Watches and motorsport have always enjoyed a close relationship, and now Tissot is the latest watchmaker to rekindle the decades-old love affair, with a 1970s inspired chronograph.
It’s called the PR516 and the collection is made up of four models and two movements. The headline act is a mechanical, manually-wound chronograph with a 41mm stainless steel case and a glassbox-style sapphire crystal that gives the timepiece a wonderfully retro design.
A large crystal on the case back gives a great view of the Valjoux A05 chronograph movement within. Instead of being automatically wound when the wearer moves their wrist, the watch has a manual mechanism that needs winding every day or so to keep accurate time – another 70s throwback that I’m sure horology fans will appreciate.
The manual chronograph features a black sunburst dial with striking orange second hand and subdials.
This watch is joined by three quartz versions of the Tissot PR516. These all feature a very similar design, albeit with a fractionally smaller 40mm case and a regular sapphire crystal that lacks the pronounced glassbox-style shape of the mechanical timepiece. All four watches are water resistant to 100 metres (10 ATM), so are safe to shower and swim with.
They also all feature a tachymeter on their bezel, which is used in conjunction with the second hand of the chronograph movement to measure the average speed of an object travelling a known distance. Often found on motorsport- and driving-inspired watches, the tachymeter is most commonly used as a way to quickly calculate the average speed of a car over a known distance, such as when taking part in a road rally, lapping a circuit or crossing a flying mile.
While the mechanical chronograph is only available with a black dial, Tissot is producing the quartz model in black, blue and black with gold. As well as gold details on its dial and bezel the latter also has a partially gold bracelet. The beans-style steel bracelets of every model have a quick-release interchangeable mechanism for swapping to a different strap.
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Available now, the Tissot PR516 with mechanical movement is priced at £1,720, while the silver and black quartz models land at £475 and the gold quartz variant is £515.
Alistair is a freelance automotive and technology journalist. He has bylines on esteemed sites such as the BBC, Forbes, TechRadar, and of best of all, T3, where he covers topics ranging from classic cars and men's lifestyle, to smart home technology, phones, electric cars, autonomy, Swiss watches, and much more besides. He is an experienced journalist, writing news, features, interviews and product reviews. If that didn't make him busy enough, he is also the co-host of the AutoChat podcast.
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