Made in Germany | Glashütte -- Precision Work from Saxony

In the land of quartz watches, traditional mechanical clockwork from the Erzgebirge mountains is experiencing a remarkable upswing. Japanese consumers wind up more watches from Germany than are sold in the US or other EU countries. There, where televisions, mobile phones and GPS navigators come as give-aways with digital watches, people have great respect for the hand-ground gear wheels and mechanical calendars made in the town of Glashütte. In China, where millions of cheap copies of German watches are made, esteem for the costly originals is also growing steadly. Now the manufacturers are getting help from the Far East. Ming Lu of China works for watchmakers Lange & Söhne in Glashütte. He is responsible for sales in east Asia.At the "Baselworld" trade fair the new trend was also plain to see as watch dealers from China and Japan thronged the stand of Nomos Glasshütte, maker of relatively inexpensive mechanical timepieces. Report by Sebastian Asmus