Tissot - History, Models and Owners' Reviews

First watch for me. The price-quality ratio was really great when I bought it (€470.00 in December 2019) whereas now it is not necessarily interesting anymore, the prices at Tissot having increased. Otherwise, although slightly thick in my opinion, the watch is really superb. A beautiful guilloché (clou de Paris?), beautiful hands and then this ETA 2824-2 with the PowerMatic80 is really a comfort.

When you like watches with integrated bracelets... well you hunt around non-stop to try to discover the immense diversity of this 70s style and then you also buy compulsively! This is the case with this 3rd PR516 in my collection, after the blue dial, here is the gray dial! It is a little customized with an orange / red hand that goes very well with the gray sunray dial! It is certainly too short but that is not my main concern. My idea was to have a trio of Blue, Gray and White. It is done with this one which comes to clutter the drawers and rarely my wrist. So what? When you like something in watchmaking, it is difficult to get rid of it and in my case, I am little or no seller. I love its style, its small size (35mm) its simplicity of execution characteristic of Tissot. of this era. Its market value struggles to reach multiples in hundreds and you tear everything up in the evenings as soon as an amateur approaches and wonders about the beast... which is only a marmoset in the middle of the big gorillas from Audemars or Patek... What fun to make the illusion with this one or one of the two other PR516 integrated bracelet ;-)

Bitten by the fashion for integrated bracelets and by the vintage of the 70s, I started looking for a Tissot PR 516 (we know very well because of whom on this platform). On the other hand, I was a little put off by the small announced diameter of 33mm of the watch. During my research I turned to the GL ranges (grand Luxe) whose diameter is larger (36mm) and which offers indexes arranged on a levitating insert above the dial. This very original device gives depth to the dial. And then I come across this PR 526 GL which is the iteration of the 516 from the end of the second half of the 70s from what I read here and there. Compared to its elder, the 526 benefits from a chamfer on the indexes which makes it a little more chic than sporty (subtle). There are also a few more finishing constraints on the dial. This is what attracted me to this model: the blue-green dial, the orange hand and the cosmetic condition of the watch in general. However, I have a small question mark for this dial whose logo is simply printed and not applied, as well as the absence of an insert around the date and day windows... I don't think it's a fake but perhaps a way to save money during the quartz crisis. I don't know. The three-link bracelet gives it a muscular look and brings a nice presence to the wrist. As for the mechanism, nothing to complain about; Tissot caliber 2940 (Omega 1022 base) very well adjusted. An original, affordable watch from a historic watch brand that has its place in the pantheon of chic sports watches alongside the giants that are the Royal Oak or the Nautilus.