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Watch brands will, from time to time, revive an old design from its past line-up and update it a bit for the modern day. With Tissot turning 160 in 2013 the brand plans to do just that by releasing the Heritage Navigator, an update to the original 1953 Navigator world time watch.
If you were to put the two watches side by side you would almost wonder if it was a one-to-one recreation, but not quite. The new Heritage Navigator first receives an update in size from 36mm to 43mm, quite a difference over the original but a somewhat common size today. The dial is nearly identical as Tissot only made modifications to a couple of cities to bring them to a more modern list. The hands, markers and bezel however pay homage to the original watch by sharing the same style.
The idea of the design of the watch is to allow you to glance at your watch and see what time it is around the globe. This is done by first setting the watch to your home timezone where you then use the hands and the 12 hour markings on the bezel. To read the time in one of the cities you check the inner ring and use the 24 hour marks around the inner bezel and the city of your choice. The COSC-certified ETA 2893 powers the watch and rotates the cities dial to keep them in time. The disc even has an international date line marker so you know which side of it your chosen city resides.
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- vintage Worldtimer image courtesy of watchestobuy.com
An interesting note of difference is in the pusher at 2 o’clock on the original Navigator which is missing in the updated version. Depressing the button would turn the inner dial allowing one to set the country they were currently in. A handy feature replaced instead by the updated ETA movement.
The Heritage Navigator is a very handsome watch that would be a perfect fit for a traveler or international businessman. The watch is expected to be available later this year; no pricing is available at the time of this post.
On the heels of the Heritage Navigator announcement Tissot also brought out the new Tissot Powermatic 80. The Powermatic 80 watches are part of their Luxury line and contain inside the new Tissot CO7 T-Tech automatic movement. The new movement is built upon the tried and true ETA 2824 Swiss made movement with some very interesting modifications. They first were able to save energy within the movement by reducing the frequencies of oscillations from 4Hz to 3Hz. They then reduced the diameter of the barrel-abor’s core to lengthen the mainspring further and used high-performance synthetic material to create the escapement to reduce friction within the movement. All this adds up to significant modifications and an end power reserve of an impressive 80 hours. Additionally the movement will be available in COSC-certified editions as well as non-COSC in both the men’s and women’s models.
The men’s Luxury watch line have a case diameter of 41mm and have some very interesting weave-like patterns on the sides of the case. The watch will have several dial styles and colors and come on stainless steel bracelet or leather strap. There is also the Carson line, with a 40mm case and various dial styles that will be a more budget minded series. In a more dress watch fashion the Luxury line has a 50M water resistance while the Carson has 30M. There are models for both the gents and ladies with the Powermatic 80 movement. Expect a price tag starting at $595 for Carson models, $850 for the Luxury series, and just over $1,000 for the COSC-certified models; a heck of a street price for a COSC-certified movement.
Two new watches for 2013 for Tissot: one rebirth of a classic and the other the release of a new Tissot movement. So far 2013 is looking like a good year for Tissot and watch lovers as well.
