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Tissot SA () is a Swiss
watchmaker A watchmaker is an artisan who makes and repairs watches. Since a majority of watches are now factory-made, most modern watchmakers only repair watches. However, originally they were master craftsmen who built watches, including all their part ...
. The company was founded in
Le Locle Le Locle (; german: Luggli) is a municipality in the Canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland. It is situated in the Jura Mountains, a few kilometers from the city of La Chaux-de-Fonds. It is the third smallest city in Switzerland (in Switzerland ...
, Switzerland by Charles-Félicien Tissot and his son, Charles-Émile Tissot, in 1853. After several mergers and name changes, the group which Tissot SA belonged to was renamed
the Swatch Group The Swatch Group Ltd is a Swiss manufacturer of watches and jewellery. The company was founded in 1983 by the merger of ASUAG and SSIH to move to manufacturing quartz-crystal watches to resolve the quartz crisis threatening the traditional Swi ...
in 1998. Tissot is not associated with
Mathey-Tissot Mathey-Tissot is a Swiss watch maker of prestige watches, originally established in 1886 by Edmond Mathey-Tissot at Les Ponts-de-Martel in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland. Mathey-Tissot is an independent watchmaker, headquarter is ...
, another Swiss watchmaking firm.


History


Independent company

Tissot was founded in 1853 by Charles-Félicien Tissot and his son Charles-Émile Tissot in the Swiss city of Le Locle, in the Neuchâtel canton of the Jura Mountains area. The father and son team worked as a casemaker (Charles-Félicien Tissot) and watchmaker (Charles-Emile). His son having expressed an interest in watchmaking from a young age. The two turned their house at the time into a small 'factory'. Charles-Emile Tissot left for Russia in 1858 and succeeded in selling their savonnette pocket watches across the
Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
. In 2021, the company is marketin
Le Locle Powermatic 80
which has a watch face designed to mimic the clock tower in its founding city of Le Locle.


Omega, SSIH, ASUAG, SMH

Tissot merged with watch company
Omega SA Omega SA is a Swiss luxury watchmaker based in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland. Founded by Louis Brandt in La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1848, the company formerly operated as ''La Generale Watch Co.'' until incorporating the name ''Omega'' in 1903, becoming ...
in 1930, forming SSIH (Société Suisse pour l'Industrie Horlogère), and Tissot-Omega watches from this era are sought after by collectors. Tissot's first engagement as an official timekeeper was in 1938 where they timed a series of ski races in
Villars-sur-Ollon Villars-sur-Ollon, commonly referred to as Villars, is a village in Switzerland in the canton of Vaud, part of the municipality of Ollon. Description Geography and skiing network Villars overlooks the Rhône valley from an altitude of . Th ...
, near the company's home town in the Jura mountains. Tissot was used for timing downhill skiing in Switzerland in 1938, and for the Davis Cup in 1957. SSIH-ASUAG was formed in 1983 (Allgemeine Schweizerische Uhrenindustrie Aktiengesellschaft, ASUAG, was a holding company supplying the watch industry), then SMH (Société Suisse de Microélectronique et d’horlogerie; 1983–1985).


Swatch subsidiary

SMH took the name of ''the Swatch Group'' in 1998. Tissot SA remained in
Le Locle Le Locle (; german: Luggli) is a municipality in the Canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland. It is situated in the Jura Mountains, a few kilometers from the city of La Chaux-de-Fonds. It is the third smallest city in Switzerland (in Switzerland ...
, Switzerland, and marketed in 160 countries. Tissot watches are classified by the Swatch Group as "mid-range market" products. Tissot is an official timekeeper for the world championships in cycling, motorcycling, fencing and ice hockey, etc. Tissot was a sponsor for the Formula One car-racing teams Lotus, Renault, and Sauber. In the past handheld stopwatches were sufficient to provide official timings; in more recent times manufacturers and sporting bodies together develop more accurate systems for specific events. In competitive cycling, for instance, sensors are placed on the bikes and track, and linked by computers to provide track timings and performance data.


Motto and slogan

The company motto/slogan of Tissot is "Innovators by Tradition" and its mission statement is "gold value at silver price".


Watch manufacturing


Notable inventions

Tissot introduced the first mass-produced pocket watch as well as the first pocket watch with two time zones in 1853 and the first anti-magnetic watch, in 1929–30. Tissot was also one of the first companies to manufacture an antimagnetic wristwatch in the early 1930s. The Tissot company was also the first to make watches out of plastic (Idea 2001 in 1971), stone (the Alpine
granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...
RockWatch in 1985),
mother of pearl Nacre ( , ), also known as mother of pearl, is an organicinorganic composite material produced by some molluscs as an inner shell layer; it is also the material of which pearls are composed. It is strong, resilient, and iridescent. Nacre is f ...
(the Pearl watch in 1987), and wood (the Wood watch in 1988). Tissot introduced its first tactile watch, with "T-Touch," technology in 1999; watches containing this technology have touch-sensitive sapphire crystals to control various functions including compass, barometer, altimeter and thermometer. The 2014 T-Touch Expert Solar and T-Touch Lady Solar had 25 functions.


Gallery

File:Tissot_Couturier_watch_on_hand.jpg, Tissot Couturier File:Tissot Handaufzug, 1958.jpg, Tissot 1958 File:Tissot Twotimer.jpg, Tissot Twotimer, 1990 File:Tissot PRC 200 T17.1.586.52.jpg, Tissot PRC 200 (T17.1.586.52) File:Tissot pocket watch, open - 20110212.jpg, Tissot pocket watch, open


Marketing

Tissot has partnered with a wide range of celebrities from basketball players, actors, cricket players, to MotoGP racers to be their brand ambassadors. Tissot brand ambassadors have included:
Tony Parker William Anthony Parker Jr. (born 17 May 1982) is a French-American former professional basketball player and majority owner of ASVEL Basket in LNB Pro A. Himself the son of a basketball pro, Parker started his career at Paris Basket Racing in ...
,
Liu Yi Fei Crystal Liu (born An Feng; August 25, 1987), better known by her stage name Liu Yifei (), is a Chinese-American actress, singer, and model. She has appeared multiple times on ''Forbes'' China Celebrity 100 list and was named one of the New Four D ...
,
Virat Kohli Virat Kohli (; born 5 November 1988) is an Indian international cricketer and former captain of the India national cricket team. Widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of all time, Kohli plays as a right-handed batter for Royal Challe ...
,
Deepika Padukone Deepika Padukone ( or ; born 5 January 1986) is an Indian actress who works in Hindi films. She is one of the highest-paid actresses in India, and her accolades include three Filmfare Awards. She features in listings of the nation's most po ...
,
Huang Xiaoming Huang Xiaoming or Mark Huang (, born 13 November 1977) is a Chinese actor, singer, and model. He graduated from the Performance Institute of the Beijing Film Academy in 2000. Huang first rose to prominence in 2001 for playing Emperor Wu of Han i ...
,
Jorge Lorenzo Jorge Lorenzo Guerrero (; born 4 May 1987) is a Spanish former professional motorcycle racer. He is a five-time World Champion, with three MotoGP World Championships (, and ) and two 250cc World Championships ( and ). After winning the 2006 a ...
, Thomas Lüthi,
Neha Kakkar Neha Kakkar Singh (; née Kakkar; born 6 June 1988), is an Indian playback singer. She is the younger sister of playback singer Sonu Kakkar. She began performing at a very early age at religious events. In 2005, she participated in the second ...
,
Marc Márquez Marc Márquez Alentà (born 17 February 1993) is a Spanish professional Grand Prix motorcycle road racer, who has raced for Honda's factory team since his MotoGP debut in 2013. Born in Cervera, Catalonia, Spain, he is nicknamed the 'Ant of Cer ...
and Rana Daggubati.


Clientele

Tissot watches have been worn by the Princess of Wales, Sarah Bernhardt, singer
Carmen Miranda Carmen Miranda, (; born Maria do Carmo Miranda da Cunha, 9 February 1909 – 5 August 1955) was a Portuguese-born Brazilian samba singer, dancer, Broadway actress and film star who was active from the late 1920s onwards. Nicknamed "The Br ...
,
Grace Kelly Grace Patricia Kelly (November 12, 1929 – September 14, 1982) was an American actress who, after starring in several significant films in the early to mid-1950s, became Princess of Monaco by marrying Prince Rainier III in April 1956. Kelly ...
,
Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...
, and Nelson Mandela.


In popular culture

James Stewart wore a Tissot watch in ''
Rear Window ''Rear Window'' is a 1954 American mystery thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and written by John Michael Hayes based on Cornell Woolrich's 1942 short story "It Had to Be Murder". Originally released by Paramount Pictures, the film st ...
''. T-Touch watches have been worn by
Angelina Jolie Angelina Jolie (; born Angelina Jolie Voight; June 4, 1975) is an American actress, filmmaker, humanitarian and former Special Envoy to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. The recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award ...
in the movies '' Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life'' and '' Mr. & Mrs. Smith''.
Simon Pegg Simon John Pegg (né Beckingham; born 14 February 1970) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. He came to prominence in the UK as the co-creator of the Channel 4 sitcom ''Spaced'' (1999–2001), directed by Edgar Wright. H ...
wore a T-Touch in '' Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation''.


Sponsorships

Tissot has been the official timekeeper responsible for timing in several sports including MotoGP, ice hockey, cycling, the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) the Fencing World Championships, the
Women's National Basketball Association The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is an American professional basketball league. It is composed of twelve teams, all based in the United States. The league was founded on April 22, 1996, as the women's counterpart to the Natio ...
, for many years. In basketball it has sponsored the Swiss national team, the
Chinese Basketball Association The Chinese Basketball Association (), often abbreviated as the CBA, is the first-tier professional men's basketball league in China. The league is commonly known by fans as the CBA, and this acronym is even used in Chinese on a regular basis ...
, the NBA and other related events, teams, and organizations. On November 20, 2019, it was announced that Tissot would serve as the official timekeeper and results service for the
2022 World Games The 2022 World Games were an international multi-sport event held from July 7 to 17, 2022, in Birmingham, Alabama, United States. They were the 11th World Games, a multi-sport event featuring disciplines of Olympic sports and other competitions ...
.Tissot Official Timekeeper of The World Games 2021
The World Games, Retrieved 16 July 2022


See also

*
List of watch manufacturers Watchmakers This list is a duplicate of :Watchmakers, which will likely be more up-to-date and complete. Manufacturers that are named after the founder are sorted by surname. Names in this list require an article about the watch brand or watchma ...
* Swiss Made


References


External links

* {{Authority control The Swatch Group 1853 establishments in Switzerland Swiss companies established in 1853 Manufacturing companies established in 1853 Le Locle Swiss watch brands Watch manufacturing companies of Switzerland Companies based in the canton of Neuchâtel