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Swatch Group, and Tissot specifically, are known for their development of a movement called the Powermatic 80. Like the Tissot PRX Powermatic 80, this movement is so named because it has a whopping 80-hour power reserve.

Tissot has been a cornerstone of the watch scene for decades. The brand, which is owned by the Swatch Group, is famous for no-nonsense, affordable watches which are reliably built and are in more cases than not an ideal first watch for a lot of people. However, outside of a few key models, I would not say that they have ever been a true watch nerds brand. Whilst the brand is of course appreciated by watch geeks, they have never released stuff that I feel speaks to the true nerd community. But this week this all changed.

The watch that they released is an absolute cracker. Previously it was only released in a quartz version, which despite not being as appealing as an automatic one could argue is significantly more in keeping with the 80’s style design language. But this week, Tissot answered the prayers of well, me and I assume many other watch nerds, by releasing an automatic. This is not only a momentous occasion because of the sheer fact that it is automatic because the automatic that in question is also important. Swatch Group, and Tissot specifically, are known for their development of a movement called the Powermatic 80. This movement is so named because it has a whopping 80-hour power reserve… That is 3.3 days of sitting on your bedside table without needing winding. Now in the grand scheme of movement technological advancements, this is nothing overly earth-shattering, but the price points at which these amazing movements are being offered certainly is… we will come onto the price later but the value for money considering the movement alone is staggering.

Now, I fully anticipate that a lot of you out there will dismiss this watch straight away because it bears a striking resemblance to a certain few designs by a very famous watchmaker, which let’s be honest has been milked to within an inch of its life recently. And whilst I can see where you are coming from, it is actually interesting to note that this watch is not modeled on the Royal Oak or the Nautilus. If there is going to be the argument that it is a derivative design I would actually argue that it bears more of a striking resemblance to the Vacheron Constantin 222. Despite that I am seeing it through rose-tinted spectacles, so I frankly don’t particularly care whether it is a derivative design or not. And there are a few reasons for this.

The Tissot PRX Powermatic 80

The first of which is that this design is actually based on watches from Tissot’s own back catalogue from the 1970s. Of course, there is a chance that the design of it in the ’70s could have been based on Gerald’s napkin sketch, but the silver lining here is that this is not a Lange & Sohne Odysseus scenario… (another watch which I ADORE by the way).

The second, and most crucial thing to consider here is the price point… Below is a selection of the derivative ‘integrated steel sports watch’ offerings that are a) currently on the market and b) harkening back to the Royal Oak and Nautilus.



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