Tissot

Tissot ― the cradle of the Swiss hour art which arose in the middle of the 19th century in the small town of Le Locle ― possesses rich and fascinating history.

On July 1, 1853 the assembler of gold hour cases Charles-Felisien Tisso jointly with the son Charles-Emile opened the workshop Ch. Félicien Tissot & Fils (Sh. Felisyen Tisso and son). In those days Tissot represented the studio on handicraft assembly of hours consisting of network of independent highly-skilled employees. They by a craft method made various details which then gathered in finished products and were on sale in a workshop. The company issued the pocket watch, magnificent hours pendents and models with difficult functions mainly intended for implementation in the first market ― in the USA. Then Russia became the main zone of sales of products.

By the end of 1917 the Chs limited liability company was born. Tissot & Fils SA which represented a manufactory on production of basic clockworks ― the status remaining behind it during the whole decades. Soon the company strengthened the presence in various regions of the world.

In 1930 Tissot and Omega united in the hour SSIH group (Société Suisse pour l’Industrie Horlogère, the Swiss company of the hour industry).

By 1970th years the hour industry of Switzerland was under serious influence of the crisis caused by emergence of a quartz movement. In 1983 Nicholas G. Hayek who is engaged in the analysis in the sphere of the hour industry recommended to perform merge of the largest corporations of that time: SSIH (mainly, Tissot and Omega) and ASUAG (holding of producers of mechanisms and procurements of details). In 1998 group under the name SMH (Swiss Corporation for Microelectronics and Watchmaking Industries Ltd., the Swiss corporation of microelectronics and the hour industry) was renamed into The Swatch Group. In 1996 Francois Tiebo is appointed the managing director of the Tissot company.