This is an exceptional and oh so little-known watch.
In 1951, under the leadership of its director Louis-Édouard Tissot and watch designer Oscar Waldan, the Swiss manufacturer Tissot presented the Navigator, the first automatic, serially-produced World Time wristwatch, the first generation of which was manufactured until 1953.
The introduction of the Tissot Navigator was part of a context of development and acceleration of long-distance travel in the mid-20th century. In response to the establishment of railway time in the 1860s, American watch manufacturers such as Elgin and Hamilton developed pocket railway chronometers with a third hand to indicate an additional time zone. In the 1930s and 1940s, the most prestigious Swiss manufacturers produced a few examples of pocket and wristwatches using a world time dial designed by genius watchmaker Louis Cottier. In 1949, the inaugural flight of the De Havilland DH 106 Comet, the first civil jet aircraft in history, forever changed the way we conceive and perceive time and distance. Watch manufacturers competed in innovations to adapt to this new way of living and traveling. Crossing a continent, or even the Atlantic, means changing time zones – several times, and fast!. If the Rolex GMT-Master, designed in partnership with Pan American Airways (“Pan-Am”) and equipped with a rotating bezel allowing instant reading of the time in 2 time zones, was introduced in 1954 and remains the symbol of this new era, the Tissot Navigator, introduced 3 years earlier, is a little-known treasure in the history of travel watchmaking.
The design of the Tissot Navigator is inspired by the visual layout of World Time watches invented by Louis Cottier in the 1930s, used by prestigious brands such as Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin, Agassiz, Breguet and others. However, it functions quite differently. The Tissot caliber 28.5N-21, an automatic movement with a bumper and permanent central seconds developed specifically for this model from a 1944 Tissot base, itself derived from Omega bumper automatic calibers, allows the time to be read in 24 time zones thanks to a central city disc that completes a full revolution in 24 hours. This disc is coupled with a fixed bezel graduated over 12 hours, allowing the local time and world time to be read simultaneously. Pulling out the crown sets the local time, while the city disc remains fixed. By pressing the push-button at 2 o'clock, the city disc is decoupled, allowing the local time to be set without affecting the world time. This is a remarkably simple system to use on a daily basis, and it allowed Tissot to market the first serially-produced World Time wristwatch ever, that was furthermore self-winding.
The robust and well-proportioned 36mm stainless steel case offers an imposing and noble presence on the wrist, reinforced by wide lugs and a smooth bezel that visually enlarges the diameter of the watch. The dial, with its many details, remains remarkably legible thanks to a clear layout and its original blued steel Dauphine hands, allowing easy reading of the time without obstructing the essential information. It has developed a very beautiful light and uniform patina, like the dots of luminous material (radium base) present at the tips of the indexes at 3, 6, 9 and 12 o'clock as well as on the hands.
Our example has remained in excellent condition since its birth more than 70 years ago. The serial number of the movement (302xxxx) indicates an early production, certainly from 1951. The city disc confirms that this is one of the first models manufactured. Indeed, the collecting community well-versed in the Tissot Navigator has established that the dials on the very first executions separated Bombay and Calcutta over 2 time zones, the India Standard Time having not yet been widely adopted. A complete overhaul was carried out by a watchmaker specializing in vintage calibers. The movement of our Tissot Navigator thus functions perfectly, as does the World Time function.
First-generation Tissot Navigators rarely appear on the market, and even less so in the case of examples preserved in excellent condition. The brand has reissued this legendary model on several occasions, in the 1960s, 1990s, 2000s and 2010s. None of these modern iterations has been able to capture the inimitable vintage charm and “warmth” given off by the original model. The manufacturing quality of this watch, its rarity, the historical context in which it was born and its inimitable presence on the wrist must be put into perspective with its price: among the major Swiss manufacturers, no vintage World Time watch model can be acquired for less than several tens of thousands of euros. The Tissot Navigator then emerges as a “market error”, or, in other words, an exceptional quality-rarity-importance-price ratio. An opportunity to be seized before the collecting community realizes it.
