Tutima Patria Dual Time Watch Review
The Tutima Patria Dual Time is sumptuously appointed, featuring an 18-carat rose gold case with matching hour and minute hands and a silver-plated dial. Furthermore, the model simultaneously displays the ‘local time’ and the ‘home time’, providing a useful feature for frequent flyers. However, it is the Cal. Tutima 619 hand-wound movement which is undoubtedly the pièce de résistance. Angus Davies provides a detailed ‘hands-on’ review of this interesting watch.
Watchmaking began in Glashütte in 1845
On the 7th of December 1845, Ferdinand Adolph Lange welcomed apprentices to his new workshop in Glashütte. Lange, a son of Dresden and an exceptional clockmaker, had been incentivised to set up his business in Glashütte, a small town in Saxony. Indeed, the Royal Saxon Ministry of the Interior provided support for Lange’s new enterprise on the condition that he recruited and trained 15 apprentice watchmakers.
Glashütte, located within a former mining region, had witnessed the demise of the local economy and its population had suffered severe hardship. During Napoleon’s reign, the region had seen the population halve in size and vast swathes of land had been lost. Around the same time, protective trade barriers were removed, leading to cheaper goods flooding the market and undermining local businesses. Lange needed Glashütte, but conversely, Glashütte needed Lange.
Now, the German town is celebrating 175 years of watchmaking. Today, there are numerous watch companies operating within the area and the town is regarded as the epicentre of German watchmaking. Moreover, the term ‘Made in Glashütte’ is strictly protected. Indeed, a company must ensure that it adds a specified amount of added value within the town in order to apply the town’s name to its products.
Tutima founded in 1927
Tutima is one of the revered firms operating within Glashütte. Founded in 1927, the German firm has witnessed both conflict and political change. Indeed, in 1945, in the latter stages of WWII, Tutima relocated to Ganderkesee in the western part of Germany. However, on the 12th of May 2011, the firm celebrated its return to its ancestral home, opening a brand new Manufactory. To coincide with the opening, the company showcased its horological virtuosity by releasing a minute repeater, widely considered one of the most challenging complications to produce. Named the ‘Tutima Hommage Minute Repeater’, the watch comprised 550 components, each refined to the highest order.
Despite Tutima being widely known for its pilots’ watches, the release of the Hommage Minute Repeater revealed a different side to the brand. Indeed, it was no longer a company making functional, professional watches fitted with ETA or Lemania movements, it was now operating in the rarefied heights of Haute Horlogerie. Suddenly, Tutima was making a formal watch fitted with its own in-house movement.
Tutima Patria collection (2013)
The making of a minute repeater is protracted, often taking many weeks to produce. This is inevitably reflected in the price of the product. In 2013, two years after the Hommage was released, Tutima launched the Patria collection. Over subsequent years, the German marque has released additional variants, including some references housed in steel.
Recently, I was given the opportunity to spend some time with the Tutima Patria Dual Time and recount my findings herein.
Tutima Patria Dual Time – dial
The Tutima Patria Dual Time is available in two versions, one featuring Arabic numerals and a chemin de fer (Ref. 6601-01) and a second option (Ref. 6601-02) that swaps the numerals in favour of triangular batons. This latter reference eschews the chemin de fer and, comparatively speaking, looks more formal.
My press sample was the Ref. 6601-01 and when it was affixed to my wrist, it looked far more beautiful than a picture is able to convey. The opaline silver-white dial provides an exquisite backdrop for the handmade spear-like hour and minute hands formed of solid 18-carat rose gold. They articulate the prevailing time with notable efficiency and exhibit extraordinary style. The hands converse with Arabic numerals, presented in a classical font featuring serifs.
As its name implies, the Patria Dual Time displays the ‘local time’ and the ‘home time’ simultaneously, making it the perfect complication for frequent flyers. The dominant hands convey the ‘local time’, while the ‘home time’ is shown with a blued hand positioned on a subdial at 6 o’clock. The subdial also features a golden hand which imparts the running seconds.
Previously, I stated that the dial is endowed with a chemin de fer. While I stand by this description, it could be described as a derivation of the traditional railway track. Close examination reveals that the sleeper-style lines that run perpendicular to the rails don’t fully span the gap in between. It doesn’t impair understanding, but it shows fastidious attention to detail.
Indeed, the aforementioned subdial is snailed. Likewise, the central area of the dial is positioned on one level, while the adjacent hour track is presented on a slightly higher plane. This obsession with the minutiae helps differentiates this remarkable watch from other timepieces.
Tutima Patria Dual Time – 43 mm rose gold case
Housed in an 18-carat rose gold case, the Tutima Patria Dual Time looks smaller than its stated 43 mm would suggest. One reason for this can be attributed to the lug design. The lugs arc downwards very sharply, hence the lug-to-lug distance is approximately 49 mm, a comparatively modest figure.
Personally speaking, I found the lug profile efficiently coaxed the strap to envelop the wrist, delivering superb wearer comfort. The watch is presented on a brown alligator leather strap with tone-on-tone stitching and is paired with an 18-carat rose gold pin buckle that is beautifully executed, reinforcing the overall sense of luxury.
The case measures 11.2mm in height, allowing the timepiece to easily nuzzle beneath the cuff of a shirt. Where the Tutima Patria Dual Time veers off-piste with its crown protector. On a heavy-duty divers’ watch, it is not uncommon to see a crown protector, augmenting the overall robustness of the watch. However, this Tutima model is formally attired, hence the sturdy shoulders positioned either side of the crown sound strange. However, when the watch is on the wrist, the crown protector looks perfectly at ease with the rest of the dial and case ensemble and contributes to the model’s distinctive, handsome appearance.
Each facet of the case is polished and yet it remains tasteful, devoid of any unseemly showboating. To the rear of the watch, a pane of sapphire crystal affords views of the hand-wound movement.
Tutima Patria Dual Time – Cal. Tutima 619
The Tutima Patria Dual Time is not a default purchase, selected purely for its name or prominent logo. On the contrary, this watch is intended for watch aficionados who appreciate the technical magnificence of a truly fine watch.
The Cal. Tutima 619 is made in-house and encompasses a plethora of details not usually seen at this price point. The hand-wound movement is presented in a becoming golden finish. Upholding Glashütte tradition, the watch is equipped with a three-quarter plate. While many Swiss brands have a tendency to use a series of bridges or cocks, the three-quarter plate holds all of the movement parts in position, providing greater stability. Consistent with high-end watches from this region, the three-quarter plate is adorned with Glashütte ribbing, a striped motif similar in nature to Côtes de Genève.
A skeletonised balance cock sits adjacent to the three-quarter plate and, once again, it’s embellished with Glashütte ribbing. Unlike most watches which are equipped with an index regulator, the Cal. Tutima 619 features a free-sprung balance. This delivers superior precision, less susceptibility to positional errors and greater rate stability. It is costlier to equip a watch with a free-sprung balance, hence it is only found on the finest watches.
Traditionally, watches from this region are often fitted with a screwed balance. Some of the screws are used for poising (I’ll come back to this shortly) while the remaining screws are used for regulation. When these latter screws are loosened or tightened, it alters the balance wheel’s moment of inertia, making the watch run faster or slower. The screwed-balance on the Cal. Tutima 619 is fitted with four weighted screws, positioned in slotted, threaded holes and used for regulation as previously described. An additional 12 screws are used for poising. If a car is fitted with a replacement tyre, weights are attached to the wheel rim to ‘balance’ the wheel, ensuring it doesn’t wobble or vibrate. When a balance wheel is poised, the watchmaker uses the poising screws to ensure it runs true.
The balance is fitted with a Breguet hairspring, again, a detail that is the preserve of the finest watches. By upraising the hairspring’s last coil, thereby reducing its curvature, the spring breathes more concentrically as the balance wheel oscillates to and fro. This enhances isochronism, thereby conferring superior precision.
There is sunburst decoration on both the transmission and ratchet wheels. The movement features 20 jewels, three of which are set in screw-mounted gold chatons, another speciality of the region. Mirror polishing features on the elaborately shaped click as well as a number of gleaming screws. Both the three-quarter plate and the balance cock are enriched with hand-bevelled edges.
The balance has a frequency of 21,600 vph (3 Hz) and once fully wound, the watch will run autonomously for 65 hours.
Tutima Patria Dual Time – closing thoughts
The Tutima Patria Dual Time blends prepossessing looks with technical virtue. The dial indications impart information free of ambiguity while bestowing notable style. The gold hour and minute hands prove the very antithesis of mass-produced items seen on many cheaper watches. Likewise, the opaline silver-plated dial surpasses its functional requirements, delivering a shimmering appearance when viewed in certain light conditions.
Tutima has produced a case that feels luxurious to the touch, is elegantly styled and delivers a very agreeable, ergonomic wrist-fit.
However, it is the Cal. Tutima 619 hand-wound movement that steals the show. It is beautifully finished with Glashütte ribbing, mirror-polishing, a bevelled three-quarter plate and a balance cock with three screwed-chatons topping everything off. Moreover, the movement is endowed with a free-sprung balance, screwed balance and Breguet hairspring, again, features associated with fine watchmaking.
At this juncture, I acknowledge the sad reality that such excellence is beyond the reach of most watch enthusiasts and could easily be described as ‘esoteric’. However, this Tutima proves refreshingly different. Its recommended retail price is just £13,600, making superb watchmaking more accessible to a much larger audience. In its 175th year of watchmaking, Glashütte has much to shout about. Similarly, based on my Patria experience, Tutima should not only feel justly proud of its heritage but also this horological tour de force.
Further reading
Technical specifications
- Model: Tutima Patria Dual Time
- Reference: 6601.01
- Case: 18-carat rose gold; diameter 43 mm; height 11.2 mm; water resistance 5 ATM (50 metres); sapphire crystal to front; exhibition case back.
- Functions: hours; minutes; small seconds; second time zone
- Movement: Cal. Tutima 619; hand-wound movement; 20 jewels; power reserve 65 hours.
- Strap: Brown alligator strap with 18-carat rose gold pin buckle
- Price: £13,600 (RRP as of 16.4.2021)