Likely no coincidence that Tissot created a timepiece like this and both Tissot and Breguet are under the same umbrella company – the Swatch Group. While Tissot is best known in the US for their awesome T-Touch timepieces, and other sport watches, they do actually offer some nice classy pieces as well (though a good deal of those are harder to find in the US). Tissot sits as a high-value, entry-level luxury watch portal for the Swatch Group. They are actually in sort of the same boat with Certina watches (also Swatch Group, but those are very hard to find in the US).

So new from Tissot is this Sculpture Line Moonphase watch – which I nicknamed the “Tissot Baby Breguet.” Why? Well, because the design is just that. Tissot borrowed elements from Breguet such as the machine “guilloche” engraved textured dial, dial layout, and gold case. Yes, in fact this Tissot watch will come in an 18k white or rose gold case. Making this a top-level Tissot timepiece. Tissot timepieces don’t often come in gold, so this is a rare type of model.

The watch case is 42.5mm wide and relatively thin at 11.5mm thick. The watch has a sapphire crystal and is water resistant to 30 meters. Unlike Breguet, the case is polished and smooth around the edges (Breguet likes a fluted edge on their watches). Tissot also changes up the dial design a bit with more modern looking baton hands (as opposed to pomme hands), and modified Breguet style Arabic hour markers. The off-centered power reserve indicator is retained near 10 and 11 o’clock, while the moonphase indicator has been elegantly built in to the subsidiary seconds dial. It makes for a handsome look highly reminiscent of the look that Breguet made famous.

< Powering the watch is of course a mechanical movement. Here it is a modified Swiss Unitas 6498 manually wound movement. I have seen this movement (well, almost identical 6497) with a power reserve indicator (see this UTS watch here), but the addition of the moon phase indicator is new to me. The watch is matched to a brown crocodile (I think) strap with a gold butterfly clasp.

Overall I quite like this watch – it has a nice satisfying design to it. Not sure about price, but I promise (promise) that it will be much less expensive than a Breguet. For a classy dial, solid gold case, and fine Swiss character, this Tissot Sculpture Line Moonphase watch might be the way to go. Just don’t call it “Baby Breguet” to its face.