The Tutima Patria Now in Steel with Blue Enamel Dial

Tutima is known first and foremost for its sporty and robust tool watches, in particular, pilot or aviation-influenced timepieces powered by Swiss workhorses… However, the brand also offers elegant gold timepieces with refined in-house movements within the Patria collection. At Baselworld 2019, Tutima unveiled its first Patria in steel, offered at a much more approachable price. Let’s have a closer look.

A new Saxon Era

The name Tutima derives from the Latin word for ‘safe and secure’. The brand appeared in Glashütte in the late 1920s, when Dr Ernst Kurtz used it to case up the best movements of UROFA (Uhren-Rohwerke-Fabrik Glashütte AG) and UFAG (Uhrenfabrik Glashütte AG). At the end of WWII, Dr Kurtz was able to move to the West. As of the 1960s, the company was continued by Dieter Delecate. Tutima was headquartered in Northern West Germany, near Bremen; but as the Berlin wall came down, Delecate started to mature a plan to bring Tutima home, to Saxony…

In 2008, a new factory was put to work in Glashütte. Soon, the development of in-house movements would give birth to a minute repeater (2011 – Hommage), to the elegant Patria collection (2013) and to the gorgeous Tempostopp chronograph (2017).

Pure German style

Presented for the first time in steel, the Tutima Patria retains the elegant character of the gold model but with a fresher, more contemporary and dynamic feel. Its minimalist dial comes in deep blue enamel – a special cold enamel that does not need successive heating in a kiln like traditional Grand Feu enamel. Its facetted hour markers are paired with stylized lance hands, crafted in steel and highly polished. The small seconds sub-dial is slightly recessed with a concentric circular pattern and provides added depth and detail. Its high contrast white graduation offers excellent legibility.

The polished stainless steel case features soft curves and the Patria signature guards hugging the fluted crown. At 43mm, it is certainly a large watch but it does wear smaller than its diameter initially suggests, thanks to its curved, plunging lugs. The sapphire crystal is slightly domed and has an anti-reflective coating on both sides. The water-resistance is of 5 ATM/50 metres.

Turning the watch over, the exhibition caseback offers a fantastic view of the hand-wound Tutima Calibre 617, an exquisite in-house movement. Very classically rendered in the Glashütte style, this large, 31.6mm movement features a three-quarter plate and 20 jewels, three of which are held into screw-mounted gold chatons. The finishing is top-notch with pink gold plating, nice anglage, and Glashütte stripes. The balance wheel is screwed with weighted screws and 4 regulating screws. Its hairspring has a Breguet overcoil. Held in place under an openwork cock, it ticks at 21,600 vibrations per hour. When fully wound, the power reserve is of 65 hours.

The Steel Tutima Patria is worn on a dark blue alligator strap, with tone-on-tone stitching, matching the colour of the dial. It retails for EUR 4,900 (incl. German VAT), which represents impressive value for money for an elegant three-hander fitted with an in-house movement of this level and an enamel dial. For more information, please visit www.tutima.com.