There are very few times a new watch excites me. There was the Tissot Stylist that came out, which I really loved, apart from the price being just a little too high. In October, I caught wind of another Tissot release: the PR516. I haven’t made a post about it until now, because, to be honest, I didn’t believe it. As a consequence, I am a bit late to the party…
I won’t go into great detail regarding the history of the PR516. I used to have one, but the motor broke, which costs a fortune to replace. Seeing as the watch isn’t in very good condition and my finances have always been tighter than a hamster’s arse, I haven’t got around to fixing it yet. James Bond wore a PR516. I can’t tell you which model or in what movie he wore it, because I’ve never watched a Bond film ever (some may call that sacrilegious, but oh well.) There were plenty different models made, with movements and configurations galore. If you like watches, there’s a PR516 for you.
The new PR516 is automatic. As expected, they use the Powermatic 80 movement. Such a cool name, “Powermatic,” but I have serious doubts about the plastic escapement. Only time will tell how well it holds up, but I fear that one day when Tissot throws away the lasers needed to regulate these things, they’ll become a lot less desirable. Put bluntly, I think it’s a throwaway movement, but a throwaway movement designed to be thrown away after a decently long period of time. If, one day, let’s say fifty years down the line, when Tissot ends support for these movements, it should be hypothetically possible to transplant an ETA 2824-2 into the case, as the movements are so closely related. The longer power reserve will be lost and the beat rate will change, though.
Anyway, it’s a damn sexy thing this. The case comes in at 38mm in diameter, which is a little large for me, but absolutely perfect for a large portion of enthusiasts. The watch is water resistant to 100m, which is the standard for watches of this sort. I’m sure that when (if) reviewers on the YouTubes get their hands on this, they’ll criticise it for not coming with 200m, because one cannot wash one’s hands with a watch with anything less than 200m of water resistance. I like that this watch isn’t going overkill with water resistance in the same way that it isn’t pretending to be a dive watch. It has a 60-minute bezel, but it doesn’t rotate. It is a pure, thoroughbred sports watch with oodles of ’70s charm.
I think that this is another win for Tissot. It seems that ’70s is in fashion and has been in fashion for some time now. Thankfully, we’re moving forward to ’70s designs that are actually attractive. I still like the PRX’s design. It’s not my sort of pretty, but it isn’t bad looking. There are worse integrated bracelet sports watches out there. The Stylist is a million times better looking than the PRX and the PR516 isn’t far behind. Now, Tissot just needs to capitalise. Put a manually-wound ETA in the Stylist, give it more colours and advertise it. Add a quartz option for the PR516, go balls deep with the whole retro and rally aesthetics. Market the damn thing.
A Swiss sports watch from a big brand with an automatic movement and sapphire crystal for about 600 USD hits the metaphorical prostate of the YouTube watch reviewer. The watch is a safe design, I will admit, but it’s not an homage to anything other than its older self. Also, safe sells. A watch doesn’t need to have crazy design elements to become desirable; in the PR516’s case, I think it does enough, well enough, for enough money to entice the sort of people shopping for PRXs.
Buy the designers and manager people at Tissot some flowers; they deserve it. I see that they are putting the work in. Now let’s wait and see if the folks in marketing and logistics choose to mess it up or not.
The Escapement Room 