Tissot has teamed up with their Swatch family sibling, ETA, to produce a new movement for a range of budget-minded automatic watches. The new range has been dubbed the Tissot Luxury Automatic and will include both ladies’ and gents’ models with an option for COSC certification. With pricing that falls squarely between stiff competition from Citizen below and Tag Heuer above, do these new Tissot models have what it takes to be a hit with casual buyers?

Putting the rather flavorless naming aside, the technology here is actually noteworthy as ETA has created a new caliber that boasts a considerable 80 hour power reserve. The new ETA CO7.111, aka the Powermatic 80, is an automatic three-hander with a date complication that, as previously mentioned, is capable of COSC accuracy. The 80 hour power reserve is notable because the movement is being fitted to watches with a starting price under $900 USD.

The watches are conservative and should work well as a good option for day to day wear, with styling that is similar to some of the sportier options within the Hamilton Jazzmaster line. The men’s line is 41mm wide and will be just 9.75mm thick, indicating that this new ETA caliber is fairly thin. Tissot has also included a sapphire crystal with an anti-reflective coating and the water resistance is a reasonable 50m. Buyers will be able to choose between a few different dial designs, a leather strap or bracelet, a PVD two-tone finish and even a diamond-clad dial can be optioned within the COSC range. Pricing starts at $850 USD with the COSC versions topping out at $1550.

The ladies’ models measure in at 33 x 9.75mm and offer a similar range of dials, PVD two-tone gold effect and diamond dial adornment. Also featuring the Powermatic 80 movement, the Tissot Luxury Automatic Lady will cost between $850 and $1575 depending on the optional COSC certification and the liberal use of up to 56 diamonds.

Tissot has stepped up and made an attractive line of watches backed by a practical movement and a price point that should appeal to a lot of buyers. Yes, the styling could be described as somewhat bland, but the Tissot Luxury Automatic was likely not designed to push any envelopes, opting instead to seek as wide an audience as possible. I rather like the look of the black dialed model seen above and the optional COSC certification makes for a very attractive value proposition for an nice looking and straightforward automatic watch. Hopefully this new line will be successful and we will see the ETA CO7.111 expand into other models. I know I can’t be the only one who would like to see a re-birth of the Tissot Seastar 1000 Diver. us.shoptissot.com