Introduction to Tissot Heritage Watches
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.
A total of thirty one watches currently make up the Tissot Heritage arsenal. These are often extremely different yet all have one key thing in common. Namely, they are informed by the long, rich history of this iconic Swiss watchmaker. For those who own a Tissot Heritage, they own a piece of watchmaking history.
Tissot has a rich and legendary story, starting in the Swiss Jura Mountains, the centre of Swiss watchmaking: in 1853, Charles-Félicien Tissot and his son Charles-Émile united forces to make up Tissot in the tiny town of Le Locle, where the brand remains based to this day. These days Tissot is a company of the Swatch Group, the world’s biggest Swiss watch producer and distributor.
From 1853, the beauty and accuracy of Tissot watches won a variety of awards. Tissot has always been looking for creativity, whether in the technical area or its designs, to birth models which play a central role in horological history, remaining true to its philosophy.
Tissot Heritage Highlights
Perhaps the defining watch in this collection is the Tissot 1973, a shaped chronograph with an oval cushion and domed lines in its three dimensions. With a crystal that is glass box cut in sapphire, its second and chronograph hands are fiery orange. The hour and minute hands are both batons ending in a white tip whilst the dial is silvered with black counters and tachymetric dial edge, for a stylised effect. The overstitched black calfskin strap is a reproduction of the one Tissot had invented and patented in the 1960s, characterised by its large perforation, meaning this watch is big on detail. All in all, the 1973 alludes to pilots’ steering wheels of the time.
Then there’s the Tissot Heritage Porto Mechanical, a true heritage watch inspired by a watch from the 1910s that can best be defined as a tonneau shaped gem. This timepiece, with a special shape case resembling a barrel, is named after the beautiful northern Portuguese city that was declared European Capital of Culture in 2001. What truly separates the watch from others is the attention to detail, with alligator strap and Arabic indexes combining with an exclusively retro version of the Tissot logo to create a truly unique timepiece that defines the Heritage family.
