Watches -- 17 days ago
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From the moment British actor Daniel Ings sweeps onto location in Tissot’s Art Nouveau hometown of Le Locle, high in the Jura mountains, his watch becomes an unexpected mentor. Chiding him, but also reminding him to breathe between takes.
“Easy, Daniel. Impulsiveness doesn’t suit a gentleman.”
It’s a typically Swiss slice of, let’s say, ‘off-kilter’ humour, but the film campaign accompanying the launch of the downsized Tissot Gentleman 38mm Automatic does tap cleverly into that thing a classic, perfectly balanced, ‘proper’ wristwatch embodies.
Speaking to the star of The Marvels (2023) and 2024’s The Gentlemen (appropriately enough), a talking POV through the sapphire-crystal looking glass encapsulates with mild absurdity the calm that a sweeping seconds hand can exact upon its wearer.
Especially when framed with a proportionality that – were it not a circle – might qualify as ‘golden ratio’ on a scale of jarring to perfection.
There’s nothing more steadfast and satisfying. After all, if you’ve forgotten your book for the tube, you’ll invariably find yourself gazing at your wrist. Eighty times a day, says the anecdotal wisdom – as long as it’s analogue, reliable and (ironically enough) timelessly designed.
Which is exactly what Tissot has achieved in downsizing its Gentleman from 40mm to 38mm, in a craft and genre where 2mm makes all the difference. On top of that, Tissot mothership Swatch Group’s futureproof ‘Powermatic 80’ mechanics are ticking inside: 80 hours of power reserve, eked out unerringly by a ‘Nivachron’ balance spring oscillating as circular pendulum with class-leading resistance to magnetism, shocks and temperature changes.
As sartorial as the Gentleman is designed, let alone named, all of the above makes the 38mm update a rocksolid daily wearer from weekday two-piece to weekend trackies.
Suiting a wider range of wrist sizes (placing it firmly in gender-neutral territory) the 2mm-downsize maintains the clean aesthetic that made Tissot’s Gentleman a staple since it was first launched in 2019. Still in stainless steel and understated in design (with a grand-or-so premium for a gold bezel), the case’s mix of brushed and polished finishes accentuate a slimmer profile without you even knowing it – such is the smoke and mirror brilliance of Switzerland’s horological blue bloods and their metal workers.
Four colour options for the dial keep things simple: silver, black, blue and green. Every wardrobe decision covered off, plus a pyramidal sunray finish that plays with light, paired with applied hour markers and dagger hands coated in Super-LumiNova for visibility when the alarm clock is set particularly early.
It’s the whole package, in deceptively simple guise – framed date window, see-through caseback, to boot. But aesthetics aside (and, sorry, Tissot’s engineers haven’t actually mastered a dial that can counsel professional advice as well as crystal clarity), what makes Mr Ings’ Gentleman even more of a perfect, in-one take is the £690 starting pricetag.
Whether it’s US tariffs or gold prices, the historic horloger of Le Locle is exacting a rare level-headedness where its contemporaries continue to inflate in the face of unrest. Or in other words: film lot, occasionally, but not a lot at all.
Tissot Gentleman 38mm Automatic, from £690 on steel bracelet, starring on Daniel Ings’ wrist right now
