Tissot has a famous and legendary history, beginning in the Swiss Jura Mountains, the heart of Swiss watchmaking: in 1853, Charles-Félicien Tissot and his son Charles-Émile joined forces to start up Tissot in the little village of Le Locle, where the brand remains to this very day. Nowadays Tissot is a company of the Swatch Group, the world’s biggest Swiss watch producer and distributor.
Starting way back in 1853, the aesthetics and precision of Tissot watches won a range of awards. Tissot has forever been searching for ingenuity, either in the mechanical area or in its styles, to create models which have a key role in timekeeping history, staying true to its roots.
At the time when Tissot was made, there was no such thing as logos in Switzerland. The initial Swiss law helping to stop commercial theft was introduced back in 1880. That is when the first ever Tissot logo was brought in. It then experienced numerous changes, following the evolution of the brand and accompanying its worldwide growth. The modern logo, along with the slogan, was registered in 1999.
The initial marketing advertisements made by Tissot were shown in picturehouses in the 1940s. The variety of Tissot markets and audiences meant that, even at that time, films were created in several versions, first with voice-overs in French and German. It should be noted that there is a huge wall separating the evolution of fashion and the families that Tissot has been making for women since 1853. Certainly, things are not simply reflecting ongoing trends being shown love in the design of Tissot ladies watches through time, but it is rather the way in which watches can be worn that is representative of all spells and of the changing of the globe.
Clearly, this is a show of how Tissot once again moulds the history of fine horology and makes sure that style remains in harmony with trends. In the 19th century, Tissot made pocket watches for men and pendant-watches for women, a strange separation at the time.
It does not need to be said that the Swiss Made tag is one of the brand’s key values along with tradition, precision and innovation. It is therefore not in the least bit surprising that Tissot supports and promotes initiatives that share its ideas. Tissot has been in the Swiss Alpine tourism and Switzerland’s mountain scenery for multiple years and in various partnerships. It works with the Swiss Alpine Club (SAC), with whom it has an allegiance to tradition, as well as the always innovative Jungfrau railways.
Tissot itself helped launch this pursuit of innovation by adding to the First Cliff Walk by Tissot, in Grindelwald. The company has an equally creative presence on Glacier 3000, where Tissot has put its brand name to the globe’s first suspension bridge that join two summits: Peak Walk by Tissot. By the 1940s and 1950s, the advertising and showing off of a wide variety of models for plenty of styles, ages and occasions made Tissot speak especially to the ‘woman of today’. Tissot slowly gained international recognition and then in 1947, world famous opera singer Carmen Miranda went for a luxurious Tissot jewel watch set with a stunning aquamarine and diamonds look.
Tissot continued to give small and precious watches, many in gold and diamond or boasting faceted crystal, in addition to water-resistant and automatic sports models. At the turn of the 1970s, specific styles for the young were added to the Tissot catalogue. The look of Tissot collections bore witness to the inspiration of fashion, with colorful and stunning looks. In addition, always on the search for the newest trends, Tissot worked together with international designers – like Pekka Piekäinen, who made the Tissot Design watch.
