Horological Meandering

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

 

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