“The M2 Pioneer is a pilot’s watch,” Gustavo Calzadilla, Tutima’s U.S. president, stressed to Chris Malburg, explaining that it was not meant to be a diver’s watch. “True,” he countered. “But how often do watch fans ever get into the cockpit or strap on a scuba tank and jump into an 30-degree, gin-clear lagoon?” And that is just what Chris did. Dive in with him right here!
While Ian Skellern had visited German watch brands in Glashütte before, a recent visit to Tutima was his first. And he was surprised, in more ways than one. Starting with that glass floor and finishing in an all-female regatta.
The Tutima Tempostopp flyback chronograph was one of Elizabeth’s biggest Baselworld 2017 surprises: it is simply an outstanding timepiece, inside and out, thanks to both its historical inspiration and the modern use of Glashütte ingenuity.
Tool watches continue their evolution among the watch industry’s most luxurious and coveted brands. Here, Chris Malburg explores where their evolution has gone and might still go.
Munich, the “metropolis with a heart” known for its hospitality and unique Bavarian lifestyle, transformed into the “metropolis of watches” over the weekend of October 27-29, 2017. The tenth edition of MunichTime, the annual consumer watch exhibition that takes place during the last weekend of October each year, attracted thousands of watch lovers to the upscale Hotel Bayerischer Hof located right in the heart of the city.
The history of Tutima is inextricably linked to the history of Glashütte, the German city whose watch industry was founded in 1845 by Ferdinand Adolph Lange. Although Tutima’s roots don’t extend back quite that far, its story does begin in 1927, a turbulent time in Germany’s premier city of high watchmaking. Relive 90 years of this brand’s history in this post.
When we talk about Germany, we do not necessarily think of watches: luxury cars, high-tech machines, and Oktoberfest spring to mind. The “made in Germany” predicate is generally associated with quality, well-designed products, added value, and longevity. But watches? Yes, watches.
Tutima’s Hommage represents an important premier: it was the very first minute repeater fully conceived, designed and produced in Germany. Outfitted with a gong emitting a “joyful” sound, this finely finished timepiece was created in celebration of Tutima’s return to the Saxon capital of watchmaking.
I clearly remember watching the history-altering events on television on November 9, 1989: the day that the Berlin Wall came tumbling down. Since then, watchmaking in Germany, just like the country as a whole, has undergone a lot of change. The rebirth of Glashütte’s horological industry is an unparalleled story, one coming with a great number of human-condition stories that will someday need lots of telling . . . and here is the first.
While the two most well known German brands are A. Lange & Söhne and Glashütte Original, there are quite a few smaller German brands deserving our attention. Some with names you may have heard of, a few you may not have: Nomos, Lange & Heyne, Tutima, Kudoke and Leinfelder among them.