In summer 2011, Germany-based Tutima, known chiefly for its modestly priced pilots’ watches, unveiled a watch-world first: the first minute repeater wristwatch whose entire mechanism was built entirely in the German watchmaking town of Glashütte. As of the beginning of this year, the company announced, deliveries of the eagerly awaited timepiece have finally begun.
Tutima, a company that traces its history back to the 1920s, spent three years developing the movement for the watch, Hommage Caliber 800, incorporating several elements distinctive to Glashütte watchmaking, such as a three-quarter plate and engraved balance cock (here, with a G Clef to indicate the watch’s melodious chimes). Since the watch’s introduction nearly two years ago, Tutima has made a few small, mostly aesthetic changes. The surfaces of the movement’s plates and bridges are now in rose gold, which harmonizes better with the case materials for the two models (one in rose gold, one in platinum) and, in the skeletonized-dial version (pictured) makes for a more elegant horological tableau. From the back, the owner can see Tutima’s historical insignia, the relief engravings on the cover of the striking mechanism’s barrel, and the mechanism that activates the repeater’s tiny hammers. (Click photos for larger images.)
Tutima, which until recently had been purchasing the movements of its watches from outside sources, sees the creation of an in-house minute repeater as a return to its heritage and the harbinger of a new collection of “Made in Glashütte” manufacture watches. As Tutima USA CEO Gustavo Calzadilla told WatchTime’s Joe Thompson in WatchTime’s profile of Tutima in the October 2011 issue, “This is a celebration, a message… This is a statement that we have the ability to do just about anything. We are a real manufacture and this is the proof.”
Tutima also announced that the retail prices quoted when the Hommage Minute Repeater was introduced — which we reported in our story as $244,000 for each of the 20 models in rose-gold cases and $259,000 for the five models in platinum cases — will remain unchanged.
