It’s been a particularly hectic time for Tissot recently. “We launched a watch that has made our last seven days crazy,” explains Sylvain Dolla, CEO of Tissot, over a video call from the brand’s Le Locle HQ in the heart of Switzer-watch-land. The piece in question is the PRX UFO Robot Grendizer, a nostalgia-filled collaboration between two legends from the ’70s: the iconic Tissot PRX and the super-robot anime from Japan. Not only does it come in spaceship packaging, but the blue dial is engraved with the robot’s silhouette, which glows in the dark in Super-LumiNova.
“It was a very easy collaboration because they felt we were passionate, they felt we loved what they did. I love Japan, and I love their artistic touch in everything, from food to cartoons,” says Dolla. The timepiece isn’t a limited edition, but a special edition that is selling like hotcakes. “Whatever we were planning to sell in one year, we already have the full quantity ordered by different countries,” he adds.
And Dolla is bracing himself for another busy week, with two new PRX versions joining the party: Gradient, a model playing with dial color gradations reminiscent of dusk and dawn that will keep you distracted at work, and Forged Carbon, made with the lightweight and durable material, and equipped with a sporty rubber strap.
It’s not the first time that the PRX has generated some buzz. Dolla is credited for relaunching the vintage icon in 2021, and for making the brand cool. The PRX is one of TikTok’s favorite watches. “The PRX is a little jewel we had in our archives,” Dolla says. The OG was launched in 1978 under the name Seastar at the height of the quartz crisis. The quartz model is easily recognizable with its slender case, narrow hour markers and a steel bracelet fully integrated with the flat, barrel-shaped case (in case you’re wondering, “PR” stands for Precise and Robust, while “X”, in Roman numerals, stands for the 10 atmospheres of depth to which the watch remains water-resistant, or a total of 100m). “My first week at Tissot, I went to the archive,” Dolla says. “It was really a discovery because I had been in the industry for 15 years, but I completely underestimated the archives and the history of Tissot. And actually, just above this meeting room where we are now, we have our archives where we have 8,000 watches dating back to 1853.”
During his visit to the archive, Dolla was opening the drawers like a kid at Christmas. He discovered a 35mm PRX. “And this watch was like, wow!” he says. “It was so nice that we decided to use thermography to measure every single angle of this watch, to reproduce it 1 to 1.” They made it slightly bigger in 40mm and bam! “It was crazy from day one,” he adds. The vintage-inspired piece, full of ’70s swagger, blew up on social medial and became a viral hit.
“What makes the Tissot PRX so special is its stylish design, good quality and comparatively affordable price. For this reason, it‘s a watch for enthusiasts, but also for watch newbies—everyone considers the PRX as cool,” says watch expert Christian Schmidt from watch site Mr Nice Watch.
Ultimately, the smash hit relaunch has attracted a younger audience. “I remember the week when we launched it,” says Dolla, “I was calling the stores, such as on Champs-Elysées [in Paris], and they were telling me, ‘we have a bunch of kids around 18, 20 years olds’,” he says. The basic quartz version is only £335, the automatic comes in at £640, and there’s also a glam digital version. (The watch is also available at the original 35mm).
“We really put a lot of effort in the finishing of this watch,” he says. Indeed, the PRX not only appeals to younger people who may be acquiring their first traditional Swiss watch, but also to the broader audience of collectors who may have grown with Tissot—or Goldorak (another name for superbot Grendizer), for that matter.
“I grew up with Goldorak. When I was a little boy, it was really the big thing back then.” says Dolla. “It just confirmed that when you develop a watch with passion, with love, and when you have fun doing things, it usually pays back. So we’ll make sure that we continue to have fun.”
This story originally appeared on British GQ.
