This chronograph by Tissot is part of the Chemin des Tourelles series of very classical watches, which includes a wide range of variants for men and women. While the men’s three-hand watches start at about €760, this chronograph is attractively priced at €1,130. The name of the series, Chemin des Tourelles, comes from the company’s address in Le Locle.
The watch has a 44 mm case in 316L stainless steel with rose gold PVD coating, basically steel that is first coated with a thin layer of titanium nitride, and then with either rose gold or another rose-gold-coloured metal alloy. The final layer is very thin, no more than 0.3 microns, and so after a few decades, even without any particular trauma, the watch will begin to show wear in places such as the lug tips. Water resistance is 5 bar, 50 metres.
The silver dial has three subdials for 30 chronograph minutes at the top, 6 chronograph hours at the bottom and continuous seconds on the left; the scale for chronograph seconds is inside the clou de Paris ring with the Roman numerals, and so timing an event in fractions of seconds requires estimation. The design of the dial, with the three subdials closely grouped at the centre, reflects the geometry of the movement; the result is well-balanced. The wide, narrow crown is a nice touch. The watch has a brown leather strap with butterfly clasp opened with push-buttons. There are two other variants of this piece, one with stainless steel case, black dial and black strap, and one with silver-colour dial, stainless steel case and stainless steel bracelet.
New movement by ETA: C01.211
The C01.211 movement is a new ETA product that possibly includes a few components in plastic which could require maintenance after a few decades – but only time will tell. The rotor is marked “synthetic oscillating weight” and there are just 15 jewels: without doubt it includes a lot of new technology similar to the advances that created the Swatch Group’s Sistem 51.
Reference and price
The Tissot Chemin des Tourelles chronograph with gold PVD case, silver-coloured dial and brown leather strap, reference T099.427.36.038.00, costs €1,130, $1,175:
The version with stainless steel case, black dial and black strap, reference T099.427.16.058.00, costs €1,015, $1,050:
The version with silver-colour dial, stainless steel case and stainless steel bracelet, reference T099.427.11.038.00, costs €1,075, $1,100:
