Hello friends of IWS, welcome back to our magazine! Today we are going to talk about a watch that is not very well known, but which in the 80′ allowed Swiss watchmaking and, Tissot in particular, to regain notoriety in a historical period that was not easy.
Speaking of the 1980s and innovations in watchmaking, immediately G-Shock and Swatch come to mind, two opposing brands that paralleled the history of this industry in different ways.
In this climate of change, Tissot also managed to emerge with the watch we will tell you about today: the RockWatch, a truly unique model that marked the rebirth of the brand.
The historical period in which the Tissot RockWatch was born.
The 1970s was not an easy time, as the Western world was facing a major crisis, both economically and oil-wise, not to mention the quartz crisis that brought the entire watch industry to its knees.
Against this backdrop, SSIH (Tissot’s parent company, formed through a merger with Omega in 1930) and ASUAG (the world’s largest manufacturer of watch movements) both declared bankruptcy in 1981. A few years later, the two companies merged, forming SMH (Société de Microélectronique et d’Horlogerie) in 1985 under the leadership of Nicolas G. Hayek Sr, which then changed its name again to become The Swatch Group in 1998.
Out of this crisis situation, the group conceived an ingenious idea to return to prominence in the world of hands: to make a watch out of stone.
Tissot was given the task, and the project was named the RockWatch. What seemed like a crazy idea on the surface turned out to be crucial in lifting the brand out of the highly negative period it was going through.
The Tissot RockWatch
The Tissot RockWatch was initially made using a natural stone (granite) from Swiss cantons such as Graubünden, Ticino and Valais. To make the case, inside the brand’s factories, the block of granite was directly milled and then machined to obtain the typical circular shape, inside of which was the Swiss-made quartz movement: the ETA caliber 976.001. Through the use of the stone, Tissot was able to make each watch different from the next, making each piece one of a kind.
The first models made by the maison, featured 3 case diameter variants: 23, 30 and 33mm, each characterized by the red and yellow color of the hands, in reference to the colors of the paths in the Swiss Alps; colors that, moreover, ensured excellent legibility given the vivid contrast.
The making of this model was strongly influenced by those watches that were shortly thereafter a worldwide success, the much-loved and colorful Swatch watches. Tissot’s goal with the RockWatch was to create unique pieces that were different from the watches usually found on the market, and that was exactly what happened. Over the next few years more variants came out, made with different stones such as jade, lacy blue agate, Scandinavian basalt, Kalahari jasper, Australian pink rhodonite, Brazilian aventurine and blue sodalite, and prehistoric petrified coral from the Swiss Jura, giving ever-changing colors and hues to each watch produced.
The RockWatch also marked a new chapter in the brand’s recent history, as it was the watch to re-enter the American market. Tissot, in fact, had not been present on U.S. soil for over a decade, and chose this very model to begin a new marketing campaign, which was an immediate success.
At the time of its market launch in 1985, the starting price of the Rockwatch was CHF 300, corresponding to USD 200, and what surprised most were the sales. In the following year, more than 50,000 units were sold, and less than ten years later, so in 1994, it is attested that more than 800,000 watches had been sold. Really crazy numbers.
The successors of the Tissot Rockwatch
Tissot’s landmark model paved the way for subsequent watches produced by the house, all characterized by the fact that they were unique. Indeed, in 1988 the PearlWatch, with a mother-of-pearl case and dial, was released, followed the following year by the WoodWatch with a briarwood dial, but these were not as successful as the stone model.
Final Thoughts
The RockWatch contributed greatly to Tissot’s current international reputation. In fact, by the end of 1985, the SMH board of directors declared that Tissot’s sales had grown by nearly 30 percent in quantity, buoyed by the initial success of the watch as it entered the American market.
Over the years, the stone model’s notoriety has slowly swarmed, giving way to as many watches from the maison that, to this day, encapsulate within them truly unique stories and charms.
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