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·Based on the 1930s Louis Cottier world time design and modified for Tissot by designer Oscar Waldan, the first generation Navigator was launched in 1951 and was produced through 1953.
The caliber 28.5-N21 bumper automatic was specifically made for the Navigator. The central city disk (one location per time zone) rotates once every 24 hours and is read against a fixed 24-hour dial to indicate the time in each zone. A push button uncouples the city disk to allow local time to be set without disturbing world time. Local time (12 hours) is indicated on the bezel with the minute track placed at the farthest edge of the dial.
Tissot developed a few different city dials over the three-year production run. As with other world time watches, the idea was to use a major capital or well-known location in each of the different time zones to denote the time zone.
This city dial was applied to the first Navigators circa 1951. Notice that Bombay and Calcutta are in separate time zones, as India Standard Time had not yet been widely adopted:
This version of the city dial was also applied to early Navigators. It is similar to the dial above but replaces Juneau with Yukon TY and Mexico (City) with Chicago:
This dial variant came along slightly later, circa 1952. The dial replaces London with Greenwich, returns Juneau and Mexico back to the dial, and combines Bombay and Calcutta into India Standard Time:
This dial was clearly marketed at the USA, with the four continental US cities printed in red. I have spent way too many hours ruminating over why the dial reverted to Yukon TY instead of Juneau. This version was produced at the end of the production run in 1953:
These watches came cased in steel, 18k, 14k, and yellow gold-capped, and an uncommon rose gold. The wide blued/lumed hands were found on steel and gold-capped versions, while the thinner blued hands came on the 18k and 14k gold variants. Most Navigators have applied arabic numerals on the 24 hour dial, but the later versions also came with painted numerals.
The caliber 28.5-N21 bumper automatic was specifically made for the Navigator. The central city disk (one location per time zone) rotates once every 24 hours and is read against a fixed 24-hour dial to indicate the time in each zone. A push button uncouples the city disk to allow local time to be set without disturbing world time. Local time (12 hours) is indicated on the bezel with the minute track placed at the farthest edge of the dial.
Tissot developed a few different city dials over the three-year production run. As with other world time watches, the idea was to use a major capital or well-known location in each of the different time zones to denote the time zone.
This city dial was applied to the first Navigators circa 1951. Notice that Bombay and Calcutta are in separate time zones, as India Standard Time had not yet been widely adopted:
This version of the city dial was also applied to early Navigators. It is similar to the dial above but replaces Juneau with Yukon TY and Mexico (City) with Chicago:
This dial variant came along slightly later, circa 1952. The dial replaces London with Greenwich, returns Juneau and Mexico back to the dial, and combines Bombay and Calcutta into India Standard Time:
This dial was clearly marketed at the USA, with the four continental US cities printed in red. I have spent way too many hours ruminating over why the dial reverted to Yukon TY instead of Juneau. This version was produced at the end of the production run in 1953:
These watches came cased in steel, 18k, 14k, and yellow gold-capped, and an uncommon rose gold. The wide blued/lumed hands were found on steel and gold-capped versions, while the thinner blued hands came on the 18k and 14k gold variants. Most Navigators have applied arabic numerals on the 24 hour dial, but the later versions also came with painted numerals.
