Tissot Automatics III Watch Review

This post will be dedicated to review the Tissot Automatics III, a dress watch with simple watch face design by the famous Swiss watch brand Tissot. I’ve always love simple dial designs as I feel it does not scream for attention and more elegant to look at. I believe busy dials are more suitable for casual and sporty watches while dress watches are much better with simpler but sharp dials. Let’s take a look at this watch here shall we.

Tissot Automatics III Specification

Diameter: 40 mm
Thickness: 10 mm
Lug Width: 19 mm
Case: Stainless steel
Strap: Brown leather strap or stainless steel bracelet

Dial: White dial with circular texture at center
Watch Crystal: Scratch resistant Sapphire crystal
Markers: Index markers
Hands: Index hands with lume

Movement: Swiss ETA Caliber 2836-2 automatic self-wind movement
Movement Features: 25 Jewels, 28800 Vibrations per hour (8 beats per second), Hacking feature, Manual Winding
Power Reserve: 38 hours
Accuracy: +- 15 seconds per day

Water Resistance: 30 m or 100 feet
Other Features: Date display, Day display, Exhibition caseback

Best Place To Buy: Amazon at $380. MSRP for this watch is $595 from Tissot dealers

Simple White Dial With Circular Texture At The Center

As I’ve mentioned earlier, the dial is very simple. It’s white in color with stainless steel silver hands and markers. But Tissot knows their stuffs and put a circular pattern at the center, giving the dial a nice look to it. It’s hard not to relate this to the Le Locle, another dress watch from Tissot but instead of circular pattern, they put a guilloche circle at the center. While the guilloche design on the Le Locle looks more unique and eye-catching with the its reflections, the circular pattern in this watch is less captivating but still looks good, unique and different than anything on the market right now. It gives the dial some character and depth to it which is really nice to look at.

The markers are index markers with long polished stainless steel bars that looks absolutely stunning. Minute markings are located at the outer edge of the dial. No lume is on the markers though a little bit of lume is applied on the stainless steel hands. Don’t expect the lume to hold up for long though as it’s applied on a very small area. It’s much better if Tissot don’t put any lume in my opinion. It’s a dress watch and people won’t expect any lume on it. I would prefer if they put a nice beveled stainless steel hands instead. It will surely look gorgeous on the dial =)

Minimal signatures are on the dial here – good thing as I would hate if many things are on the dial to block that circular pattern at the center. The watch crystal is made of sapphire crystal, as typical of most Swiss watches. I’ve written an article about various crystals here and sapphire is definitely the best for a hassle free watch. Use the watch carefully and you won’t get any scratch on the glass for its whole life. At the right are the day and date display which are very very convenient to have, especially for a work watch. I could not emphasized more on how convenient to have these while working. No more taking out our smartphones to check the date. A glimpse at our watch is what’s needed.

One thing that I don’t like about the watch is the usage of the “T” at the tail of seconds hand. This is something like a trademark of sorts for Tissot. I think all of their watch (please correct me if I’m wrong here) have this. In my opinion, the “T” does not blend in the whole design of the minimalist Automatics III dial. You’ve got a long index markers and long slim hands and suddenly there is this “T” at the seconds hand. It just break the whole theme of dress dial design as the “T” is kinda sporty. Tissot should rethink using this element for their dress watch models in future. Overall, the dial is very beautiful to look at, thanks to the stainless steel markers and circular pattern at the center.

Solid Stainless Steel Case

As with any Swiss watch, the case of the Automatics III does not disappoint. Being a 40 mm diameter and 10 mm thick watch, it really looks elegant as a dress watch. The stainless steel case is a combination of brushed and polished surfaces. It has short and small lugs – nicely designed to shift all attention to the watch face. The lugs are also curving down to give a smooth transition of the strap to avoid any peculiar gap underneath it.

Look from sides of the Automatics III. You can see how the case is not as simple as it looks

 

The sides of the watch is quite unique and not as simple as it looks. It has a straight profile, but slopes towards the center at the top and bottom of the watch, creating a nice profile if looking from sides. Even the crown guard is uniquely designed, with Tissot’s “T” logo on the crown head. The lug width is 19 mm and comes with either a brown leather strap or stainless steel bracelet. I would totally recommend for anyone wanting to buy this watch to get the bracelet version as the bracelet is just out of ordinary. It has textured intermediate links that’s simply gorgeous. It makes perfect sense to buy the bracelet version and then buy an aftermarket leather strap if you want it. That way you can always change it later on if you feel like it.

At the back is an open caseback that shows the ETA 2836-2 movement. It’s always a pleasure to be able to look at the movements of our automatic watches. There is a special feeling when you see the rotor moves with your slightest movement, or the back and forth movement of the balance wheel that seems to entertain me. It makes me able to appreciate what’s happening inside these little timepieces.

All in all, this watch is built with solid craftsmanship and superb attention to detail. It’s these attention to details that makes the watch a pleasure to wear and look at.

There are two variations for the band: Stainless steel bracelet and the leather strap. In my opinion, the bracelet is more worthwhile to get as it looks more exotic than normal watch bracelet and will last longer than any leather straps. Plus, it will cost a bomb to get one of these Tissot original bracelet if you are looking to buy it afterwards.

 

Swiss ETA Caliber 2836-2 Automatic Self-Wind Movement

Inside the Automatics III is the ETA 2836-2 automatic self-wind movement, which is very popular among low to middle range Swiss watches with day and date function. This movement is modified from the ETA 2824-2 (another very popular movement too. Used in the Tissot Le Locle and Hamilton Jazzmaster, among others) by adding day wheel. This movement is automatic (can self-wind by wrist movement) and can be manual wind – a very beneficial feature to have in order to keep the watch running. The low 38 hours power reserve is definitely not enough to keep it running through weekend, so a good 20 or 30 rotations on the crown will ensure it’s running, and you can just pick it up on Monday’s morning without having to tinker to adjust the time and date. I’ve always recommend manual winding feature for the huge convenience benefit. (Read this post on how to manual wind your watch)

Apart from that, this movement also has 25 jewels in them, and runs at 8 beats per second for that smooth sweeping seconds hand. It also has hacking feature which means it will stop the time completely (including the seconds hand) when you want to adjust the time. Some older (and cheaper) movements cannot do this though. This gives the advantage of being able to set the watch accurately, down to the seconds. If you are obsessed with keeping your watch to follow the atomic clock, then this is the feature that you must get for your automatics watch. But if you are like me that don’t really care about a few seconds fast or slow on his watch, then you don’t need this function =P.

 

An awesome video review of the watch (featuring the stainless steel bracelet version). Notice how unique and mesmerizing the circular pattern on the dial is. And that intermediate links of the bracelet.. What unbelievable detail on a watch

 

Conclusion

Tissot Automatics III is another dress watch the Swiss brand, alongside it’s Le Locle and Visodate models. It has a very beautiful dial thanks to the harmonious white dial, circular pattern at the center and the silver stainless steel markers and hands. Not only that, the case is perfectly crafted, and made of curves and slopes that looks unique and pretty. Inside it is the Swiss ETA Cal. 2836-2 which is a workhorse movement of the Swiss world.

 

I hope you guys like this Tissot Automatics III review. I’ve tried to lay out every single detail but if there is anything amiss or you guys just want to ask questions about this watch, feel free to drop your comments below. Till next time then.

Cheers!
Isaac.

 

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Tissot Automatics III Price

Currently, this watch retails at an MSRP of $595 from Tissot dealers. But you can get it much cheaper from just $380 (stainless steel bracelet) and $340 (leather strap) from Amazon. Click the links below to check out the best deals from Amazon.

 

->Tissot Automatics III T0654301103100 – Stainless Steel Bracelet<-

 

->Tissot Automatics III T0654301603100 – Brown Leather Strap<-