When Tutima returned after a long Cold war hiatus to its birthplace in the German watchmaking town of Glashütte, in the state of Saxony, it also began re-establishing itself as a maker of elegant, luxurious timepieces, in precious metal cases with lavishly decorated in-house calibers, after years of being known primarily as a purveyor of classically styled pilots’ watches with outsourced movements. The Patria collection began in grand style, with the unveiling of the Hommage Minute Repeater, the first minute repeater built entirely in Glashütte, in 2011, and has since grown to include a two-hander with small seconds, a model with a power reserve display, and the watch I had a chance to wear recently, the Tutima Patria Dual Time.
The Tutima Patria Dual Time is available in two dial versions, one with simple, applied, faceted rose-gold hour indices at the hour markers (as on my review watch), the other with vintage-look Arabic hour numerals. The former version is arguably more clean and elegant in character, though the latter is quite attractive as well; both feature opaline silver dials that resonate beautifully with the golden elements while also providing a string but subtle contrast with the gold hands. The watch has a 43-mm round case made of 18k rose gold, 11.2 mm thick and water-resistant to 50 meters. The case boasts soft, wrist-hugging curves, a gleaming polished finish, and a slightly domed sapphire crystal over the dial with nonreflective treatment. The onion-style crown is flanked by two large, sloping, shoulder-like crown guards.
The classical gold hour and minute hands, with their distinctive arrow tips, are hand-crafted and matte-finished along their chamfers. The extra-large subdial at 6 o’clock, with its subtle snailed finish, displays both the running seconds and a second time zone on a 12-hour scale. The dual-time function is made distinct from the seconds display with its use of a blued steel hand, and it is both simple to set and easy to read. Simply pull the gold crown to its first position and rotate it forward, or clockwise, to set the second time zone that you’ll want to keep track of while traveling, then rotate the crown in the opposite direction to set the main time on the gold hands. The 12-hour scale (rather than a more traditional 24-hour scale) makes the reading of the second time zone very intuitive, though admittedly it’s not immediately discernible whether it is daytime or nighttime hours in that zone.
The watch’s manual-winding movement, Caliber 619, was developed and manufactured in-house at Tutima’s manufacture in Glashütte and is on display behind the watch’s sapphire exhibition caseback. A descendant of the groundbreaking Hommage Minute Repeater caliber, it features gold-plated parts and a traditional Glashütte three-quarter mainplate with a uniformly banded pattern that accentuates the three ruby jewels in their screwed gold settings. Each of its two steel crown wheels is finished with a sunburst pattern and has a special ratchet with steel springs polished on tinplate. The beveled edges of the skeletonized balance cock are hand-polished to a high gloss, and all screw heads are both blued and polished. An accurately drawn bevel runs along each screw’s slit and around the periphery of its head. The balance has 14 weight screws and four regulating screws, oscillates at a frequency of 21,600 vph, and is paired with a Breguet hairspring culminating in a manually crafted upward curve. The movement is equipped with a stop-seconds function to enable precise setting of the time on the watch’s hands. Fully wound, it stores a power reserve of 65 hours — a lengthy power reserve, of course, being quite beneficial in a watch that does not wind itself.
The Tutima Patria Dual Time (Ref. 6601-02) is mounted on a brown alligator strap, with a rose-gold pin buckle, which both harmonizes quite well with the warmth of the rose gold case and nestles comfortably against the wrist. At 43 mm in gold, the Patria Dual Time is a substantial watch in terms of both weight and breadth, but never overwhelming or unwieldy. The pared down simplicity of its dial, along with the sensuous and finely finished curves of its case, ensures that this Saxon timepiece makes a stylish addition to either a business casual or formal cocktail ensemble — and a particularly useful one if you’re traveling far from home for said business or cocktails.
The Tutima Patria Dual Time is priced at $19,500.
