Tissot hat-doffs its history.

The new Tissot Heritage 1948

We’ve seen a number of throwback watches this year, with many brands looking to the past for inspiration - and here's another to add to your list to peruse, Tissot's Heritage 1948. Taking reference from one of its men’s wristwatches from 1948 (now part of the museum collection), Tissot’s new version of the classic is definitely worth more than a passing glance.

If you’re familiar with the brand, you’ll know they are adamant about being ‘Swiss-made’—a label which requires 60 per cent of the production costs and key manufacturing processes to be done in Switzerland. In fact, CEO François Thiebaud is really proud of the brand’s DNA, as he revealed in an interview with us at Baselworld this year.

While they adhere to the stringent ‘Swiss-made’ requirements, this doesn’t stop Tissot from pricing their timepieces very reasonably, like the Tissot Luxury Automatic for men which starts at S$1,420 or their immensely popular Tissot Ballade Automatic, which Thiebaud was wearing during our chat. The starting price? S$1,380.

But back to the Heritage 1948. It’s worth noting that for many brands, re-issuing a vintage model means replicating it almost lug for lug. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing because collectors often hanker after pieces that are no longer in production and so, to produce a replica (albeit with improved movement and materials) serves that purpose.

However, with the Heritage 1948, you’d have to look a little harder to see the resemblance. The original (above) came in an 18K gold case with a slightly busier dial that had a minute track, tachymeter and studded indexes with accompanying numerals.

The updated version comes in stainless steel with a cleaner dial that does away with the tachymeter and numbered indexes, save for one every quarter. There’s also the addition of a date window between four and five o’clock, as well as the word ‘Automatique’ beneath the vintage Tissot logo (vintage logos look to be a thing now, don’t they?). Interestingly, the original model featured the ‘12’ o’clock index in Arabic numerals while the revamp uses the more archaic Roman numerals.

Of course, there are similarities. The pushers, twisted lugs, leaf-shaped hands and studded indexes remain, as well as the 3-6-9 sub-dial layout (although the sub-dials at three- and nine o’clock have swapped positions).

We like that clearly, thought has gone into the design to give a vintage watch a contemporary spin. It’s not a re-issue just for the sake of it and we could actually see the Heritage 1948 being right at home in an office environment or as a casual accompaniment on the weekends. And at a friendly 39.5mm, it would fit both gents and ladies as well.

The watch is available in a choice of three straps—brown or black leather, and a stainless steel Milanese bracelet (above). We’re not big fans of the Milanese style but the leather straps are a great complement to a well-designed update that we think will find more than a few fans out there.

Case	39.5mm stainless steel
Dial	Silver
Movement	Automatic Calibre ETA 2894-2
Strap	Brown or black leather, or stainless steel Milanese bracelet
Functions	Hours, minutes, chronograph counters
Price	S$2,130 (leather strap), S$2,200 (Milanese bracelet)