It is customary to say that all the most beautiful luxury watches come from Switzerland, the cradle of watchmaking, yet some German watch brands have nothing to envy the Swiss manufacturers! Many of them are located in the small town of Glashütte, and over the decades German brands have built up a solid reputation for quality, precision and aesthetic watches that regularly make the headlines in the specialized press.
Important clarification, the German watch brands presented below are sometimes only of German origin, or German but assembled in Switzerland or using know-how or foreign parts, so it is not only German brands 100% Made in Germany. Also, a ranking of the best German watch brands is of course very subjective, so this is a personal ranking of the team that may change over time.
Reminder: If you have a nice automatic watch, don't forget to keep it on time with an automatic watch winder
A. Lange & Söhne
The German luxury watch brand A. Lange & Söhne is a Glashütte brand with a know-how comparable to the most prestigious Swiss brands such as Patek Philippe... Founded in 1845, this Haute Horlogerie brand is known for its mastery of horological complications and its flagship collection, the "Lange 1", a watch with an off-center time display combining tradition and innovation.
Montblanc
Founded in 1906, the Monblanc brand diversified into the luxury watch sector in the 1990s. The year 1997 marked the launch of the Meisterstück watch, the first handmade model. In a few years, the brand has become one of the luxury watch brands to be reckoned with, mixing mass-market pieces and complicated Haute Horlogerie models.
Glashütte Original
Glashütte Original was, as its name suggests, born in the heart of German watchmaking in the town of Glashütte. Acquired by Swatch Group in 2000, the brand produces almost all of its movements. The brand masters and presents horological complications such as the tourbillon, the perpetual calendar... Some of these exceptional models, such as the Senator Grande Cosmopolite Tourbillon, are sold at more than 300,000 Dollars.
Nomos Glashütte
Founded in 1990, the German watch brand Nomos is a brand based in the village of Glashütte, the cradle of German watchmaking. Nomos Glashütte presents models with a particularly pure design, minimalist watches at prices ranging mostly between 1,000 and 15,000 Dollars.
MeisterSinger
Since 2001, MeisterSinger watches have been recognizable at first glance as mono-hand watches where the main hand indicates both the hours and minutes and moves every 5 minutes. These German watches are produced in the city of Münster in northwestern Germany and are priced between 1,000 and 4,000 Dollars.
Junghans
Founded in 1861, the German watch brand Junghans was in 1903 the largest watch manufacturer in the world, a rich history for a brand that remains today a leading brand with elegant models ranging mainly between 800 and 3,000 Dollars.
Sinn
Sinn is a German watch brand founded in 1961 in Frankfurt am Main by a World War II pilot. The brand specialized in aviation watches and made a name for itself by being on the wrists of German astronauts in space in the 1980s and 1990s. Famous for its functional and robust watches, Sinn presents models between 1,000 and 8,000 dollars.
Junkers
German Junkers watches are quality aviator watches offered at affordable prices, usually under 1,000 Dollars. Quartz or mechanical pilot's watches that follow the well-known motto "form follows function".
Mühle-Glashütte
Founded in 1869 in the village of Glashütte, as its name suggests, Mühle-Glashütte produced its first watches in 1996, but did not accelerate its development until the 2000s and presented its first manufacture movement in 2011. Watches presented at prices ranging from 1,000 to 4,000 Dollars
Union Glashütte
Less well known than some of the big names in German watchmaking mentioned in this article, the German watch brand Union Glashütte is nevertheless representative of fine German watchmaking! A catalog of elegant or sporty "Made in Germany" watches presented at prices ranging from 1,000 to over 10,000 dollars..
