It's called decade daydreaming, and we've all done it. Living in the present but hankering after the past, even if we never actually lived through those times. Especially if we never actually lived through those times. Whether it's the '50s, '60s or '70s—'80s if you're Gen Z and younger—the pre-social media era is somehow even more inspiring to us these days than the future, particularly in areas such as music, style, and design, where they're most certainly no longer made like they were used to.
That is, with the exception of the luxury timepiece industry, which in addition to being unabashedly soft on historical nostalgia, is also wilfully resistant to change. But even in this esteemed realm, few makers have achieved the holy triumvirate of good looks, good quality and, most elusively, good value as naturally as Tissot, specifically with its up-and-coming PRX collection.
Anatomically, the PRX was destined for success. Its winning combination of a stainless steel case with matching integrated metal bracelet puts it smack in the middle of one of the hottest luxury watch trends du jour: the luxury sports watch. Originating in the 1970s, such watches embodied the modern affluent lifestyle which places luxury at the service of utility. Today, they have come to symbolise a distinctive urban spirit shaped by a beautiful chapter in contemporary watchmaking, and even though it was launched only last year, the Tissot PRX gets everything right.
From the tonneau-shaped case with a round dial and those faceted indexes and hands, to the relatively slim profile and elegant, tapered mono-link bracelet which must not have been easy to manufacture, but finds every contour of the wrist like it was made of water.
By all accounts it’s a remarkable timepiece. Both versions. The PRX Powermatic 80, which runs on the manufacture movement with 80-hour power reserve, as well as the standard PRX with a quartz movement. Because each model comes lavished with enough fine watchmaking details to rival the average haute horlogerie equivalent.
The mechanical variation has this handsomely embossed waffle dial while the quartz model offers either a sunburst finish or vertically-brushed dial that’s equal parts style and sophistication. There are alternating brushed and polished surfaces all over the watch, from case to bezel to bracelet, edges are all neatly bevelled, scratch-resistant sapphire crystal, and indexes applied as opposed to printed.
With such technically sophisticated features, it’s no wonder the Tissot PRX was an instant hit, at first among the watch savvy crowd and then swiftly after, the style savvy audience. The former caved in to the PRX easily enough, given the collection’s irresistible price-to-quality ratio, but the latter came on board for completely different motivations. The PRX’s wide range of trendy colours such as forest green and ice blue made it a modern wardrobe essential, plus the cool late-70s throwback appealed deeply to the decade daydreamers infatuated with the idea of inheriting one’s grandfather’s watch.
While not all of us may be blessed with a solid gold timepiece through familial connections, one could acquire a gold tone Tissot PRX easily enough. Priced affordably at $950 for the mechanical model and just $510 for the 35mm quartz model, which is a 2022 novelty and debuts a new interchangeable bracelet, the Tissot PRX has found its way to all wrists, male and female, young and old. Finally. Something boomers and zoomers can both agree on.
This article first appeared in the September 2022 issue of Esquire Singapore.
