Uhrenrekursion (EN)

I bought the Deutsche Uhrenmanufaktur Glashütte (DUG) Prurist Type 2 in Moon White, 40 mm, in Prague in May, and today—after a good four months of continuous wear on my wrist—I’d like to share my impressions with you. Since then, I’ve worn the DUG almost every other day on average—more than any other watch in my collection—and I can say right off the bat that this watch will definitely remain part of my collection.

I remember seeing the watch sometime over a year ago and immediately sending it to my partner—I couldn’t quite believe that a genuine Glashütte watch with such a clean, classic, yet robust and modern design was being sold at that price. That must have been sometime in early 2025, shortly after DUG entered the market in December 2024. My partner and I both like classic watches; we both own watches from Nomos and Junghans, admire the watches from A. Lange & Söhne, and even our Omegas feature rather classic designs. The DUG fits right in with that, but I was also quite sceptical about whether the quality would match the price and wanted to feel it on my wrist first. The only problem was that Deutsche Uhrenmanufaktur Glashütte relies on direct sales—meaning it doesn’t sell through traditional watch shops and jewellers. Consequently, it took some time before I had the chance to try it on at Infinityywatches, a store in Prague that specializes in microbrands.

And that’s where I fell in love with the watch right away and ended up buying it. It wasn’t an easy decision, since I had firmly resolved to buy only one watch in Prague, but Infinitywatches carries several watches from Echo/Neutra, Baltic, Brew, and others that I’d had my eye on for a while. But as soon as I tried on the Purist, I knew right away that it would be my next everyday watch.

Specs of the DUG Purist

So much for the background—but now let’s take a look at the watch’s specs. DUG, although still very new to the market and currently offering only one model—the Purist in various versions—is Glashütte-certified and bears the Glashütte seal of origin. However, to receive this protected designation, at least 50% of the watch’s value must be created in Glashütte itself. There are a few other details you can read about in classic bureaucratic German on the customs website, if you’d like. For me, the only thing that matters is that it’s not just a Chinese watch with a German design. I don’t mean that disrespectfully—I actually bought a watch just recently, the Galo Novo Cruisin, that’s exactly that. But for what I was looking for in a DUG watch, I wanted something of more reliable quality, and that’s definitely the case with DUG watches.

I find the sandy-textured dial particularly fascinating in combination with the applied hour markers and Arabic numerals. From a distance, it’s simply a rather understated, classic watch with a white dial, but upon closer inspection, the texture, the raised hour markers, and the recessed logo really make an impression. The black minute track on the outer edge also gives the watch a sporty look and makes it very easy to read—which isn’t always important to me, but is definitely a priority for my everyday watch. I find it a bit amusing that, because of the slight curvature of the sapphire crystal, the black track often looks blue, which is why I quite often wear the watch with a navy-blue leather strap.

I thought long and hard about which color to choose; deciding between black and white was especially difficult for me because both look so good. But I would have preferred an all-blue dial—I’m just not a fan of that transition to the black edges, no matter what color it is. In reality, this is much less noticeable than in the renderings on the DUG website, but an all-blue dial would have made my decision even easier. That’s mainly because I already have a very similar white watch—the Nomos Neomatik 39—and only one blue watch, which is too big for me and which I’ll likely have to sell at some point.

The DUG Purist is a strap monster

In general, this watch is truly a “strap monster”—that is, a watch that looks great and, above all, fits well on both a steel bracelet and almost any type of leather, fabric, Alcantara, or rubber watch strap. I usually wear my Purist with a light brown suede strap, but also with a classic black calfskin strap, occasionally with navy blue nubuck leather, and when I go swimming or want a slightly sportier and more rugged look, either on the steel bracelet or a black rubber strap. Take a look for yourself in the gallery—there’s hardly a combination that doesn’t look great.

Of course, it’s simply a characteristic of white or light-colored watches that they look good with almost any strap, but with the DUG Purist, the six examples show just how sporty and classic it can be at the same time. If you go with the blue or red version, green wouldn’t look quite as good, of course, but an ice-blue or burgundy strap might be a better fit.

Bracelet of the DUG Purist

I really like the steel bracelet, which you can get for an additional 100 euros—with one caveat. The bracelet is essentially modeled after the Patek Philippe Nautilus, and I like the small polished “bubbles.” I just don’t quite understand why the bubbles are polished while the rest of the bracelet is brushed. In principle, it looks very good, but this means the brushed end sits right against the polished case. I’m not entirely sure if it would look better the other way around, but it did catch my eye. The bracelet also features a three-position micro-adjustment mechanism—which, thankfully, is becoming more and more standard these days—allowing you to adjust the size of the steel bracelet if your wrist gets a little thicker or thinner throughout the day. This is especially handy right now in the fall, when you’re constantly switching between warm and cold temperatures. The quick-release system is also very practical, since I often switch between leather and steel straps. My only criticism of the bracelet is the clasp itself. It’s quite large and sounds rather tinny, making it seem less high-quality than the rest of the watch and the bracelet. I’d like to see something better in the future, even if it makes the bracelet more expensive. Either a butterfly clasp or a small folding clasp. Because of its size and material, it really doesn’t measure up to the rest of the watch, and especially when I’m using my laptop, it keeps scraping against the table, which is why I actually always have a leather strap on it.

Case of the DUG Purist

But enough about the design—I really like it—but what about build quality, how accurate is the watch, and what can you actually do with it? I bought this watch as a Gada (go everywhere, do anything) or simply as an everyday watch. So it needs to be sturdy, not too heavy, but still make a statement. And that’s exactly what the Purist is for my wrist. Personally, 40 mm is actually a bit too big for me, and a lug-to-lug width of over 47 mm is as well. That’s one reason why I didn’t order the watch online—I wanted to try it on in Prague first. But thanks to the curved lugs, the watch sits perfectly on my 16.5-cm wrist and feels just like my Omega CK859, which, at 39 mm and 46.2 mm, is my personal benchmark for the perfect size of watches that I mainly want to wear on a leather strap. But the Omega is slightly straighter, which is why the Purist fits just as well. I would have liked to check out the new 37mm version of the Purist as well, but it wasn’t released until a few months later.

The case feels really high-quality, and I especially like the combination of the polished top and bezel with the brushed sides. And even though I’ve been wearing the watch for almost half a year now—and have had it on constantly while hiking, swimming, working on my laptop, partying at clubs, and hanging out in various bars and cafés—it still looks brand new. On the back, of course, I’ve already scratched it up a bit from all the strap changes and my two left hands, but that just goes to show how well the case is made. There are no scratches on top, and the scratches on the bottom just look like those on a watch that’s been used. That’s exactly how I picture it. The sapphire crystal doesn’t even have a single micro-scratch, but I expected nothing less. Modern sapphire crystals are truly robust, and the Purist is no different from other microbrand watches in that regard.

Movement of the DUG Purist

Let’s start with the visible parts. The Purist’s movement is truly a sight to behold, and thanks to the sapphire crystal case back, it can be admired even when the watch isn’t ticking away on your wrist. The highlight is, of course, the gold-plated rotor of the automatic movement, but the Glashütte perlage also looks absolutely stunning. Of course, the movement isn’t as ornate as a Nomos or an Omega, but you can see the attention to detail from the German watch manufacturer Glashütte. And the perlage is actually done by hand, whereas most manufacturers do it with machines. The blue screws, the very well-chosen mix of gold and silver gears, and the guilloché pattern really do go well together. I also like that the movement is simply a good, solid movement and doesn’t try to pretend to be anything more than that. There are so many movements these days that are really just solid, reliable movements, but use decoration to pretend they’re high-end luxury. DUG avoids too many frills and only decorates parts that actually serve a function—and I much prefer that to having additional parts in my movement that are pretty but rather pointless.

The movement itself is a Sellita SW 200 with a 40-hour power reserve. Nothing special, but a very reliable and easy-to-maintain movement—and, above all, not as annoyingly loud as many Miyota 9039 movements found in so many cheaper microbrand watches. The watch runs really well for me—I can hardly detect any deviation. But since I switch watches quite often and rarely wear one for several days in a row, accuracy isn’t that important to me as long as it shows roughly the right minute, and I haven’t had any problems with that at all with the Purist.

I really think it’s important how a movement feels when setting the time. It shouldn’t be too easy—I think a little resistance is very important—but of course, setting the watch shouldn’t require a workout either. And the Purist strikes a very nice balance there: not too easy and not too hard. Since I chose the version without a date, I can’t comment on that, but I find it reassuring to know that the movement doesn’t have a “ghost dial”—that is, an unused date disc—one less thing that can break. The crown is slightly larger than usual, which fits the design perfectly and also makes it a bit easier to pull out. I sometimes struggle with some of my watch crowns because my fingernails are always very short, but that’s not a problem for the Purist. The crown’s design reminds me a bit of the Big-Crown series from Oris, which I also really like.

Lume and water resistance of the DUG Purist

I’m not a Lume fanatic, and it wasn’t until I saw it on Reddit that I even realised such things existed. As long as the watch is still somewhat legible at dusk, I’m fine with it. The Purist uses Swiss Super-LumiNova® BG W9, which has a white daytime color and a blue-green afterglow. It looks really nice, but I have to say that almost all of my watches glow longer than the DUG. I asked around, and the luminous material used in the Purist is the “best standard Super-LumiNova.” I wonder if my Purist is just a little behind in that regard, or why even my Seiko glows significantly longer in the evening. But it’s not really that important to me, and the color itself is truly beautiful—it just fades a bit too quickly.

The Purist is rated at 100m water resistance, which was important to me for a watch I want to wear just about everywhere. Unfortunately, the crown isn’t screw-down. I asked around a bit, did some reading, and didn’t expect there to be so many different opinions on this. If I understand correctly, whether the crown is screw-down or not contributes little to no water resistance. A screw-down crown simply stays screwed down underwater, and a non-screw-down crown itself doesn’t pose a risk of water entering the case—the risk only arises if you accidentally pull the crown out while underwater. If I’m just jumping into a lake in the summer, I don’t worry much and don’t think the crown on my DUG could come loose somehow; but when snorkelling or swimming competitively, I’d be a bit more concerned. Basically, I would have preferred the crown to be screw-down, if only to put my mind at ease.

Conclusion on the DUG Purist

I really like this watch and don’t think it’ll be leaving my collection—or my wrist—anytime soon. In November, I’ll try out the 37mm version, and if it feels much better, I might switch from 40 to 37—but since the 40mm feels so good, I don’t even think that’ll happen. I simply love the design, the quality, and the versatility of the Purist so much. For me, it works just as well with a T-shirt and shorts as it does with a hipster look or a shirt and jacket. The watch is comfortable; it makes a statement, yet it’s also understated and not overpowering—even though it’s actually larger than almost all the other watches I wear.

In my opinion, the German watch manufacturer Glashütte has brought a great watch to the market with the Purist, one that fills a gap in the German watch landscape. Somewhere between Junghans and Nomos, there’s now another truly high-quality watch that, while it costs a fair bit, is still quite reasonable by comparison and should be affordable for many. In return, you get the best of German craftsmanship and a Swiss movement in a design that I personally love. And that’s why I’m currently wearing this watch more than any other.

That’s been my 2 cents on the watch. if you are interested what other think about the watch, I recommend the Spiegel-Interview with the DUG founder Toni (german), the reviews from Fratello, Ablogtowatch and Monochrome Watches.