TISSOT – watch manufacturer

The Tissot company was originally founded by father and son, Charles-Félicien Tissot and Charles-Émile Tissot. Tissot began operations in Le Locle, Switzerland in 1853 and is still headquartered in Le Locle. In fact, 1853 was a landmark year for Tissot. Tissot introduced the first pocket watch with two time zones in 1853. In the same year, Tissot also premiered its first mass-produced pocket watch. It was an impressive start, and Tissot continually innovated. Charles-Emile sold the company’s pocket watches mainly in Russia and the US. In 1883, Charles Tissot, son of Charles-Emile, took over management of the company. The watch company was already well established by 1907, but mass production of wristwatches did not begin until 1920. The first wristwatches were made around 1915, after Paul Tissot, son of Charles, joined the company, but production of their own mechanisms did not begin until 1920. In 1929, Tissot and Omega merged to form Société Suisse pour l’Industrie Horlogère SA (SSIH). Tissot was now using ebauche mechanisms from other manufacturers. In 1957, the company built a new factory building. Around 1970, Tissot acquired the Moeris brand. Unfortunately, Tissot was also hit hard by the quartz crisis in the 1970s. In 1977, the subsidiaries in Neuchâtel and La Chaux-de-Fonds were closed and ceased production of their own watch mechanisms altogether. But Tissot continued to post losses, so that in 1983 the company’s collapse seemed imminent. Finally rescue came in 1985, the merger of SSIH and ASUAG (Allgemeine Schweizerische Uhren AG / General Swiss watches AG) for the Swatch Group, led by Nicolas Hayek, which led to a wide-ranging reorganization of the Swiss watch industry and the opening of new markets. Noteworthy here are the launch of the Powermatic 80 and, in 1999, the Tissot T-Touch, the first watch to feature touch technology, the latest evolution of which is the Solar Connect. Like Omega, Tissot is now still part of the Swatch Group, the world’s largest watch manufacturer. The range of models includes mainly sports and youth wristwatches, which are based on current trends and are largely powered by quartz mechanisms.