Silicon has many, many benefits for watches; anti-magnetism, longevity-of-life, temperature resistance, and not requiring lubricant being among them. However, because of the difficult-to-produce and fragile nature of silicon, hairsprings made of the material have typically been used exclusively in high-end timepieces.
And that is why Tissot unveiling the noble Tissot Ballade replica watches featuring a silicon balance spring and COSC-certified Powermatic 80 movement at Baselworld 2017 is unusual. And the most interesting part of that announcement? It will cost less than a thousand dollars.
Tissot is no stranger to anti-magnetic watches. During the 1930s, they created one of the first anti-magnetic watches with the Tissot Antimagnetique. Ever since then, they’ve been using anti-magnetic components in their watches, so the next natural step would be silicon. That’s not surprising. What’s surprising is the price.
There are seven models of the decent Tissot Ballade fake watches, and while the three ladies’ pieces were reviewed hands-on here back in September, the newest “Gents” models are a bit more masculine with a 39mm or 41mm case. All cases will be in steel with a Clous de Paris-patterned bezel and inner-dial disc, which I find a tasteful nod to the 1930s style.
Both the men’s and women’s watches will feature bi-tone rose-gold and yellow-gold-plated models, with the yellow gold coming on a stainless steel, bi-tone bracelet, and the rose-gold fitted with a brown leather strap on the Gents, and a white leather strap for the ladies.
A full stainless steel case with steel bracelet is also available for both. Each piece has the date window displayed at the 3 o’clock position. While I would normally always go for a bracelet, I find the steel case on black leather to fit the Tissot DNA more than the bi-tone bracelet models. Tissot Ballade copy watches with Swiss mechanical movements are water resistant up to 50m, and all models feature a sapphire crystal and transparent case-back displaying the movement (sorry we don’t have any pictures for you of it from Tissot).