Tissot PRX Watches: The Ultimate Guide to the Collection

The Tissot PRX collection is one of the Swiss brand’s major success stories of the past decade despite its relatively recent introduction to the market. Engaging the 21st-Century watch aficionado zeitgeist with its crowd-pleasing combination of classical sport-luxury design, intriguing colorways, and accessible price points, the Tissot PRX has grown from a handful of models to become a modern pillar of the 170-year-old brand’s sprawling and diverse portfolio. Here’s a rundown of the Tissot PRX collection, with a spotlight on several of its most noteworthy models. 

The Original: 1978

The original Tissot PRX debuted in 1978, and like many watches from that era, it was powered by a quartz movement. The watch was distinguished by its flat, barrel-shaped, multi-faceted case, which integrated smoothly into a flexible, articulated steel bracelet; it took its three-initial model name from its attributes: the “P” and “R” stand for “precise” and “robust,”respectively, and the “X” is actually a Roman numeral “10” depicting the model’s 10 atmospheres (aka 100 meters) of water resistance. The overall aesthetic was one that today’s watch historians will readily recognize, hearkening back to the groundbreaking design of a much pricier watch that had debuted several years earlier, in 1972, the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak. The latter had, in fact, exerted influence on a number of so-called “sport-luxury” timepieces that debuted in the Decade of Disco, from icons like the Patek Philippe Nautilus to cult-classics like the Girard-Perregaux Laureato and Vacheron Constantin 222, the progenitor of the Overseas collection. Tissot’s PRX, as per the value-oriented brand’s strategy, was by far the most affordable alternative to those watches, most of which hailed from brands known for high luxury and high horology and featured mechanical rather than quartz calibers. Despite all this, the Tissot PRX’s shelf-life was relatively short and it was discontinued several years after its launch — presumably, as with other traditional Swiss-made analog watches, pushed out to make room for the Japanese-made digital watches that dominated the early ‘80s. The PRX remained mothballed until 2020, when Tissot’s current CEO, Sylvain Dolla, discovered it while perusing the archives and seized upon the PRX as a foundation upon which to build Tissot’s 21st-Century identity. 

The Revival: 2021

Tissot PRX 40 205 (Quartz)

Price: $350-$395, Case Size: 40mm, Thickness: 10.4mm, Lug-to-Lug: 44.6mm, Water Resistance: 100m, Crystal: Sapphire, Movement: Quartz ETA F06.115

The first "modern" Tissot PRX, launched in February 2021, stayed true to its 1970s predecessor in one significant aspect — its choice of a quartz movement, the Swiss-made ETA F06.115 — while striving for a contemporary look in others, such as its 40mm case diameter, which was larger than the original’s dimensions and, with its lug-to-lug measurement of 44.5mm, wore even a bit larger on most wrists. The dial sported a sunburst finish rather than the waffle-textured, Royal Oak-esque motif of the 1970s version. Nevertheless, in most of its notable elements, this watch established the template for all the models that would follow, several in quick succession: a barrel-shaped case; a dial with faceted, applied indexes for the hours, a date display inside a faceted window at 3 o’clock, and a “Tissot 1853” inscription below 12 o’clock along with a “PRX” logo in a ‘70s-style font at 6 o’clock. Luxurious details, like the polished interior facets on the satin-brushed, single-horizontal-link bracelet, caught the eye of enthusiasts who were not only clamoring for a timepiece in this style that was priced for the masses but who were also duly impressed by the unexpectedly high level of finishing they found on the PRX. 

Tissot PRX 40 Powermatic 80

Price: $675 - $725, Case size: 40mm, Thickness: 11mm, Lug to Lug: 44.6mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 100 meters, Movement: Automatic Powermatic 80.111

Just a few months after the wildly successful debut of the quartz-driven PRX 40 205, Tissot followed up with a version that was destined to make even more of an impact, which offered the same 40mm case dimensions but housed inside that case a Swiss-made, mechanical, automatic movement, the Powermatic 80.111, developed by ETA, the movement-making giant that shares corporate ownership under the Swatch Group with Tissot. The waffle-textured dial made its debut on the PRX Powermatic 80 models, and served, then as now, as a visual shorthand to identify the automatic watches from their quartz cousins, which still use a sunburst finish on their dials instead. 

A remarkable technical achievement for ETA, the Powermatic 80 caliber (above) nowadays inhabits watches not only from Tissot but also from other Swatch Group brands in the more “affordable” market segment, including Hamilton, Rado, and Mido. To achieve its uncommonly lengthy 80-hour power reserve (most comparable movements offer power reserves around 42 hours), ETA’s engineers reduced the base caliber’s consumption of energy by reducing the frequency of its oscillations from 4 Hz (28,800) to 3 Hz (21,600 vph), and added a friction-reducing synthetic material to the escapement. They also added a Nivachron hairspring for enhanced performance and shrunk the diameter of the barrel arbor’s core to allow for a stretched mainspring and thus a longer power reserve. In all the PRX models that use it, regardless of the case’s size or material, the Powermatic movement, with its Tissot-branded rotor, is visible through a sapphire caseback.

The Tissot PRX Powermatic 80 family offers a wide range of colorways in its dials, as well as alternatives to the standard integrated bracelets, like the black textured rubber strap on the black-dialed model pictured at the top; the model that perhaps best exemplifies the flashier side of the 1970s is the gold-toned model pictured above (alongside its more recently launched 35mm sibling), with a yellow-gold PVD treatment on the case and bracelet to complement the golden dial,

Growing the Family: 2022

Tissot Powermatic 80 Steel & Gold

Price: $1,995, Case Size: 40mm, Case Height: 11mm, Lug to Lug: 44.6mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 100 meters, Movement: Automatic Powermatic 80.111

Just over a year after the launch (perhaps “relaunch” is appropriate) of the Tissot PRX came the first PRX watches that not only contained a Powermatic movement but also took a step up the ladder of luxury with their use of a bimetal case, with 18k gold used for the fluted bezel — a departure from the smooth bezel of the steel models — plus a gilded finish on the hands and indexes. The dial colors offered in this first generation of Steel & Gold models were blue and brown. Like their steel antecedents, the Steel & Gold PRX models are equipped with the Powermatic 80.111 movement.

Tissot PRX Automatic Chronograph

Price: $1,895, Case size: 42mm, Thickness: 14.8mm, Lug to Lug: 46.5mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 100 meters, Movement: Automatic ETA Valjoux 7753

Alongside the three-handed Powermatic 80 Steel and Gold came another milestone for the PRX family, the first PRX Automatic Chronograph. The watch’s satin-finished steel case was slightly upsized in diameter from its three-handed predecessors — 40mm to 42mm — but its relatively modest 14.5mm thickness ensured the larger, more complicated PRX would still settle comfortably on most wrists. In addition to the popular integrated-bracelet design, the PRX Chronograph offered another retro-yet-trendy visual element with its bicolor “panda” or “reverse panda” dial layout, with subdials at 3, 6, and 9 o’clock and a date window at 4:30, along with the standard, luminous-coated baton hands and faceted indexes. Inside the case beats the sturdy, self-winding ETA Valjoux 7753 movement, which boasts an impressive level of high-horology finishing for a timepiece in this price range as well as an extended, above-average power reserve of 60 hours — not quite as long as the Powermatic 80 but good enough to get the wearer through a weekend without rewinding.

Tissot PRX 40 Quartz “Mint”

Price: $395, Case Size: 40mm, Thickness: 10.4mm, Lug-to-Lug: 44.6mm, Water Resistance: 100m, Crystal: Sapphire, Movement: Quartz ETA F06.115

Pale green and pale blue dials began ramping up in popularity in 2022, and Tissot responded to the demand with perhaps the most emblematic example of its 40mm Quartz collection, nicknamed the “Mint” for its mint-green sunburst dial. The watch offers all the attributes of its predecessors, including the Swiss-made quartz movement with end-of-life battery indicator, along with an interchangeable link bracelet that is now standard across much of the collection.

Diversifying and Digitizing: 2023

Tissot Powermatic 80 35mm

Price: $695 - $825, Case Size: 35mm, Thickness: 10.9mm, Water Resistance: 100m, Crystal: Sapphire, Movement: Automatic Powermatic 80.111

Tissot continued filling out the PRX family in 2023 with the launch of the first 35mm models to be equipped with Powermatic 80 movements as well as the telltale waffle-pattern dial that had thus far only been seen on the 40mm editions. 

The first quartet of Powermatic 80 35mm watches all boasted the barrel-shaped stainless steel cases with impeccably finished satin and polished surfaces that the collection’s fans have come to expect. Their dial colors were curated with a wide range of tastes in mind: black, blue, green, and a white mother-of-pearl whose execution is much more unisex than one might expect given the material’s longtime association with decorative ladies’ watches. The cases are just a smidgen thinner than those of the larger Powermatic models, just 10.93mm, and stretch a very wrist-friendly 39mm from lug to lug. All four of the new releases integrate smoothly into a supple steel bracelet.

Swiftly following on the heels of the initial launch came two more eye-catching iterations of the 35mm model, one with a gold-tone PVD case with matching dial, the other in steel with a Tiffany-inspired, ice-blue textured dial that fans have already nicknamed “Glacier” (above, next to its 40mm counterpart).

Tissot PRX Digital 35mm and 40mm

Price: $375 - $450, Case size: 35mm - 40mm, Thickness: 10.94mm, Lug Width: 11mm - 12mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 100 meters, Movement: Quartz Digital DGT-2040

The most unexpected and controversial member of the expanding PRX family arrived late in the Summer of ‘23. The Tissot PRX Digital, which comes in both 35mm and 40mm case sizes, takes the series behind its analog comfort zone to more high-tech, tool-oriented territory while still retaining the sport-luxury elements that made the model a hit. Like other PRX models, Tissot says, the PRX Digital has its roots in the 1970s, and pays homage to earlier digital watches from the brand, particularly the Stratos from 1976, a watch designed in collaboration with Nuccio Bertone, an Italian automotive designer. (The Stratos, below, was the forerunner of several multifunctional digital watches that Tissot released over the next decades, including the Sensor F-1, the Two-Timer, the ViaTech, and the most successful one, the T-Touch.) 

The initial launch consists of six total references across both the 35mm and 40mm case sizes, in either a silver-tone stainless steel or gold PVD finish. The Swiss-made quartz Caliber DGT-2040 powers the functions displayed on the dial’s sapphire screen, which can be switched via the case’s three side-mounted pushers from time display with date (in either 12 or 24-hour format), to a second time zone, to stopwatch, alarm, countdown timer, and full date display. The backlight for the digital screen offers strong illumination in the dark and the watches are water-resistant to 100 meters. At their sub-$500 price points, the PRX Digital models enter the small but relatively competitive arena occupied by “luxury” digital watches like Casio’s Full Metal G-Shocks, Hamilton’s PSR, and Bulova’s Computron. They also signal a willingness by Tissot to take the collection to even more unexpected places with future releases.