My most versatile watch

The dependability of the Tissot PRC-200

Sometimes it pays to be a bit snobby.

Such a lapidary statement does not come out of nowhere, and even though it seems to have little relation to the topic at hand, please do follow my line of argumentation.

As many of you know, especially if you follow me on Instagram (@cove_watches shameless plug) one of my most worm watches is the Tissot T-Touch Solar Expert, this watch has been on my wrist since finished high school in 2015.

I used it for everything, exercising, University, dates, Chem labs, dress events, vacations, you name it, but by around 2018 I realized it couldn't do everything regarding the environments where it would be worn, as it didn’t cut it at project presentations and fancy dinners.

So, I asked for a watch as a birthday present, at that time I barely knew about watches, I knew I wanted a dress watch, but did not know it was called a dress watch, so the summary for the present was the following:

A white dialed, leather strap watch that I could use for fancy events.

Remember around that time, it was the heyday of Daniel Wellington and MVMNT, so the fashion-watch risk was high, and I must admit that the inspiration for the watch came from them, please don’t revoke my watch nerd card.

But thankfully my parents knew better, and in March 2018 coming back from Uni, a box marked with a T+ logo was in my bed and the Tissot PRC200 entered my life.

With its 40 mm in diameter, 44mm lug to lug, 19mm lug width, and 11 mm thickness the watch proved to be in the Goldilocks zone without realizing it, and a mixture of polished and brushed surfaces, especially the two brushed lines that run around the mid-case, lends the watch an air of sophistication, with a slight rugged edge.

But the star of the show was, and still is, the slightly off-white dial with cardinal 3-9-12 Arabics, small 5-minute indicators at the rest of the indices, seamlessly integrated date at four o’clock, and stamped concentric chronograph sub dials.

All inside of a flat sapphire crystal and inlaid within an internal tachymeter scale.

The watch is powered by a simple 60-minute quartz chronograph movement that can count to tenths of a second, on a one-tick center seconds hand and small running “ticking” seconds.

The feedback of the pushers is very crunchy in a good way, thus making the chrono experience very easy and a rapid-slow reset (it makes sense when you have it) lends the watch a certain reassuring heft.

This all comes on a gator-printed calf leather strap on a butterfly deployant buckle, which came quite stiff out of the box. to the degree that it needed at least three weeks of wearing it in to become comfortable.

Leaving the technical details aside, the main reason for this article is to discuss how versatile this watch is.

Immediately the monochromatic tendency of the dial lends to this versatility because if you leave it on the leather, it becomes a sporty dress watch ala Polerouter, as it is a watch that is solidly built-for-purpose, but with finer details that help it blend in on more elevated occasions.

When you change the strap to a NATO strap, then the watch takes on a more relaxed approach without feeling ridiculous or forced, it helps the watch blend into whatever you’re wearing, working with either a button-up or a t-shirt, especially when it’s a lighter colored NATO, as the contrast of it with the dial makes it all pop out in the best way possible.

Lastly, when we put this watch on a rubber strap, specifically a Marlon Band-O from CNS, it still feels at home, as a darker rubber strap lends the watch an air of laidback elegance that can also just take on more adventurous tasks, quick rinse of the watch and strap and back into sipping cocktails at the important meeting.

If it were up to me, I would ship this baby with a white stitch FKM rubber strap and a desert-colored NATO to let the colors play with the dial.

It does work with almost everything, the almost being the fact that I haven’t tested it on a bracelet, and personally I’m not going to spend a huge amount of money on a 19mm Milanese when the straps work so well.

Now one of the key features to the versatility of this watch lies in its name, and as you have seen in the picture, it has a water resistance rating of 200m.

Yes, a dressy chrono with a depth rating of 200m.

This is thanks to a 5 mm screw-down crown and gaskets on the pushers, no they’re not screw-down, so I would not advise on using them while performing underwater activities, but that’s where the crunchiness comes to the rescue, as they take a bit of extra force to press them.

So yes, this watch can work for the meeting room, as well as the beach, and it can be all done on the same day nonstop if you pick the right strap.

Now, just because this is versatile it does not mean that there are not any flaws on this watch.

Firstly, is the 19mm lug width, which is annoying to say the least, as 18mm straps look a bit lacking while the 20mm NATO straps look wedged in there because they are effectively wedged between the kugs. So, I must buy dedicated 19mm straps, which thankfully are relatively common, but they’re still complicated to source in certain styles.

Then there is the issue of lume, as far as I know is standard Swiss Superluminova, but the application on the hands, although adequate, leaves much to be desired after dark, and the less we talk about the lume on the indices the better, as it is functionally, non-existent.

But one of the key drawbacks of this baby is the legibility, polished silver hands on an off-white dial are not the best option for legibility as in certain angles they essentially disappear, even in the chrono sub dials, thus wrist repositioning is necessary two or three times to properly read the time.

Lastly, my final gripe with the watch is that the movement is a bit loud, yes you need to activate the chrono (the 10th of a second indicator runs for the first minute) or be really close to the watch to hear it, but it’s something that can be noticeable.

Despite its drawbacks, this watch has been good to me. I have taken it to presentations at Uni, dinner parties, my brother’s thesis defense, the beach, pints with the lads, dinner dates, the pool and even the gym, working perfectly as one mind you.

Due to its unassuming characteristics and useful complications, this is my most versatile watch.

I want to rescue a concept that Jody from Just One More Watch has, the “grab and go watch,” a single, usually affordable, quartz watch in your collection that will always be at the precise time and date, due to the precision of quartz movements.

Needless to say, this is my grab-and-go piece and is one that I hope to keep this baby for a long time, as it has the perfect mixture of versatility and sentimental value to be in the collection for a very long time, and serve as the standard for future GADA watch purchases.

As always…