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Dunhill Classic versus Mühle-Glashütte Teutonia Big Date – Take A Second Look

Tom is the founder and editor of The Watch Lounge. Together with his team he is dedicated to bringing you the best, original content you won't find anywhere else on the net. To read more articles by Tom please click here.

Article posted in: Watch Reviews

Recently the manifestation of two unrelated events provided the catalyst that triggered this article. Firstly, the arrival of my new weekend watch, the German made Vortex by Dievas courtesy of Gnomon Watches. And secondly, Ben Clymer, a good friend of The Watch Lounge, and the chief editor over at Hodinkee drawing my attention to the relatively new ‘Classic’ watch from Dunhill, which was announced earlier this year.

The purpose of this article, quite simply put, is to let you know about a brand that you may have possibly never heard of before and to subtlety hint at the benefits of looking past the fancy marketing campaigns to discover true value.

What Are You Buying?
Now before I get too carried away, I think it’s important to state that I am actually quite a fan of Dunhill as a brand and admire a lot of the products they have released. The new Classic watch is certainly no exception in this regard. Powered by an automatic Jaeger-LeCoultre Calibre 896 movement and blessed with timeless good looks it would make an exemplary addition to anyone’s collection. So far, so good, right?

The main problem I have is this: Dunhill is not a watchmaker.

Yes, the Classic is powered by a very respectable Swiss Made movement and it does look quite nice, but consider this; the stainless steel version will run you just over $5,000 and you can forget about getting change from $10,000 for the rose gold version. So what are you actually paying for? The brand or the watch?

Keep that in mind as you prepare to meet (possibly for the first time) German watch maker Mühle-Glashütte.

Take A Second Look
The watch I’ve chosen to introduce you to today is the Teutonia Big Date (pictured above), however, please be advised that this is simply one piece in a rather impressive range. This is not a new watch by any stretch of the imagination but thanks to its classic style you could be forgiven for thinking it was released to the market yesterday. Before I go into too much more detail though, I think a little background on the brand itself is required to help reinforce my above point about Dunhill not actually being a watchmaker.

Mühle-Glashütte’s watch making heritage can be traced back as far 135 years ago when the great-grandfather of the current owner Hans-Jürgen Mühle built and sold measuring instruments for the local clock manufacturers. Hans Mühle, his grandson, found his way back into measurement engineering after 1945, but was dispossessed as part of East German collectivisation. It was not until after the fall of the Wall, in 1994, that the company returned into the ownership of the family, who envisaged a promising market in the manufacture and marketing of ship’s clocks and ship’s clock systems – hence the name ‘Nautische Instrumente Mühle-Glashütte’.

The production of high-precision wrist-watches was added later. This decision proved extremely successful – in fact, so much so that this branch of business has turned into Mühle-Glashütte’s core business. Today Nautische Instrumente Mühle-Glashütte has been in business for over ten years.

In my opinion the value of this heritage cannot be discounted, you are not just buying a watch, you are buying a story.

Now, back to the actual watch itself. As the name suggests the Teutonia features a big date display just under 12 o’clock, as well as a seconds sub-dial at 6 o’clock similar to the Dunhill Classic. The watch is also powered by a reputable (albeit modified) Swiss Automatic Movement, the Mühle ETA 2892-A2.

As far as aesthetics go the Teutonia and the Classic are very similar. Mühle-Glashütte’s offering at 41mm is slightly larger than Dunhill’s 38mm, but still well within the realms of respectable sizing for a watch of this style. Both pieces feature beautifully finished dials, polished stainless steel cases and attractive leather straps.

Here’s the kicker, though. The Mühle-Glashütte Teutonia Big Date will only set you back $3,140 from Gnomon Watches.

Yes, arguably the Dunhill Classic does feature the more highly prized Calibre 896 from JLC but for the money they are asking you could actually just buy a very similar styled Jaeger Le-Coultre, which in my opinion would be a far better option.

The Final Word
The purpose of this article was not so much to single out Dunhill for criticism but rather to bring to your attention the fact that there a number of exceptional watch makers out there, who may not presently be on your radar, but definitely should be. I have personally dealt with Gnomon Watches several times before and the only thing I would rate higher than their service (which is outstanding by the way) is their surprisingly unique selection of brands.

Remember, just because you’ve never heard of a brand before doesn’t mean that it’s not worth a second look. You never know what you might discover when you look past the big marketing budgets.

*Note: This article was written without the endorsement or express request of Gnomon Watches. All views expressed above are my own.

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