[Review] The Tissot PRX Chronograph

It’s the late 1970s and integrated bracelet sports watches are all the rage. Everywhere you look, BOOM, a bracelet and case that flow so fluidly into each other that you couldn’t imagine a watch any other way. If your watch wasn’t designed by Genta himself, then it certainly drew inspiration from one of his watches. Heck, it was practically a requirement of a watch made in the 1970s to feature an integrated bracelet. In my (admittedly warped and inaccurate) view of the past, you were either rocking a svelte steel sports watch with an oversized suit with wide lapels, or leading some sort of off shore expedition wearing a Doxa or funky Omega. Of course, none of this is true and there were tons of different watches worn throughout the 70s with a healthy mix of watches from the then-recent past. There’s no denying the popularity of the integrated bracelet sports watch, and most brands at the time had something that fit the bill. 

One such watch was the original PRX from Tissot. PRX stood for Precise, Robust, and Ten (X in roman numerals) for the 10 atmospheres of water resistance. Their popular release from the late 1970’s has been reworked for the modern era, inspiring a new line of quartz, automatic, and automatic chronograph options. They’re shockingly affordable for what they offer, and represent a great value and starting point in the world of Swiss-made watches. Today, we’re taking a much closer look at the PRX Automatic Chronograph — a 42mm steel watch in a tonneau style case that features a Valjoux A05.H31 automatic chronograph movement.

Case

Let’s get the hard part out of the way first — this is not a small watch, and it’s not a thin watch. That may be hard to grasp in 2022, when watches are trending down in size (thankfully) and manufacturers are settling in at much more reasonable diameters and thicknesses than many of the watches of the recent past. The stainless steel case of the PRX Chrono measures in at 41mm wide, by 41.5mm lug to lug (tricky measurement when the bracelet is integrated) and a beefy 14.5mm thick. The measurement that affects the watch the most has to be the thickness, which is dictated primarily by the automatic chronograph movement inside. To accommodate such a movement, there’s just no way around having a thick case. It’s a little disappointing to me, since the PRX lineup is known for being so slim and sleek. For example, the quartz and Powermatic 80 versions measure in at a scant 10.4mm and 10.9mm, respectively.  The PRX Chronograph ends up wearing tall on the wrist and feels a bit top heavy. Let’s look at the watch from the side, it helps paint a better picture of how the watch wears. 

Starting from the top, there’s a thin sliver of crystal visible, supported by a tall polished bezel. The bezel transitions into the case by way of a polished bevel. Even with the bevel, the brushed sides are still pretty slabby. The caseback sticks out underneath the watch by a fair amount as well. Again, I’m not trying to beat a dead horse here, but the thickness of the watch isn’t broken up in a way that makes it feel any thinner. The mid case transitions into the lugs with an angular slope down, and there’s a small break where the case ends and the bracelet begins. From some angles, the watch looks just fantastic, and that’s in no small part thanks to the finishing on the case. The polished surfaces are bright and reflective, while the grain of the brushing gives the perfect amount of contrast. 

The case geometry is interesting, and I found myself just staring at the watch, performing wrist rolls only for myself without filming for the ‘gram. The tonneau (fancy speak for barrel) shaped case gives the watch some added visual intrigue. On the right side of the case, you’ll find two rectangular pushers, which I am a big fan of. When the case design calls for it, I’m a sucker for rectangular pushers. Resting in between the pushers is the crown, which features sharp polished edges that both look and feel great. One of the most fun features of the watch is the quick set date button on the left side of the case. In order to jump the date, you have to pull out the crown and then push the small button on the left and the date will jump day to day. It’s a bit more interactive than just pulling the crown out to another position and I enjoyed the experience.

Dial + Hands

Tissot’s approach to dial design is straightforward, resulting in a legible dial with tasteful finishing. The dial features three chronograph subdials at 3, 6, and 9. The dial at 3 tracks up to 30 minutes, the dial at 6 ticks up to 12 hours, and the dial residing at 9 is for the running seconds. A central seconds chronograph hand takes care of timing seconds. One thing you won’t see on the Tissot PRX Chronograph is a tachymeter scale. Even though I feel like its a necessity on a Speedmaster or Daytona, I don’t miss the scale here. If I’m being honest, the only times I’ve attempted to use it on my Speedy have been utter failures due to the data needed to make the thing work. Anyway, back to the Tissot — the scales tracked are definitely useful in the average person’s day. The sub dials on the blue model are easy to read and both feature hash marks that stick out just enough to be legible without ever getting cluttered. I found that the white dialed version’s sub dials are a bit tricky to read sometimes. The polished gold hands just don’t provide enough contrast to be quickly legible at a glance. One of my favorite details on the entire watch is the grooved rings surrounding the sub dials and main dial. They add a level of finish that makes the entire watch look more high end. This effect is more prominent on the blue dial, since the grooved rings are rendered in silver (versus the black seen on the white dial).

To tell the actual time, you’ll be reading off of a nicely-designed hour and minute hand. I really like the shape and finishing technique applied to the hands. The edges have cuts in either side, softening the appearance of the end of the hand, but still contributing to the angular look and feel of the watch. In the center of the hand, a small grooved channel helps to break up the polished surface, making them more legible too. 

The base of the dial is rendered in either white or blue with a subtle grained texture that can look different depending on the angle at which you hold the watch. Sometimes it’s low key, and when the light hits just right, it really stands out. Out of the two colors available, I tend to gravitate towards the blue dial. The silver accents really pop and the shade of blue that Tissot chose hits that “just right” territory for me — where it’s colorful enough to be interesting, but not so much so that it’s over the top. 

Other notable features include the 4:30 date window (which I happen to like, fight me in the comments), and thin applied indices marking each hour. The indices and hands are hit with a sliver of lume which to be honest, leave you with a pretty lackluster experience. I charged it up in both daylight and with a UV flashlight and it doesn’t last particularly long or glow that bright. The PRX Chronograph sits in a place in between sporty and dressy, so it’s not too surprising that lume isn’t one of the focal points. Text on the dial is kept to a minimum, with the Tissot wordmark at 12, and their founding year (1853) right underneath. You’ll also find “Swiss Made” surrounding the six o’clock index. 

Movement

The A05 H31 is based on the classic automatic chronograph 7753 movement from Valjoux. These movements are made specially for a few brands in the Swatch Group, and feature some nice conveniences over the base movement. The 7753 is the 3-6-9 version of the 7750, which is arranged in a 6-9-12 configuration. There are also some notable changes in the A05 H31 version, and the most notable is the increased power reserve. When fully wound, you can expect the watch to tick for up to an impressive 60 hours. The movement features 27 jewels, the ability to hand wind, hacking seconds, and a quick set date button that’s accessible on the left side of the case. This Swiss-made movement is crafted by ETA, and should be reliable and serviceable for years to come.

Strap + Wearability

One of the most talked about features of the PRX lineup is the integrated stainless steel bracelet. The tonneau case transitions seamlessly into the bracelet, which is made up of many slim, single piece links. They’re brushed on the broad surface, but feature polishing in between. The mixed finishing techniques and sheer number of links on the bracelet results in a heck of a wrist roll. Light simply dances off the bracelet, reflecting off the brushed and polished surfaces in a beautiful way. It gives the watch an air of class and definitely helps it look like something that could cost quite a bit more. Strap options are pretty limited, given the way that the bracelet integrates into the case. Tissot recently started offering a leather strap with the quartz model, but the bracelet looks so good that I’m not sure I’d even bother trying to find a strap for the watch. 

On the wrist, the bracelet is very comfortable to wear, and that’s thanks to the articulation of the bracelet, extreme taper from lug to clasp, and the clasp itself. The more links a bracelet has, the more it can bend and flex with your wrist. With a tapered bracelet, you have less metal in contact with the underside of your wrist — the spot that spends most of its time resting against a desk. Tissot employed a butterfly-style folding clasp that’s quite low-profile. It doesn’t allow for any micro-adjustment of the bracelet, but there are included half links to dial in your fit.

While the bracelet was a pleasure to look at and was comfortable on my 6.75” wrist, the watch itself told a slightly different story. Between the heavy automatic chronograph movement inside, the distribution of case elements, and overall thickness of the watch, I found it feeling just a bit too big. Even though the measurements imply that it might wear small (the conservative lug-to-lug measurement), it did feel like a big watch with a lot of presence on my wrist. It wears tall and the center of gravity was pretty high up.  Keep in mind, this is coming from someone who has a Seiko SNJ029 in their personal collection, which is by no means a small watch.

Conclusions

So, who’s the PRX Chronograph for? I imagine it’s for someone who wants a watch with great finishing, finds the automatic chronograph movement fascinating, but doesn’t want to spend a ton of money. At $1750, the PRX fits that bill. It’s handsome, sporty, and can hold its own in slightly dressier situations, despite its inability to slip seamlessly under a cuff. The PRX came onto the scene with a nice amount of buzz, and you hear it being named as a great starter Swiss watch frequently across the forums, and for good reason. I was surprised by the level of finishing on both the case and dial, but put off by the thickness and balance.

If I were on the design team at Tissot, I would propose a version of the PRX Chronograph with a mecha quartz movement. The PRX line already has a svelte quartz three hander, and I think a thinner version of this chronograph would be a hit. It would cost quite a bit less too, making it an even more compelling option. Back to reality though, the one where I don’t work at Tissot. The PRX Chronograph is not a bad watch by any means. In fact, it’s pretty great. There’s a lot to like, and if you don’t mind a little bit of extra thickness and prefer a hefty watch, there’s a ton to like. 

Let us know your thoughts on the PRX Chronograph in the comments below. Tissot.