After Tutima rightfully made its way into our Lemania 5100 Hall of Fame article, we took a minute to ask ourselves, why the hell haven’t we talked about Tutima already. Better late than never, I suppose. Tutima is a less oft-mentioned tool watch company out of Glashütte. They hold a very important place in German watchmaking history, especially when it comes to their military watches. With origins dating back to the late 1920s, 1941 is when the iconic Flieger chronograph – powered by the caliber 59 – made its debut during dubious times with the German Air Force. After Tutima was devastated by the war, it stayed in business, in one form or another, before earning another military contract in 1985 for an updated Flieger Chronograph. As stated in our Hall of Fame article, this is their very collectible Lemania 5100-powered timepiece. Fast-forwarding to today, and you can see that the Tutima M2 is clearly representative of its storied past.
Two Tutima Fliegers on the left, and two Hanhart monopusher Fliegers on the right — photo courtesy of WUS user Rationaltime.
Despite the lack of use mechanical watches get in today’s military, the M2 is still known as the official watch of the Germany army. In our opinion, Tutima’s build quality makes it one of the few mechanical watchmakers we’d trust in an operational environment, alongside the likes of Sinn, Bremont, and a few others. The M2 doubtless takes many design cues from the 1980s Flieger, boasting sleek pushers that power the orange chronograph hands, including the intuitive central minutes counter. In a world bereft of new Lemania 5100s, how does Tutima accomplish the same look? They’ve taken an ETA 7750, and modified it extensively to their liking, with central minutes and the 24-hour subdial at the 12:00 position. What you end up with is the caliber 521, which includes same functionality, but without the plastic parts (for better or for worse).
Previous version of the Tutima Bund Chronograph — photo courtesy of watchuknow.com
The M2 is no waif. In fact, for everyday wear, this is probably our only complaint. Clocking in at 46.5-millimeters wide, and 15.85-millimeters thick, the M2 has impressive wrist presence. Limiting the impact of the large dimensions, fortunately, is the all-titanium case, and practically no lugs. Behind the military looks are an anti-reflective sapphire crystal, anti-slip, rubber-coated pushers, magnetic field protection, and 300-meters of water resistance – the essentials for any true tool watch.
Tutima M2 with the non-rotating inner bezel.
As for configurations, the M2 can be had in a couple of ways. The first is quite reminiscent of its 1980s predecessor, in that it has the familiar cushion case with an internal bezel. Fitted with a titanium bracelet, it’s a blast from the past. The other, known as the M2 Pioneer, exchanges the internal bezel for a bi-directional external bezel. Although bi-directional rotation isn’t ideal for divers, it does add that extra functionality with a 60-minute scale. A really nice touch on the bezel is a small luminous dot under each 5-minute mark. It seems that Tutima’s aim was to continue it’s legendary Flieger, while extending the line to include an even more capable piece.
Germany is stacked with over-engineered tool watches, and we pretty much love all of them – Tutima is no exception. Their history for producing highly capable watches is beyond reproach, and it’s continued with the M2. The high quality materials and extensively modified movement put it in a tough price bracket at close to $8,000, likely making it a tough sell for most folks. If that’s too stiff for your finances, we recommend keeping an eye on the 2nd hand market where the price would probably be cut in half. Price aside, we look forward to many more years of military inspired Fliegers from Tutima.
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