I have never been a "gold watch guy." For me, gold watches bring to mind guys with unhealthy tans lounging on a yacht wearing linen shirts unbuttoned nearly to the navel with a puffy cloud of silver chest hair bursting forth in all directions. It's a lewk, and not one that I've ever felt that I could pull off or that I ever particularly wanted to. And that's just solid gold watches I'm talking about, which cost tens of thousands of dollars and are ridiculously out of my price range.
Any type of "gold" watch that I can afford will be executed in stainless steel with a gold coating, most likely PVD, a process that bonds vaporized gold to a base metal on a molecular level. But these watches almost always look cheap and tacky. They may not technically be "fake gold," but they're always going to come across as trying to be something they're not. Or, at least, that's what I thought.
Earlier this year, Tissot finally gave its fans what they've been clamoring for: a smaller, 35mm version of the automatic PRX, finally allowing the smaller-wristed among us to comfortably wear the brand's throwback integrated bracelet sports watch. But that's not all Tissot did. The brand also released a version of the smaller PRX Powermatic 80 in full PVD gold. And it looked good. Like, shockingly good. But press photos are one thing, so to see how the small gold PRX looks in person, I spent several weeks wearing it on my wrist and trying my hardest not to shop for yachts.
Tissot PRX Powermatic 80 35mm Gold: What We Think
In this case, the press photos didn't lie. The gold version of the Tissot PRX Powermatic 80 in 35mm is indeed a great-looking watch. It's nicely finished for the money, the gold is a great tone that doesn't come across as gaudy or tacky and the whole package doesn't feel like it's trying to do too much. The size is also welcome, as the watch wears very comfortably on my 6.25-inch (16cm) wrist, and the Powermatic 80 movement is better than advertised — extremely accurate and with enough power to last over three days off-wrist.
Of course, as with any watch, there are drawbacks. The crown is painfully small and the lume, like with all PRX watches, is laughably bad. But overall, if you're looking for an affordable gold watch for under $1,000, I don't think you can do any better than this.
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- Case Size: 35mm
- Water Resistance: 100m
- Movement: ETA Powermatic 80 automatic
The gold looks classy instead of cheap
Before getting my hands on the gold PRX 35, I assumed it would look cheap in person. How could it not? The thing is dripping in gold. The case and integrated bracelet are fully decked out in gold PVD, and even the tapisserie-style dial, hands and indices are gold-tone. Really, the only things on the watch that aren't gold are the black printing on the dial, the white date window and the scant application of lume. That's it. But even with all that 24K magic (okay, 18K PVD magic), the watch doesn't come across as ostentatious or silly. It just looks good.
The finishing is pretty good. It's mostly vertically brushed, including the top and sides of the case and the flat links of the bracelet, with a few high-polished accents on the bezel, between the links and on a chamfer that splits the top and sides of the case. These contrasts allow the watch to catch and reflect light like nobody's business, and the golden color — here a true amber-gold hue and not one that leans too cheapie yellow — really makes the watch pop on the wrist.
It's not the most high-end finishing in the world, and can look a little rough upon close inspection, but I think you're getting what you pay for. The finishing isn't better or worse than the watch's price tag would suggest; I think it's right on the money. It's the gold treatment and color that really allow this version of the PRX to look more expensive than it is.
The size is (mostly) excellent
The standard 40mm PRX is unwearable for me. The wide, cuff-like bracelet coupled with the broad case and non-articulating end links that create an effective lug-to-lug of over 50mm all make the watch look comically large on my wrist. Thankfully, the 35mm version does not suffer from any of these issues.
It's going to be on the small side for some, but it wears bigger than its size would indicate since it's still a PRX with all of the aforementioned quirks — just on a smaller scale. I'd say it wears how one would expect a 37mm watch to wear, and it just looks classy on the wrist. Aesthetically, it's the closest watch I've found to a budget Vacheron Constantin 222, a solid-gold 37mm stunner that retails for $74,000. Obviously, you're not getting Vacheron quality for Tissot money, but both watches have a similar '70s-cool vibe.
The one aspect of the size where I think the PRX 35 could use a little refinement is its thickness. It's a relatively thin watch on paper at 10.9mm, but because the case measures just 35mm across, that thickness is concentrated rather than spread out, making the watch appear just a tad stout on the wrist.
The crown is too small & the lume is nonexistent
Now, onto some nitpicks, and there really aren't very many. First, I found the crown to be too small. It's tiny. My fingers aren't enormous by any stretch, but even I had a hard time gripping the crown and adjusting the time. Another mm added to its size would go a long way, and I don't think it would mess with the watch's look (it may even improve it).
More annoying than the crown, though, is the watch's pathetic lume. It probably has the worst lume out of every watch I've ever handled that has lume. It's that bad. There are thin strips of Super-LumiNova on the hour and minute hand, and an even thinner application on all indices. But it's practically invisible. In the dark, I can ever so slightly make out the dim green glow of the hands, but they're very faint and fade quickly. The indices might as well not have lume at all — I literally could not make them out in the dark.
You might be tempted to give the watch a pass since, with its all-gold execution, it's basically a dress watch. But all PRX models suffer from the same lume treatment, and these are meant to be sports watches with 100m of water resistance, so you really ought to be able to read them in the dark.
The movement is far better than expected
The Swatch Group's Powermatic 80 movement used in the automatic PRX is one of the most controversial movements to come out in recent memory. There are rumors of a plastic escapement in the movement and laser-regulation from the factory that prevents traditional servicing, leading some to bemoan the movement as a "throwaway" movement akin to a Swatch Sistem51. But the escapement isn't plastic, it's a low-friction synthetic material, and the movement is serviceable.
As I only had the watch for a few weeks, I can't speak to the longevity of the movement, but I can speak to its performance. And on that front, consider this review glowing. The accuracy of the Powermatic 80 has been bang-on, outperforming my watches with Seiko, Sellita and ETA movements and running within about two seconds per day over the entire course of my testing period.
The 80-hour power reserve is also as advertised. I set the watch on my nightstand one Thursday evening around midnight and didn't pick it up again until Monday morning. It was still ticking and showing the correct time, making the PRX extra convenient for those who like to swap out their watches frequently.
Tissot PRX Powermatic 80 35mm Gold: Alternatives
Finding a competitor that checks all the boxes the PRX does is no easy task. Gold, integrated bracelet, Swiss-made, automatic and midsize ... all for under a grand? Good luck. The closest you'll come is the Rado Original Automatic, which comes in at $1,250 and has a design that admittedly is not for everyone (peep those sparkly indices). This watch is the only one I know of that meets all those criteria.
If you allow yourself some wiggle room though, you've got options. For around $200, you can get a gold-tone Q Timex 36mm, but it's going to both look and feel much cheaper than the Tissot ... because it is. On the microbrand front, Brew Watches out of New York has the Metric Max Gold, which is nicely finished and 36mm, but lacks an automatic movement. It's well-priced at $475. Finally, if you're more interested in steel than gold, you can't beat Christopher Ward's The Twelve, which I would consider the best integrated bracelet watch under $2,000. The 36mm version costs a few hundred more than the PRX at $1,225 on a bracelet, but the finishing is leagues better and it feels much more expensive in the metal.
