Vintage Tissot Bumper Auto

Posts
27
Likes
30
This Tissot was given to me from my grandfather in the late 60’s. I think he bought it around 1950 give or take. It was sitting in a shoebox until 2018 when i found it and decided to get it fully serviced.
As an owner of many watches, new and old, I really came to appreciate the small size. Rotating watches is interesting. ESP going from my Omega SMP 300 to this. It’s actually liberating. Even on my 7.5+inch wrist.
It keeps decent time. Approx 30 seconds slow per day. It can probably be adjusted to be a little better.
It is gold filled. However, I looks to me like the bezel is solid gold. Does anyone know if that is the case by looking at the pictures?
As fas as I know, it was very comparable to the Omega sea master from that same era. Actually hard to tell the difference.
 
Posts
16,307
Likes
44,936
Welcome @KJL

Cant speak to the gold content of the bezel but I wouldn’t doubt it being solid, as were the gold capped Seamaster’s of which this was the little brother- very smart looking watch.
You will find you are in good company of once big-watch owners that have gone the other direction- small is liberating, effortless, no wrist anchor, don’t need a small child to hold your arm up as you walk.
90% of my collection now is under 40mm with a large percentage 34mm or smaller. Welcome to the club.
 
Posts
21,679
Likes
49,164
Yes, it appears to have gold-capped lugs, which is much nicer than gold-filled. The bezel is quite likely solid, although I don't know what karat. Bumper movement?
 
Posts
14,570
Likes
42,148
Nice watch! The case on your watch is called “gold shell”. That is, hollow karat gold alloy caps to fit snugly over the case lugs, and likely soldered on. The bezel appears to be removable, and could be either gold shell over steel, or even karat gold alloy. I have seen the odd Tissot bumper automatic from that era. As I recall, the movements somewhat resemble Omega movements from that era. Could be the pictured movement. We’d need to see it with the case back, off.

 
Posts
3,190
Likes
13,859
Hello @KJL and welcome to the forum!
You have a lovely heirloom - the best kind of watch there is to be had. If you are curious, you can date the year of manufacture of your watch by the serial number on the movement; there are tables on the interwebs that help you with this. In the meanwhile, you might enjoy these threads:

https://omegaforums.net/threads/do-you-like-tissot-many-pics.58233/
https://omegaforums.net/threads/vintage-tissot.63179/
 
Posts
32
Likes
92
Yes the Tissot and Omega bumpers were pretty similar, might be due to some form of sharing between the two brands. If I recall correctly, they were under the SSIH, which would form the basis for the modern day Swatch Group 😀