Worn & Wound
The Rock Watch is Back, and We Smell What Tissot is Cooking
Stone dials, as we’re all aware, have been having a moment over these last couple of years. Time, I suppose, will tell if the prevalence of stone dials across more affordable price ranges is a trend, or just a new part of the watch landscape that we’ll all just accept and live with, like green dials, or carbon cases. With the renewed popularity of this inherently 1970s/80s inspired design cue, it was really only a matter of time before we saw the return of a watch that takes the use of stone to a different level entirely. The Tissot Rock Watch, an artifact of the 1980s if ever there was one, is back, albeit in a limited edition that might be tough to acquire depending on your geography (more on that in a bit). First, a little background on the Rock Watch. Launched in 1985, Tissot claims that the Rock Watch was the first ever watch with a case and dial made entirely from granite procured from the Swiss Alps. I’ll admit here that I haven’t done a ton of scholarly research on the topic, but I’m willing to take Tissot at face value here simply because granite is a particularly difficult material to work with, requiring highly specific machines and tooling. It’s a watch that doesn’t make a ton of practical sense from a production standpoint, but naturally was quite popular in the mid 80s and eventually spawned an entire collection for Tissot that featured a huge variety of exotic stones. Original Rock Watches from the 1980s The new version of the Rock Watch rema...
