The Tissot PRX is now less a watch than a range. Since the automatic version arrived, Tissot has run it in 40mm, 38mm, 35mm and 25mm, in steel, titanium, damascus steel and forged carbon, in almost every dial colour, plus chronographs and the odd licensed special. The latest addition is a small one on paper and a sensible one in practice: the white mother-of-pearl dial, until now reserved for the 35mm model, is now available in the 40mm Powermatic 80. Monochrome covered it on 20 August.
A texture, not just a colour
The move matters because mother-of-pearl is usually filed under "ladies' watch", cased small and left there. Putting it in the 40mm PRX is Tissot's way of saying the material can carry a full-size sports watch. And it works better than a plain white dial would, because the PRX dial is not flat. It keeps the collection's signature "tapisserie" pattern, a fine waffle grid pressed across the surface, and mother-of-pearl's iridescence catches that texture differently as the light moves, adding a shallow depth a painted dial cannot. The rest of the layout is standard PRX: applied metallic markers, faceted hands filled with Super-LumiNova, "PRX" and "Powermatic 80" stacked above six, and a framed date window at three.
The case and movement are unchanged
Nothing else moves. The steel case is 40mm in diameter and 10.9mm thick, 44mm from lug to lug, with the barrel-shaped profile and brushed-and-polished finishing that made the PRX a runaway success, plus a sapphire crystal, a see-through caseback and 100m of water resistance. Inside sits the Powermatic 80, the workhorse automatic built on the ETA 2824 with an extended 80-hour power reserve, 23 jewels, a 21,600vph beat and a Nivachron antimagnetic hairspring.
The integrated steel bracelet closes on a triple-folding clasp with safety push-buttons and uses Tissot's quick-release system, so it can be swapped for a leather or rubber strap, sold separately for around EUR 70, without tools.
Price
Reference T137.407.11.111.00 is in the permanent collection and available immediately at EUR 825, CHF 725 or USD 850. That is a EUR 50 premium over a standard metal-dial PRX Powermatic 80, which buys the mother-of-pearl and little else, since case, movement and bracelet are shared. In a collection this crowded that is exactly the kind of low-stakes line extension the PRX thrives on, and at this price it remains one of the more convincing automatic sports watches under a thousand euros. See tissotwatches.com for details.
