Le Tour de France, the celebrated cycling race, started down its long road on July 1st from Spain’s Basque country with the familiar face of Tissot punctuating the trail blazed by the best cyclists in the world. The Swiss watch maker is the official timekeeper of the Tour, an essential position that requires ultimate trust for cycling time trials and finish lines can come down to a few seconds or even milliseconds. With its some 176 participants, some 3,400 kilometers, the Tour de France is the most prestigious cycling race in the world and millions of people around the world tune into the Tour and not just for the thrilling race, sprints and mountain climbs but also the spectacular scenery along the way. Tissot was the official time keeper for the Tour de France from 1988 until 1992 and now once again since 2016. In honor of the partnership between Tissot and the Tour de France the house creates each year a special limited edition Tour de France watch.

The 2023 Tissot T-Race Cycling timepiece embraces a classic design with some cycling touches on board. The watch push buttons resemble the brake gears while the hands of the watch evoke the spokes of the wheel. The bottom of the case reveals the logo for the Tour de France in yellow and in red for the Vuelta, Spain’s equivalent of the race. 

This year for the first time the watch comes outfitted with two bracelets, the first is in silicone in the color of the race, Tour de France or Vuelta, and a second bracelet in perforated leather evoking the bicycle’s handlebar protections. The watch’s handsome black dial is in asphalt, a surface well known to cyclists. The 45mm watch is outfitted with a quartz movement and a tachymeter and is water-resistant to 330 feet (100 meters). 

Tissot, which was founded in Switzerland in 1853, is also the official timekeeper for two other great cycling races, Spain’s Vuelta and Italy’s Giro respectively in red and pink. Tissot has also been the official timekeeper of the NBA since 2015 and is the official timekeeper for the Grand Prix motorcycling races.©Trish Valicenti for The Gourmet Gazette.http://www.tissotwatches.com/en-gb/

See also: https://thegourmetgazette.com/2023/07/01/a-tour-within-a-tour-with-the-biodiversity-tour-of-the-tour-de-france/