About Tissot

Leaders at the forefront of watchmaking design innovation, with years of experience to their name - Tissot, were established in 1853 by Charles-Emile Tissot. The brand are committed to combining the core values of performance, precision and setting new standards, each timepiece is a work of art, intricately designed to be both contemporary and traditional.

Highlights

History of Tissot

From humble beginnings, Charles-Emile Tissot travelled the world to sell his watches. In 1858 his business grew with overwhelming popularity, following his sales of savonette pocket watches for the Czar of the Russian Empire and his officers – today, this design continues to be manufactured, with the addition of new technology and features, Tissot’s T-Pocket Watches remain a firm favourite across the globe. To keep up with the demand for his timepieces, Charles expanded his business through new workshops to aid his manufacturing process.

In 1930 following the Great Depression, Charles and Paul Tissot signed a sales and manufacturing agreement with the Brandt brothers, founders of Omega in Bienne. The collaboration proceeded to form the Société Suisse pour l’Industrie Horlogère (SSIH) holding which later became part of the Swatch Group in 1998. The years that followed saw Tissot revolutionising the watchmaking world - the addition of the first anti-magnetic watch produced in 1930 was just the first of their innovations. But in 1971 the Tissot IDEA known as Astrolon, was the definitive product which really set the world alight – the world’s first timepiece with a plastic mechanical movement and case, was a ground-breaking concept at the time that would inspire what is now known as the Swatch Watch, a decade later.

The brand’s most definitive collections the ‘Tissot T-Collection’ and the ‘Tissot T-Touch’ were both radical in their designs and functionality in the 1990’s. The T-Collection was primarily designed by women for women in 1998, later expanding to a full range of models for both genders and each adorned with the iconic ‘T’ of the Tissot logo. However the ‘T-Touch’ collection took the world by storm in the late 90’s featuring pioneering and futuristic concepts - the first touch-screen technology watch allowed the wearer to access instrumental information, such as that from a compass, altimeter and barometer to name a few, from the simple swipe of your fingertips across the glass. The design, favoured by divers, navigators and mountaineers, saw the release of the Tissot Sailing-Touch, Tissot Sea-Touch and Tissot T-Touch Expert.

Collections

Remaining closely linked to sport, Tissot is an official timekeeper for several sporting events – the current partners with NASCAR and timekeepers for the world championships of cycling, motorcycling, fencing and ice hockey, the brand has also been an official sponsor for the Formula One teams Lotus, Renault and Sauber. Releasing multiple commemorative and special edition watches for these events, the brand continue to channel their passion for sport and use it as a key design aesthetic throughout many of their luxury timepiece collections. Most prominently Tissot’s Quickster assortment of watches exudes contemporary confidence incorporated with intricate design functions that are synonymous with sporting watches.

Tissot has continued its ceaseless quest to expand across the five continents for nearly two decades, currently their brand is distributed in more than 160 countries worldwide. In order to commemorate their 160^th anniversary, the brand presented the Tissot Heritage Navigator watch – designed to keep track of time in an incredible 24 different cities across the globe, and inspired by the famous Navigator model created for Tissot’s centenary, the watch is coined as ‘the ultimate traveller’s watch’ that perfectly encapsulates vintage class for the modern business man.

Offering an extensive selection of watches to meet diverse functional needs and tastes, all while meeting strict quality criteria, their meticulous flair for design is present across all of their collections. From the contemporary and current concepts of the Touch and Trend assortments, to the robust and technical intricacies of their T-Sport and Special collections – each timepiece is a work of art that reflects the timeline of rich history, traditional values and thirst for innovation that is synonymous with the Tissot brand name.