Tissot T12 Chronograph on Gay Freres bracelet
This chunky, UFO cased Tissot T12 long playing chronograph is still fitted with the original Gay Frères bracelet. Model reference 40505.
HOW DO WE DATE THIS WATCH?
From the serial number on the bracelet we can accurately date this watch to being no earlier than January 1972.
CONDITION
The Tissot T12 Chronograph was launched in 1970 with this movement, and became the top of the range watch for Tissot. The movement is made by Lemania, and that is a good name for chronograph movements. This is a seventeen jewel calibre 873, beating at 21,600bph, and is known as a long player chronograph as it can time up to 12 hours. This manual wind movement is working well, starting and resetting perfectly and keeping good time. The case is known as a UFO style, like a lot of early 1970’s watches due to the space race. The bracelet is by Gay Frères, one of the very best bracelet makers in the business and it is a very good length. You can read an article on Gay Frères on Hodinkee here to learn more about their bracelets and why Rolex, Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet all turned to them for bracelets. The press on case back has an engraving on, which is quite light and difficult to read (Gardner?). The case does have small marks on it but no real dings except one light one near the crown, shown in the video. The off white dial is clean, and the contrasting panda subdials black with white print. The chrono hands are all red, and the constant seconds hand is white. There is a little lume missing from the minute hand. All of the prominent hour markers are present and correct. The crystal has a couple of small cracks, but they are small and barely noticeable when wearing the watch so we have left it original.
This watch will be supplied with our branded presentation box and our Certificate of Authenticity.
All photos and videos are part of the description and are of the actual watch unless mentioned. We do not photoshop any pictures, and the images are our copyright and should not be used without permission. A video of this watch is available but we are unable to share it on this platform, but you may contact us via the C24 messaging system if you wish to see it.
SIZE
Width with crown 45.4 mm
Width without crown 43.4 mm
Lug to lug length 43.4 mm
Case Thickness 14.6 mm
Bracelet will fit a maximum wrist size of 206 mm. The bracelet can be sized for you if you give us your wrist size when placing the order.
All sizes are approximate.
Included with this watch is a 3 month guarantee and free delivery to UK addresses. If you live outside the UK we can still deliver to most countries. Please see our Worldwide Shipping information, or Contact Us.
From 1st September 2021 we will be planting a tree for every watch we sell, working with the International Tree Foundation (Est 1922) to make this business positive on carbon. By buying anything pre owned you are effectively reusing what already exists, but this takes it further and makes us feel good.Currently we can not link videos to these descriptions, but if you search for us on the world's largest video sharing platform you will see the video of each watch we are selling. Please check all our reviews, not just on here but elsewhere, to see what people say about us. As watch collectors/obsessives we aim to send out watches that we would like to receive personally. Please be aware that custom duties may apply at the rate set by your respective country that we are not responsible for.
