The company was founded in 1853 and has been in its present location of Le Locle in the Jura Mountains for over 150 years. It is now part of the Swatch group, whose other brands include Omega, Longines, Rado, and Calvin Klein. The Swatch Group is the largest watchmaker in the World, accounting for 25% of all sales.



Tissot has been responsible for some of watchmakings firsts, including the first anti-magnetic watch, the first plastic watch (Idea 2001), the first stone watch (The Rockwatch) and even the first watch made of wood (The Woodwatch). They have also been appointed as official timekeepers through the years to some of the biggest and most well known of sporting events.

Tissot watches are designed for the low- to mid-price range of Swiss watches. Because of their affordability they are often the first Swiss watch someone buys. You can by a Swiss made, Tissot watch for as little as $240.

The company has many collections such as the Carson, Desire, Heritage Classic, PR50, Trend Flower and T-Touch.

Most watches come with a quartz movement though some comes with mechanical movements with some complications like chronograph.

The Tissot Flower collection is a ladies watch with an emphasis on youthful design. The bezel consists of petals which open and close as you rotate the bezel. The petals come in an assortment of very pretty colors on enameled steel. Likewise the straps come in complementary colors of satin leather. Many of the dials are of mother-of-pearl.

The Carson collection is of traditional design; round dial, small link strap, thin arms and sparse dials with simple hour markers. The movements are mechanical automatic. The case is of stainless steel with straps available in stainless steel or a mixture of steel and gold gilt links. The collections includes both gents and ladies watches.

The Heritage Classic collection features watches with rectangular cases. The movements are quartz. The watches feature two time zones. T1 is the main hour markers with T2 coming as a rectangular subdial at the 6 o'clock. The T1 dial features Roman Numerals whereas the T2 dial has simple hour markers. The overall look of these Tissot watches is of an Art Deco design.

However, Tissot don't just make 'classically' styled watches. They produce some very trendy sports watches, the T-Touch being the most famous. This watch allows the user to access 11 different functions by simply touching the glass on the watch face. Among the functions available are Thermometer, Barometer, Altimeter, Compass and Meters/Imperial conversion. To underline its modernity, the casing is available in steel and titanium with white, back or silver dials. The straps are also very modern with blue, white leather, steel or rubber - the rubber strap looks especially good in Orange.

Tissot watches aren't going to appeal to many watch connoisseurs or collectors, however, they will certainly appeal to those who want to own a genuine Swiss watch from a Swiss manufacturer of some standing at a price that is very affordable.