Glashütte: where it all began
The history of the Tutima brand began in Glashütte, a mythical city of horology whose name is known all over the globe as a byword for the best and most exclusive timepieces in the world. And a place in which Tutima is now once again present with a subsidiary, an exclusive production workshop in a building listed as a historic monument: the old railway maintenance depot in Glashütte. It heralds a new era in the history of Tutima, right at the very heart of the German art of watchmaking.
Glashütte is a small city located in Saxony’s idyllic Müglitz Valley. Its development into a celebrated watchmaking center was anything but straightforward. The first apprentices in the former mining community were trained as watchmakers back in 1845. This was the start of a watchmaking industry that was to earn an excellent international reputation as the years went by. The town reached its heyday as a watchmaking center at the start of the 20th century, when precision pocket watches from Glashütte were among the most highly coveted and most exclusive timepieces of the day.
Tutima advertising from the 1930s
UFAG Glashütte 1926-1945; administration building in the foreground
This brilliant era came to an abrupt end with the outbreak of World War I and the turmoil of the ensuing Great Depression. Finally, at the turn of the year 1926/1927, a new group of companies was founded under the management of 27-year-old Dr. Ernst Kurtz. This marked the birth of Tutima, the leading brand of the newly founded UROFA-UFAG conglomerate in Glashütte.
Tutima gold pocket watch, approx. 1929