The Swiss watch industry was still hanging from the proverbial ropes, in the latter part of its lengthy bout against the quartz crises, when the first Tissot RockWatch, a piece hewn from Swiss Alpine granite, came out in 1985.
To call the launch a bold move would be a tepid understatement. Tissot, by then, already had a reputation for intrepid use of case materials thanks to the Sidéral, which introduced fibreglass’s lightweight properties to watchmaking in 1969, and the quixotically named Idea 2001 which, in 1971, became the world’s first plastic mechanical watch.
But using granite really flew in the face of the wider, risk-averse industry strategy of sticking to classic designs and materials (OK, the Royal Oak excepted) in the face of the crises. Moreover, it’s heavy, brittle, and difficult to machine and shape precisely – and remains so, as the production process behind the new 40th anniversary edition you see before you demonstrates.
The 1980s were a tough period for traditional Swiss watchmakers due to the rise of affordable quartz watches. With a real piece of Alpine rock in each of them, the RockWatch was Tissot’s innovative response, combining its heritage with cutting-edge creativity to stay relevatnt.
Images from Tissot archives.
The stone is taken from Switzerland’s Mount Jungfrau – boulders dislodged during railway tunnel construction, in case you’re worried about pristine Alpine landscape being quarried – before being handed to Tissot artisans, many of whom hewed, ground and whetted similar stone for the original line back in the 1980s.
Advanced machining and milling are followed by shaping and refining, then grinding with controlled pressure and abrasive compounds to achieve a smooth, uniform surface. The outer profile is then sculpted with micron-level precision tools. Perhaps the trickiest stage of all sees a central cavity carved out to create a hollow space for housing the quartz movement, to an accuracy level spoken of in micrometres, without compromising the integrity of the stone and thus the performance of the movement encased within it.
Left: the Tissot RockWatch has a bold, organic aesthetic from the granite. The nature of this material means that not two watches are the same.
Middle: caseback of the Tissot RockWatch showcasing the provenance of the stone.
Right: the special collector’s box resembles in looks and texture a block of granite, echoing the material and origin of the watch itself.
That movement in place, nickel-plated hands, curved gently in adherence to the contours of the granite surface, are placed beneath an anti-reflective domed sapphire crystal (an upgrade from the 1985 version’s mineral glass). This gently hemispherical canopy echoes the contours of the case and allows all the granite’s finer nuances, as unique as the owner’s thumb-print, to be admired without glare.
Little wonder this extraordinary 38mm piece – which comes with a supple black leather strap, providing elegant juxtaposition to the granite sphere it holds to the wrist – is limited to 999 units. Even more surprising, despite the laborious craft involved, it adheres to Tissot’s frankly staggeringly reasonable pricing policy. £995.
Author: Nick Scott
Other Tissot watches launched in 2025 recommended by I-M Inquisitive Minds include the SRV Art Deco, the Seastar 1000 38mm Chronograph and the NBA Supersport Special Edition 2025.
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