Tissot PRC 200 Powermatic 80 T055.430.16.017.00 Review – Huge 80 Hours Power Reserve In An Automatic Watch

As one of the older brands in the watch industry (around 160 years actually), Tissot is not shy of innovation. Their watches have always been to innovate and they have to in order to stay at the top of the swift changing modern world. This Tissot PRC 200 Powermatic 80 T055.430.16.017.00 is one such watches that Tissot equipped with their innovative Powermatic 80 movement. Having a huge 80 hours power reserve (when the average power reserve in automatic watches are just about 40 hours) is a huge plus. Let’s take a closer look at the details of the watch shall we.

 

 

Tissot PRC 200 Powermatic 80 T055.430.16.017.00 Specification

Diameter: 39 mm
Thickness: 11.9 mm
Lug Width: 19 mm
Lug to Lug: 46 mm
Case: Stainless steel
Strap: Calfskin brown leather strap with butterfly clasp. Also comes in stainless steel bracelet version

Dial: White dial (versions with black and blue dials are also available)
Dial Window: Sapphire crystal
Markers: Numeral and index markers
Hands: Baton hands with lume

Movement: Powermatic 80.121 Swiss automatic self-wind movement with 23 jewels. Manual winding and hacking
Accuracy: +- 15 seconds per day
Power Reserve: 80 hours

Water Resistance: 200 m or 660 feet
Other Features: Day and date indicator, exhibition caseback, 80 hours power reserve, Lume on markers and hands

Best Place To Buy: Amazon for $450

 

Powermatic 80 = 80 Hours Power Reserve

A normal automatic watch will have around 40 to 50 hours of power reserve. For example, the Hamilton Khaki King with an ETA 2834-2 movement only has 38 hours (or 1 and a half day) – which is the standard for a low-middle range Swiss ETA movement. The Japanese fares better in this regard as the Seiko SARB033 with Seiko Cal. 6R15 has 50 hours power reserve (2 days).

Not enough power reserve is the main problem with an automatic watch. You don’t need a battery to own one but you need to wear it everyday to keep it running. It’s okay for those that only has one watch but for those with 2 or 3 watches? Some of your watches will have less wrist time and soon die which is not very convenient as you have to reset the day, date and time when you picked it up next 2 or 3 days. A possible solutions are either to manual wind or use a watch winder (I’ve written an article discussing that here).

But for then even manual winding feels too troublesome for some people. Watch winders can be expensive and not much people is willing to fork out some hundreds of dollars for a quality (and longer lasting) one. So automatic watch fans has been screaming at the watch manufacturers: We want more power reserve!

Some brands such as IWC and Panerai did released watches with huge power reserves (up to 8 days of power reserve) but these watches are far too expensive for normal people. Luckily Tissot and ETA heard our plea. They have developed the Powermatic 80 movement which comes with 80 hours power reserve or about 3 days plus 8 hours. Now you can just put your watch on the wardrobe on the evening of Friday after work and pick it up again on Monday morning for work without having to adjust the time, day and date again. Now isn’t that wonderful?

 

More Efficient Movement And Redesigned Mainspring Barrel

Tissot Powermatic 80 movement achieved this feat by improving efficiency of the moving parts. Come to think of it, this is basically the same thing that ETA did for Sistem51 movement that also has the long power reserve, about 90 hours. So it isn’t hard to make the conclusion that the Powermatic 80 and Sistem51 movements has the same ideas in terms of simplification of the process.

The Powermatic 80 is based on the common ETA 2824-2 movement which is used in many of Swatch Group’s low to middle range watches (like the Tissot Le Locle). Tissot states that Powermatic 80 has reduced friction in it by means of high performance synthetic material – which means some of the parts might be made from polymer or synthetic material and not traditional stainless steel. This reduces the weight significantly, making the parts lighter and increase efficiency. They also states that the mainspring barrel has been redesigned so that the mainspring can be lengthen and store more power.

One other thing that is changed in the reduction of vibrations per hour from the original 28800 in the ETA 2824-2 to 21600 vibrations per hour. This means a reduction of the beats per second of the movement from 8 beats to 6 beats which causes the sweeping second hand to not be as smooth as any common Swiss ETA movement found in many automatic watches. Frankly speaking, it’s really up to you yourselves to tell if you are okay with the reduced beats. Some people might not think it’s that much of a deal but for some, this could be a deal breaker. For those interested to get a Powermatic 80 watches because of the 80 hours power reserve, this is the major “drawback” that you need to know before you make the decision to buy it.

 

Above is a great video showing the differences between the smoothness of sweeping seconds hand of different beats. The right watch is the Seiko Lord Marvel with 36000 vibrations per hour (vbh) or 10 beats per second (bps). The left watches are (in order of appearance): Seiko Diver (6 bps), Tudor Rotor (8 bps) and Grand Seiko Hi-Beat (10 bps).

 

Tissot Powermatic 80 Accuracy

There is no official data by Tissot on the Powermatic 80 Accuracy but if the ETA 2824-2 is any indication, then the accuracy should be around +-15 seconds per day which is about consistent with many Swiss movements. But looking at many reviews on the internet regarding the watch’s accuracy, it can be found that most of them reported a much higher accuracy – some up to +-4 seconds per day which is just in the range of COSC Chronometer accuracy. I can’t attest to these numbers but one thing for sure, the accuracy will drop once the watch enters 2 days without any wrist action i.e the power reserve is depleted. It’s important to know that the accuracy will drop with reduce in power reserve as the watch will have less energy. Not to mention that it is regulated when it has the full power reserve. So to keep it accurate, remember to keep wearing it or just give it a bit manual wind every now and then.

 

Sporty Dial With Big Bold Markers

The dial of the Tissot PRC 200 Powermatic 80 is made of white dial with silver elements in the form of the markers and hands. There are also models with black and blue dials release by Tissot. The markers are big and bold, with numeral markers at 12, 6 and 9 o’clock which for sure will help greatly in telling the time. The big markers surely give some sporty vibe to the watch – this is after all Tissot’s PRC 200 sports watch. The hands are baton shaped hands which is characteristics of Tissot’s sports watch collection. On the 3 o’clock position is the day and date indicator with a silver frame which is quite nice detailing to have. The hands and markers have lume applied on them to aid in telling time in low light conditions.

Due to the bigger than usual markers, Tissot choose to keep the signatures as minimal as possible. On the watch face, only “Tissot”, “1853”, “Powermatic 80” and “Swiss Made” signatures are there and in small fonts nonetheless. This is a smart move by them to avoid overcrowding the dial with many elements. The outer edge of the dial is marked with minute markers.

 

Stainless Steel Case With Exhibition Caseback

The stainless steel case are 39 mm in diameter with 11.9 mm thick. Lug to lug width is 46 mm with an unusual lug/strap width of 19 mm. Overall the watch is modernly sized and will suit most men’s wrist. The case is highly polished and brushed at some parts which helped to give some elegance to the watch. The sides are straight, with some layered pattern that make the watch appear thicker than what it is. It’s actually a love it or hate it element. I actually kinda like the layered pattern on the watch’s side because it’s something different than what we normally have. But some people don’t like it at all and feel like it’s a bad design. Well, you’ve got to decide for yourselves whether you like it or not.

On the back we have exhibition caseback showing the Powermatic 80 movement. There is not much decoration on the movement except for the design of the rotor. Tissot has opted for a grey rotor with some wavy design on it. It contrasts nicely with the surrounding silver stainless steel of the case and movement parts which make it looks very nice.

The strap of the Tissot PRC 200 Powermatic 80 T055.430.16.017.00 is calfskin brown leather with butterfly clasp which suited the watch perfectly. There are also version with black leather strap and stainless steel bracelet released by Tissot.

 

  Watch this video to see the Tissot PRC 200 Powermatic 80 closer.

 

Tissot PRC 200 Powermatic 80 T055.430.16.017.00 Pros And Cons

Advantages:
1- High 80 hours power reserve
2- Beautiful looking watch with sporty dial
3- Day and date indicator on the dial
4- Nice design of the rotor that can be seen from the exhibition caseback

Disadvantages:
1- Lower beats per second than other Swiss watches (at 6 beats per second)

 

Conclusion

The Tissot PRC 200 Powermatic 80 is a very good looking wrist watch. It’s meant to be a sports wrist watch with the big markers but the white dial, polished stainless steel case and leather strap make it look dressier as well. The huge power reserve up to 80 hours is a great improvement over the normal 40 hours of ETA’s movement, if you don’t mind the not so smooth sweeping motion of the second hand. Overall, it is a good value for money coming from the Swiss watch making industry’s one of the most affordable but with high quality watches.

 

What Is the Price Of Tissot PRC 200 Powermatic 80 T055.430.16.017.00?

The Tissot PRC 200 Powermatic 80 MSRP is about $695. But you can always have it for way lesser than that at $450 on Amazon (which is roughly about 35% discount). Click on the link below to check out the best deals on Amazon.

 

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