Not all images were able to load for printing. Please close the print window and try again. Tissot Heritage 1973 Chronograph Limited Edition
A racing-inspired chronograph based on the 1973 Tissot Navigator.
Tissot has solid ties with racing. Swiss driver Loris Kessel wore a Navigator chronograph in the 1970s and was officially sponsored by Tissot in the 1976 Formula 1 Grand Prix. The brand is once again working with Kessel Racing, this time with Ronnie Kessel (son of Loris) to launch the limited edition Heritage 1973. The watch has been updated a bit with contemporary touches but maintains many retro elements that made the original Navigator such a compelling piece. A larger case, updated dial and sapphire crystal mark the major differences, and while not technically a reissue, it’s a nice throwback to the 1973 classic. Let’s take a closer look.
The 316L stainless steel case has a satin-brushed finish with polished bevels – typical of the era – with a diameter of 43mm and height of 14.8mm. The cushion case is nearly identical in shape to the smaller 39mm Navigator with a slightly larger crown and pushers. A domed sapphire crystal replaces the Navigator’s acrylic and a mineral glass exhibition caseback displays a decorated automatic movement. The case is water-resistant to 100 metres.
The dial adds a third sub-dial at 3 o’clock and pushes the Navigator’s date window to 4:30. The black sub-dials on the silvery white dial maintain the panda aesthetic of the original and orange hands on the 12-hour and 30-minute sub-dials (at 6 and 3 o’clock) harken back to the Navigator’s colour scheme, along with orange on the central chronograph hand. A black tachymeter spans the outer edge of both the new and old models, and the overall look of the Tissot Heritage 1973 closely matches the Navigator, despite the many differences. The hour and minute hands have green Super-LumiNova inserts, along with the hour markers.
Powering the Tissot Heritage 1973 is an ETA (Valjoux) 7753 with 27 jewels, 28,800vph (4Hz) and a 48-hour power reserve. The original Navigator used a Lémania caliber 1342. Functions include central hours, minutes and chronograph seconds, sub-dial seconds at 9 o’clock, 12-hour counter at 6 o’clock, 30-minute counter at 3 o’clock and date at 4:30. Viewed from the exhibition caseback, the movement is decorated with perlage and a gold (coloured) Tissot rotor. A rarely seen element of the ETA 7753 is a flush pusher at 10 o’clock to set the date (requiring a tool).
The Tissot Heritage 1973 is fitted with a black calfskin rally strap with butterfly clasp (with safety pushers) that’s similar to one patented by Tissot in the 1960s. The Heritage 1973 is limited to 1,973 pieces (honouring the original Navigator) and retails for USD 2,100 or EUR 1,990. It’s available at Tissot’s online store worldwide. More information can be found at Tissot’s website.
3 responses
Tissot leaves me cold, large watches leave me cold, and I have issues with chronographs. But I like this. It has “design integrity” for want of a better phrase.
Please..no more 43mm watches. Please. When will this ugly trend stop?
I am certain that is is here to stay Steven. Most people under 35 have basically grown up with very large watches as standard. Anything under 42mm is now considered small. Have you seen the number of wrist-shots on fora that look like a young child borrowed his dad’s watch, followed by several positive comments and the inevitable “Great wrist presence!”?
The paradigm has shifted.
I’ve been re-watching a favourite TV show from the late 90s and the two characters who wear watches, look to be sporting 34mm models. Twenty years later we have skinny kids wearing G-Shocks that are so big they cannot be supported on their wrists so they flop down onto their hands. So prevalent has this….phenomenon become that now even appropriately sized watches on respectable websites show watches being worn lower than the wristbone.
Not long ago I was paying for dinner and I took out my wallet. The youngest person at the table laughed (not unkindly) and mimed someone counting money. She thinks it is hilarious that I carry cash. That’s where we are now. Cash is now “for old people”. I asked her whether she was concerned about the lack of privacy from using her phone to do absolutely everything in her life. “Everybody knows everything anyway,” she said.
Quite frankly, large watches are the least of our concerns at the moment.