If you’re not a follower of the NBA, Damian Lillard is an 8-time all-star currently playing for the Milwaukee Bucks. He’s known for his clutch plays and Dame Time celebration where he taps his wrist (where a watch would be) after scoring a buzzer beater to win the game – something he’s done surprisingly often. And now he’s working with Tissot to launch the Tissot PRX Damian Lillard Special Edition. He helped to design the watch to match his personal style with a bold black and gold design with a handful of details dedicated to his life and accomplishments.
This is my favourite type of collaboration, where the collaboration elements are subtle enough that viewed across the bar, this is very much just a 40mm gold PVD PRX with a black dial. That alone is pretty cool with the stark contrast between the dark display and shiny case making for a bold, impactful appearance. It’s worth noting that when you cross the bar to take a closer look you’ll see that the usual square pattern has been replaced with the number 0, Dame’s jersey number. I actually think this looks great and it would be interesting to see what else Tissot can do with the texture of the PRX.
Getting into some more of the specifics of the Lillard collaboration elements, the seconds hand features his monogram (not unlike the recent collaboration between Breitling and Victoria Beckham) and the flange features four engraved inscriptions. In the top left is Damian’s nickname Dame, in the top right is Time, a nod to both the Tissot and his signature celebration, in the bottom right is his family’s initials DDKK and lastly in the bottom left is YKWTII which stands for ‘you know what time it is’. Because of course, it’s Dame Time.
On the caseback there’s a depiction of Dame doing the Dame Time celebration which sits on top of the exhibition window. If you look past Dame, you’ll see the Powermatic 80 movement and if I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times, this is one of the best value for money movements out there. An 80-hour power reserve with automatic winding and a Nivachron anti-magnetic hairspring for these prices is great.
Speaking of prices, the Tissot PRX Damian Lillard Special Edition is £780, the same as all the other mechanical gold PVD PRXs. Interestingly, the watch is only ever described as a special edition and there is no implication anywhere that it will be limited, suggesting that it will be joining the core collection. Available from the Tissot website next week.
This watch will definitely be more of a hit with NBA fans than non-NBA fans for obvious reasons but I do think there’s enough interesting design elements here that adding one to your collection regardless of if you’re a Dame fan isn’t out of the question. It’s also nice that Tissot have done a twist on the PRX to make it feel fresh again just as people were starting to lose interest in the collection.
Price and Specs:
More details at Tissot.
