Tissot T12 Navigator

Ffff333 · Aug 25, 2022

Hi folks,

well I’m in the market for another vintage, and I’ve decided to focus my attention on the Tissot T12 range. I love the UFO cases!

I have spent some time looking at these, and getting myself up to speed with what to look for etc, however, as with most watches I buy online - I thought I’d run it by the forum first.

The lower crown is not original, to be fair the seller has pointed this out as well. I also have reservations about the blue hand, and the bezel.

I know that there were a few different iterations of this watch, however I don’t think I have ever seen this bezel on the T12 navigator - though I may be wrong. Seller has not provided any movement shots which is frustrating.

They’re asking $600.

Any thoughts and opinions are much appreciated. As always, if this thread should be elsewhere, just let me know! 😀

Cheers

Vitezi · Aug 25, 2022

Hi @Ffff333 and welcome to the forum! Before you spend $600 on that watch (or any vintage watch, for that matter 😀) you should try to find as much reference material as you can. In your case, there are catalog images from the 1970s that show you what was originally released from the factory:

A comparison of the catalog image suggests the blue second hand and the countdown bezel on your example appears to be original and correct. Note the use of two differently-shaped crowns as well.

More information and other examples of these watches can be found in these threads:
https://omegaforums.net/threads/vintage-tissot-resources.88078/
https://omegaforums.net/threads/vintage-tissot.63179/

You can get a feel for auction prices on these watches by going to eBay and searching for "sold items" examples. Sales prices seem to hover around $300 for nice examples, but I would encourage you to do your own review.

Ffff333 · Aug 25, 2022

Vitezi
Hi @Ffff333 and welcome to the forum! Before you spend $600 on that watch (or any vintage watch, for that matter 😀) you should try to find as much reference material as you can. In your case, there are catalog images from the 1970s that show you what was originally released from the factory:

A comparison of the catalog image suggests the blue second hand and the countdown bezel on your example appears to be original and correct. Note the use of two differently-shaped crowns as well.

More information and other examples of these watches can be found in these threads:
https://omegaforums.net/threads/vintage-tissot-resources.88078/
https://omegaforums.net/threads/vintage-tissot.63179/

You can get a feel for auction prices on these watches by going to eBay and searching for "sold items" examples. Sales prices seem to hover around $300 for nice examples, but I would encourage you to do your own review.

Hi Vitezi,

Many thanks for the kind welcome to the forum and for the information that you have provided 😀

I am certainly an advocate for conducting as much research as possible, though I haven’t spent too much time looking at Tissots - though from trawling through pages and pages of Seamasters, the devil seems to always be in the detail.

Many thanks for posting a photo of the catalogue, which seems like a great resource. Did you come across this online? Also, congrats on the stunning watches (assuming these are yours), the bottom left of stunning!

If I were to buy, I’d certainly be negotiating down. Though I don’t want to get ahead of myself!

Cheers

Ffff333 · Aug 31, 2022

Sorry to bump this thread folks, but on the off-chance, does anybody happen to know if parts (specifically crowns) - are readily available to pick up for these models?

sheepdoll · Aug 31, 2022

Ohh look there is a watch like mine on the left. Anyone have a straight on view of this catalog page? I can not make out the reference
number.

I had mine redialed. I got this as a box of loose parts. Amazing I was able to put it back together. (one pusher part is missing which I did my best to duplicate.)
I had the dial repainted (as that is what was done at the time.) For some reason the blue on the telephone indicator on the minute register was not painted blue. I wonder how I knew where to place the red hands.
Mine does not seem to be running. I may not have oiled it correctly when I re-assembled it.
(I sure seem to have a lot of chronographs.)
-j

Willbur · Sep 6, 2022

I know the guy who took this picture 😗

For each round T12 there is a specific color of the second hand.
For the chrono on the left ref 40505, it's the red.
For navigator it's yellow.
And you're right, bezel is not the one for navigator which is country or 24 number.

The first watch from the OP is clearly a franken.
Is it a simple T12 with a Navigator dial so without 24h movement or a mix of several parts ? I don't know...

Tissot T12 Navigator

Ffff333

Vitezi

Ffff333

Ffff333

sheepdoll

Willbur

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