When Tissot introduced the watch that would become the PRX in 1978, it was a quartz sports watch. Now, with the Tissot PRX Quartz Chronograph, the collection’s chronograph runs on quartz for the first time since the PRX’s relaunch – the modern line has worn a chronograph before, but only ever a mechanical one, until now.
It also fills an obvious gap. The 42mm automatic chronograph sits at the top of the range at £1,695, so a simpler, far cheaper quartz version is the accessible way into the same idea.
It comes in three colourways – a silver with yellow-gold accents, plus black and blue – each with colour-matched sub-dials (references T137.417.11.031.00, T137.417.11.051.00 and T137.417.11.041.00). On the silver, those counters are ringed with a fine gold coloured outline that keeps them legible without breaking up the dial, and the same warm gold carries across the baton hands and indices, all filled with Super-LumiNova. Black and blue follow the identical design but swap the gold for a cooler silver. It’s a sportier look than most of the time-only PRX line, so it seems to be an aesthetic Tissot is saving for the chronographs.
The sub-dials give you a 1/10th-second counter at 3, running seconds at 6 and a 30-minute timer at 9, with the date tucked in at 4 o’clock. The dials are vertically brushed rather than wearing the waffle texture of the mechanical version – a slightly plainer look, but a fair one at the price. The automatic’s 12-hour counter doesn’t survive the switch either, so anything past half an hour has to be counted the old-fashioned way, and the subdial layout shifts a touch – a dead giveaway of the quartz engine inside.
The case is a slightly smaller 41mm in stainless steel, good for 100m of water resistance, with a sapphire crystal and shaped pushers that follow the line of the case. The quartz movement makes it a little thinner than the chunky automatic, though there’s still plenty of heft to it on the wrist. The integrated bracelet follows the original PRX design, with Tissot’s quick-release system for tool-free strap changes.
Inside is a quartz chronograph movement with an end-of-life indicator to warn of a fading battery, and this is where you weigh up what you want. You lose the sweep and mechanical charm of the automatic’s Valjoux calibre, but you gain quartz’s accuracy, a 1/10th-second reading the mechanical can’t offer and serious saving.
At £430, the quartz chronograph is roughly a quarter of the £1,695 automatic – a lot less money for what is, visually, a very similar watch. You lose the mechanical movement, and the case is a millimetre smaller, but the bracelet, sapphire crystal and 100m water resistance carry over unchanged. It keeps the PRX firmly in affordable-sports-watch territory, and for anyone drawn to the design rather than what’s ticking inside it, that’s a fair trade.
Price and Specs:
More details at Tissot.
