical watches, however, the medieval town in Saxony offers something truly unique: an opportunity to visit the birthplace of some of the world’s most coveted timepieces.
A NOMOS Glashuettee Club Campus cream coral 2D front timepiece.NOMOS Glashuettee/Supplied
Despite Switzerland’s long-held pre-eminence in watchmaking, Germany can lay claim to more than its share of horological clout via the dozen or so globally recognized brands, including A. Lange & Sohne, NOMOS Glashütte and Glashütte Original, that are headquartered in Glashütte. From ornate creations such as the Moritz Grossmann Benu Tourbillon to the sporty Tutima M2 pilot’s watch, the town’s population of watchmakers create a diverse range of timepieces, each of which pays homage to a history going back nearly 200 years.
“If you have no connection with watches, you might see Glashütte as nothing more than a charming little town in a green valley in the Ore Mountains,” says Tino Bobe, the director of manufacturing at A. Lange & Söhne. “For watch lovers, however, it is the centre of Saxon precision watchmaking, for which Ferdinand Adolph Lange laid the cornerstone in 1845.” It was Lange, the company’s namesake and the town’s former mayor, who established the first watch workshop here in 1845 with the blessing (and financial backing) of the Royal Saxon Court in Dresden. Lange’s success drew more watchmakers to Glashütte, and the German watch industry has been centred there ever since.
A. Lange & Söhne pocket watchSCHIMSCHAR/Supplied
This history is on proud display at the town’s main cultural attraction, the Glashütte Watch Museum, with a collection that spans Ferdinand Lange’s ornately decorated pocket watches, GUB timepieces produced during the Communist era (when Glashütte was part of East Germany), and pieces from contemporary brands. If you’ve worked up an appetite, locals advise concluding your tour with lunch at the SMAC’s restaurant, which is run by a former watchmaker at NOMOS Glashütte, followed by a slice of Saxon eierschecke, a local specialty made from vanilla custard and cheesecake, at the neighbouring Degenkolbe bakery.
The Glashütte Watch Museum boasts a wide collection of decorated pocket watches and timepieces produced during the Communist era.Ren Gaens/Supplied
While visitors to Glashütte can stay at the Hotel Jagdhof, a Relais & Châteaux property with an aesthetic straight out of a Brothers Grimm story, Dresden, just 30 minutes away by car and accessible by commuter rail, makes an ideal home base for a visit. It boasts several unique horological attractions of its own. At the Royal Cabinet of Mathematical and Physical Instruments in Zwinger palace, historic Lange pocket watches are on display, while the Semper Opera House’s “Five-Minute Clock” is considered a masterpiece of 19th-century Saxon watchmaking. The city also offers flagship boutiques dedicated to A. Lange & Söhne and Glashütte Original, should you be interested in experiencing the latest novelties Glashütte’s watchmakers have to offer. For anyone with the watch-collecting bug, it’s a perfect opportunity to bring a piece of Germany’s unique watchmaking tradition home.