Blue Sky – Introducing the Tutima Sky (6105-22)
There are more than a few brands that call Glashütte/Sachsen their home. Tutima is one of the Glashütte brands that has sort of flown under the radar. Rightfully so ? No, on the contrary. Tutima has a rich history, they celebrated their 90th anniversary in 2017, and their watches are worth a closer look.
More than 90 years of watch tradition and “Manufacture of the Year” in 2018: The history of Tutima begins in Glashütte in 1927. At those times the functional watches received the “Tutima” sign, taken from the Latin word “tutus” – for “secure”.
When Bhanu Chopra and I visited the Tutima booth at Baselworld 2019, we had agreed to tour the brand’s manufacturing facilities in Glashütte/Saxony to see their in-house production first hand, and of course view the entire Flieger collection. In December 2019 Tutima welcomed us to their modern headquarter.
It is located just few meters adjacent to Nomos, and across from Glashütte Original manufactury. Up the hill there’s the impressive building of Moritz Grossmann.
The first observation is that while Tutima is a mid-size business, right next to other mid-to-large size watch companies, it is a family run operation. In fact, Tutima is 100% family owned and operated (Delecate family).
A more obvious observation is that this is not the same watch brand of the 1980’s, 1990’s, and early 2000’s. Tutima has got a more modern look, expanded their portfolio now including classic high-end watches with (complicated) in-house movements.
There’s a good justification for developing in-house movements. Tutima proved that they are capable of constructing/producing complications and by doing so raising the level of watchmaking. For a company to use the “Made in Glashütte” seal, they must create 50% of value in Glashütte. Tutima has done well with the use of in-house movement, especially in their Patria line-up.
The the full report can be read on www.fliegerfriday.com or here: Flieger Friday: Watchuseek Visits Tutima Glashütte.
While Tutima has one leg in the realm of fine watchmaking, their other leg is firmly placed in lower to mid-priced pilot’s watches, which are made in a second workshop in Glashütte.
At Baselworld they showcased sub €3000 Flieger watches with customized ETA movements. Bhanu and I were immediately intrigued by their M2, Flieger Automatik and Sky models. Of course, Tutima still offers the Grand Flieger which has the more traditional Flieger look, inspired by their 1940’s military watches.
Today we are taking a look at the Tutima Sky, reference no. 6105-22. The 6105-22 is the blue dialed Sky.
Two other models are available: 6105-24 (green dial), 6105-26 (red). Only the blue one was calling my name that loud that I couldn’t resist to ask Tutima to send me one for a review.
With these dials in blue, green or red, the Sky becomes an exceptional eye-catcher, which is further reinforced by the dark dégradé gradient, the polished stainless steel case and the fine mesh bracelets.
It is unmistakable that the Tutima Sky does not follow the historical pattern of the Flieger watches of the 1940s, but rather wants to be understood as an independent modern interpretation of the old pattern. The Sky somehow is a hybrid, combining classic watch design with a fine touch of a Flieger.
Tutima put it that way: “Tutima is expanding its entry-level collection with a series that combines elements of the past with the watchmaking skills of today.” In this case, Design wise the Tutima Sky goes back in history and points to the 1970s as its spiritual home for the design, a lot of Pforzheim made watches of this era came to my mind.
The 41mm case however is definitely an achievement of our time. The Sky presents itself in a stylish – but still a sporty – vintage look to a watch. Its Milanese bracelet is another sign of its “hybrid appearance” if I may say so. Same is valid for the polished case, a feature almost all pilot’s watches do not have for a (good) reason.
The fluted screw-in/screw-down crown is small but fits perfectly with the case height. Despite being on the small side the crown was always easy to operate. Like the case the crown also got polished, a repetition of what the case features too though.
It is powered by a modern movement, that is relatively unspectacular – a customized ETA 2836-2.
At night the Tutima Sky isn’t lit up like a torch. The index bars are not coated with luminous compound, the little dots on the chapter ring are. If you can live with less(er) lume you might particularly like how the watch looks at night. The hands are sparsely coated with lume, a drawback for some of you. Anyway, I like the way how the dial of the Sky looks like. All in all it is an uncluttered dial, easy to read. During day time you will love the dégradé finish which has a marine blue finish that darkens to dark blue or even black around the edges, depending on the incidence of light.
Technical Specs:
- Movement: Automatic cal. Tutima 330, based on the ETA 2836-2, 25 jewels, rhodium-plated rotor with “T.”(utima) gold seal, polished screws
- Case: Stainless steel, polished, diameter 41mm, height 13mm, water resistant up to 100m, onion like shaped screw-in crown(!), display back
- Dial: Blue, dégradé, Hands coated with luminous compound
- Crystal: Domed sapphire crystal, ar coating
- Bracelet: Milanese bracelet
The mesh bracelet with deployant is state of the art. Excellent fit and finish is warranted.
Time keeping
Timekeeping has been excellent so far.
Crown left: +8
Crown up: +6
Crown down: +9
Dial down: +3
Dial up: +5
I am quite satisfied with the performance so far. I did not observe any break-in time, the average gain is +3/+5 sec/24h on the wrist and dial up at night.
Is the Tutima Sky a GADA (go-anywhere-do-anything) watch ?
The answer is maybe. I tend to agree, the Sky Blue can be worn with a suit and casual clothing. It looks good on the beach, in the office and at night when you sip your Hugo in a roof top bar. And for a watch Made in Glashütte it is fairly priced for €1450.
Conclusions:
First impression: WOW!
The Tutima Sky is an absolute eye catcher. Its blue dégradé dial with applied indexes and alpha-shaped like hands in stainless steel is state of the art.
On the Tutima website the Sky ranges in “Flieger” watches. I associate the Flieger style with features like
- triangle at 12
- Flieger hands
- numerals
- no date
However, that’s not what we have got here.
The Sky is not meant to be a GADA watch either, but imho it is close.
It is a classic watch perfectly featuring the watch design of the 1970s with a touch of Flieger.
You can wear it having a beer after work with your colleagues or a Glenlivet non chill-filtered Single Malt One Cask Whisky with your friends in the cooking lesson, you can join the Queens Garden Party at Buckingham Palace as well as the cinema around your corner; you can’t go wrong on most occasions with the Sky Blue on your wrist. No wrestling, please.
Second impression: Still WOW!