Tutima Glashütte Flyback Pilot Chronograph WW2

passetemps · 2014-03-11T07:35:28Z

Explore the Tutima Glashütte Flyback Pilot Chronograph (UROFA 59) from WW2. Discover its history, technical specs, and debate its horological importance.

passetemps

WPS member · Horological Meandering forum

16 replies8301 views11 photos

Passetemps provides a detailed overview of the Tutima Glashütte Flyback Pilot Chronograph from WW2, emphasizing its historical and horological significance. He argues for its overlooked importance as a pioneering tool watch, highlighting its unique features and role in aerial combat.

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FACTS:

Column wheel integrated hand wound flyback chronograph movement.

Manufacture caliber UROFA 59 (based on UROFA 58 Glashütte manufacture caliber).

18,000 bph.

39mm nickeled brass case (hence the beautiful and varied patina, as steel was reserved for armaments).

Fixed lugs, 20mm width.

Stainless steel caseback (nickeled brass caseback on earlier units).

Antimagnetic and waterproof case.

Domed plexiglass.

Rotating bezel with a red mark (an arrow on earlier units).

Radioactive luminescent hands and numerals.

Specially and secretely developed under government contract for the Luftwaffe (itself created in 1936) between 1938 and 1940 as a strategic project, so as not to depend on foreign (Swiss) equipment or components.

Handmade in Glashütte, Germany, from 1940 to 1945 (the manufacture was then dismantled by the Soviet army and the equipment taken to Moscow).

Less than 18,000 units produced (number 200000 to 218000 approx.; same 6 digit number on case back and movement).

Designed for and used by bomber-fighter and fighter pilots as flight instruments.

The German pilots were the only contenders of WW2 equipped with a chronograph (let alone a manufacture flyback chronograph).

Very few examples remain in good original condition, as most were lost in battle or right after the war, and most of the remaining ones have been either dismantled or terribly “frankenwatched” since the war.

Developed in collaboration/competition with the HANHART hand chronograph manufacture. HANHART made a beautiful, robust, one-pusher chronograph in 1939, then created in 1942 its own – 41mm - version of the TUTIMA-GLASHÜTTE Flyback Fliegerchronograph. It fell in the French occupation zone after the war, where production continued for a while with a different styling (SteveMcQueen famously owned one of those postwar units, and is portrayed wearing it in some famous photos), until the HANHART Fliegerchronograph was simply used by the French Army as the model for the Type XX chronographs, developed by Bréguet and other producers during the 1950s and up to our days).

Very reliable and very robust, this tool watch was actually used in aerial combat during the entire duration of WW2 (more extensively and intensively than any other mechanical watch before and after it, at a time when the pilots and their missions depended on their watches).

These watches heavy with History still tick at chronometer precision today, three quarters of a century after their production, and the column wheel operation is as soft as butter.

In my opinion, this watch has been ignored by all the big Swiss brands who claim to have some military heritage too, but it is extremely important: horologically, historically, artistically.

In my very humble opinion, it is the most important:

- pilot chronograph,

- early integrated flyback chronograph,

- early tool watch, with lume, rotating bezel, antimagnetic case, waterproof and inherent robustness,

- manufacture military watch projected, designed and made purposefully for an army (while at war, incidentally),

- wristwatch to have taken an active part in History.

Needless to add, i personally LOVE this watch. One has to feel it on the wrist and operate the flyback chronograph to feel the balanced style, the elegant simplicity, the human craftmanship and the utilitarian perfection.

I hope this has been somewhat informative.

Here are photos of some examples from my collection.

Frank

This message has been edited by passetemps on 2014-03-11 07:48:14

Key Points from the Discussion

While the Tutima Glashütte is significant, Longines filed patents for the flyback mechanism in 1936, predating the UROFA 59 movement's development and creating the first chrono movement with this feature.
The author's focus is on the genesis of the first mass-produced, waterproof flyback chronograph with a rotating bezel and luminous elements, specifically designed for military use during wartime.
Longines was deeply involved in early flight history and military contexts, with their movements setting high technical and aesthetic standards, including timekeepers for Zeppelins that aesthetically influenced later Glashütte chronographs.
The Longines 13ZN movement, while more finely finished and likely a source of inspiration for the UROFA 59, was a luxury item, whereas the Tutima Glashütte was a purely utilitarian tool, elevating the flyback complication to a new level of utility through mass production.
The Longines 13ZN is more affordable and easier to find but its 35mm size and antiquated design make it less wearable today compared to the 39mm Tutima-Glashütte Fliegerchronograph, which, despite its understated movement, remains a timeless sports watch.
The historical context of a watch's design and use, such as the Tutima Glashütte's role in WW2, can profoundly influence how modern tool watches, like the Hamilton Pioneer Chronograph, are perceived in terms of heritage versus mere design replication.

The Discussion

passetemps

Mar 11, 2014

And a view of the movement...

...of one of the earliest units manufactured (the 607th). The movements were gold plated in order to add extra resistance to corrosion:

passetemps

Mar 11, 2014

A view of another movement

One produced by the end of 1942 (at the turning point of the war). A tool watch is a tool watch:

ZachBush

Mar 11, 2014

Thanks much, I really enjoyed reading this...

On a daily basis I wear a Hamilton Pioneer Chronograph. While I own other watches, I work in a lab environment and the use of a chronograph comes in extremely handy. My work is also very much hands-on and I needed a tool watch that I could beat up and not feel bad about. However after seeing your pictures I'm not sure of if I should appreciate the heritage and history of the design of my timepiece or if I should look at in the same way I would view $50 replica Rolex. You're fortunate to a number

passetemps

Mar 11, 2014

Oh, I realise that I haven't mentioned the ASSYMETRICAL PUSHERS

Meant to avoid fatal mistakes by the pilots in the darkness of their cockpits (together with the originally red color of the reset pusher) the assymetry is an essential element of these watches, a detail that is part of the original DNA of a true Flieger Chronograph. This detail, present as well (although in the opposite way) in the Hanhart, was abandoned in the subsequent Type XX.

SuitbertW

Mar 11, 2014

A few remarks...

Hello, Frank, stunning collection ! Thanks a lot for sharing !!! Your love is more than obvious and personally I'm with you - it's a true beauty and certainly a true testimonial of this time. I happen to like amost all chronographs of this pioneering period and tecnically the first 40 years of the 20th. century are a real treat. I'm not sure if it's just your enthusiasm for this watch - but IMVHO in certain parts your statements are historically incorrect and certainly a bit exaggerating. Just a

passetemps

Mar 12, 2014

A few remarks on your remarks

Many thanks for your input, Suitbert. No offence taken. We're all here to learn! I realise that you are a specialist of chronographs from the first 40 years of the 20th. Brilliant! Regarding your remarks: 1) - I have also read a long time ago that Longines had made a Flyback mecanism a few years before the development of UROFA 59 (two years before the start of the development of UROFA 59, as you report), but i have never seen that watch, and i don't know if it really is an integrated movement li