By James Henderson
With the 17th Asian Games on the horizon, Tissot has announced several commemorative watches to help celebrate the event.
The Luxury Automatic will be offered in a sort of carbon fiber style black dial with bracelet. The case is 316L stainless steel and the movement is Tissot’s New Powermatic 80 automatic movement.
Tissot POWERMATIC 80 GENTS
The different limited edition Tissot 17th Asian Games Incheon watches:
- Tissot T-TOUCH II ASIAN GAMES 2014 ref. T047.420.47.207.02 $1,100
- Tissot POWERMATIC 80 LUXURY AUTOMATIC ASIAN GAMES 2014 GENT ref. T086.407.11.201.00, T086.407.11.201.01 $975
- Tissot POWERMATIC 80 LUXURY AUTOMATIC ASIAN GAMES 2014 LADY ref. T086.207.11.111.01 $975
- Tissot PR 100 ASIAN GAMES 2014 AUTOMATIC GENT ref. T049.407.11.067.00 $575
- Tissot PR 100 ASIAN GAMES 2014 AUTOMATIC LADY ref. T049.307.11.037.01 $575
- Tissot T-RACE TOUCH ASIAN GAMES 2014 ref. T081.420.17.057.03 $575
- Tissot PRC 200 ASIAN GAMES 2014 QUARTZ GENT ref. T055.417.11.057.01 $575
- Tissot PRC 200 ASIAN GAMES 2014 QUARTZ LADY ref. T055.217.11.032.00 $575
Tissot POWERMATIC 80 LADY
Each version is “limited” to 2014. You’ll see what I’m driving at in a few moments.
Tissot PR 100 LADY
Next up on the “starting block” is the Tissot PR 100 Automatic Asian Games. The dial is actually quite pleasing to look at – white with red indices. The movement is self-winding, the case again is 316L stainless steel with a bracelet to match, and it is water resistant to 100 meters or 330 feet.
One item that I find more than a bit confusing is the case back. It is beautiful to look at, but is described by the folks at Tissot as a “silk printed glass caseback”, which is also referred to as having the logo “engraved on the caseback”. Now I am by no means an engineer, but I feel pretty confident about a few things –
1. Engraving a sapphire crystal case back is probably not the best idea when trying to ensure durability, which I think is why you generally don’t see it ; )
2. “Silk printing” I can only assume refers to a type of silk screening. Underscoring my doubt that the sapphire case back has been engraved.
Tissot PR 100 GENTS
This is referred to by Tissot as a “Special Edition”. And what is a sporting event without a chronograph?
Tissot PRC 200 GENTS
Tissot is offering the TISSOT PRC 200 CHRONO QUARTZ ASIAN GAMES SPECIAL EDITION. I can only assume that this watch is so “special” that Tissot just didn’t want to limit how many thousands it would churn out.
It is a smart, sporty chronograph with date. Water resistant to 200 meters or 660 feet.
Now the interesting aspect of this one is that apparently the case back is “either” an engraved, OR silk printed glass case back…
T-RACE TOUCH
But to ensure that “no watch gets left behind” Tissot also threw two T-Touch models into the mix! REALLY? I started writing this with the idea that there would be one or two special pieces, and the deeper I waded into the press release, the more it became clear to me that Tissot essentially took 8 different watch models and slapped special logos on the back. How special is that really?
T-TOUCH II
Here’s the thing, Tissot is a big company that sells A LOT of watches around the world every day, and I have no doubt that to a large extent they know what they’re doing.
Tissot PRC 200 LADY
Having said that, to my way of thinking a special edition is just that – special. Ideally, a brand would not throw the entire collection at the public with a “special” logo on the case back and call it done.
Tissot did offer us some REALLY cool limited and special editions in the past – who else remembers the Tissot Navigator that displayed the various Portuguese colonies with a world-timer function? That was cool, that was the “shit that killed Elvis”. Let’s hope some of that imagination might be recaptured.
James Henderson – Contributing Editor
Known to many in the industry as their “nagging conscience”, James Henderson writes the Tempus Fugit Blog. Prior to writing about watches he worked for DOXA Watches for three years and currently works with several brands on marketing and communication projects. Having taught English in Japan, Portugal, Finland and Scotland, James now calls Santa Barbara, California home. Read his articles here.
