Review of Mathey-Tissot ‘Rolly’ Vintage Automatic

Model # H901ATLV

Brand/Model: Mathey-Tissot ‘Rolly’ Vintage Automatic

Movement:  Swiss automatic

Material:  stainless steel case and smooth leather strap

Complications: date display

Price:  MSRP $650 USD (can be found discounted)

Plenty of photos follow the review. Click on the pictures to enlarge.

Here’s one of those Swiss watch names that has a truly rich heritage and legitimate horological chops yet it gets kind of murky as to what they’ve been up to in the last 20 or 30 years.  I’m talking about Mathey-Tissot, which currently has this trademark held by the Geneva Watch Group which among other fashion brands includes Kenneth Cole.  Whether this is still accurate, I do not know.  There’s also an enterprise called SWP (Swiss Watch Partners) that is listed on the M-T web site.  Where’s Jim Rockford when you need him?  And just to be clear, Mathey-Tissot has no relation to the Tissot watch brand.

Whatever the somewhat mysterious ownership trail of Mathey-Tissot really is, here we are in 2018 with the brand creating a wide range of both automatic and quartz timepieces which fit in the sweet spot of a couple hundred bucks up to a few thousand.

It was 1886 in the Jura region of Switzerland when Mathey-Tissot (or ‘M-T’ here for short) was founded and it seems the company’s heyday was from the late 19^th century into the mid-20^th century.  They did make some pretty sweet watches, including chronographs, repeaters, flybacks and silver dollar ‘coin’ watches.  Even ‘The King’ Elvis Presley had an M-T watch.  Thus endeth the history lesson for today.

What is being reviewed here is a modern, circa 2018 Mathey-Tissot automatic, which is part of their ‘Rolly’ Vintage collection.  This collection includes both automatic and quartz, in a wide range of dial and bezel colors, bezel types, case materials (stainless steel and bronze) and straps or bracelets. 

And yes, I know they all look like a Rolex, but that’s not the reason I bought one (I have two Rolex watches of my own); I purchased this watch because I liked the dial color/strap color combo, the movement and the price (purchased new for under $300 USD).  It’s a fun, easy to wear watch that can add a bit of pop to any collection.

The Rolly Vintage automatic starts with a polished and brushed stainless steel case that measures a comfortable 40mm in diameter (a bit larger it you measure across the bezel, which overhangs the case a bit on its edges), with proper 20mm lugs and a stylish 12.6mm thickness (although the case sides appear much thinner due to the way the case back steps in from the case sides and the bezel and crystal sit on top. 

The crown side of the case has twin guards to protect the crown and the left side of the case features an engraved ‘1886’, marking the year of the company’s founding.  It’s a small and not intrusive way to celebrate the brand’s heritage.

The case and crown together measure 45.8mm, with the crown being a screwdown type that seats home after three full turns.  The crown is also signed and is almost too small for me; any smaller and I would rate it ‘too dainty’ but it just squeaks into my acceptable range.  Overall, it’s a good presentation on the wrist.

The caseback is a display type, polished stainless steel, which shows off the automatic movement with signed Mathey-Tissot rotor.  Overall fit and finish is very good

The dial of the Rolly Vintage is a brilliant shade of green, not too minty, nor too dark, a perfect ‘just right’ in my big book of green dialed watches.  Let’s call it ‘Kelly’ green. 

The dial has screen printed markers in the now ubiquitous ‘vintage’ shade of lume (it looks yellow/orange), with classic hands (minute hand standard straight with pointed tip; hour hand in the Mercedes style), both silvertone with inset lume.  The seconds hand is a silver stick with a lume ball about two-thirds of the way up.  The lume glows a pleasing shade of green and appears to be of fairly decent quality, with solid illumination and no spotting or weak parts.

A quickset date is located at the 3 position with a black on white date wheel.  Quickset action is crisp, with the date being centered properly in the window.  An external cyclops magnifier does a good job of enlarging the date for easy reading, although the cyclops on my example is ever so slightly off-center, being tilted up to the right just a bit.  Not a huge discrepancy at this price point, but worth mentioning nonetheless.

The dial has minimal printing, with ‘Mathey-Tissot’ in script below the 12 and ‘Vintage’ with leaves on each side above the 6.  The ‘Vintage’ script does look a bit cheesy, but it also kind of grows on you.  ‘Swiss Made’ appears at the bottom of the dial.

There’s a 96-click unidirectional 24-hour bezel with a green aluminum insert that matches the dial color nicely.  The bezel turns with good friction and minimal backlash.  The even hours are in arabics, with odd hours marked with a dot and an inverted triangle at the top.  There is no lume on the bezel.

A 24-hour bezel can track a second time zone, so it’s a nifty addition to this watch.

Topping the dial is a moderately domed sapphire coated crystal (still really not sure what ‘sapphire coated’ means, is it applied to the top of a mineral crystal?) and is fit into the case smoothly and exhibits no distortion. 

Assembly quality on the dial showed no flaws or dirt under my 8X loupe exam. 

The M-T Rolly Vintage automatic is factory rated for 10 ATM of water resistance.

Inside the Rolly Vintage automatic is a tried and true Sellita SW-200 Swiss made automatic movement, running in 26 jewels and beating at 28,800 vibrations per hour.  The movement hacks and manually winds, just as you would expect.  The watch winds, sets and runs properly, exhibiting strong accuracy and good run time in my atelier. 

During testing, my M-T Rolly Vintage ran at +2 seconds over 24 hours in the crown-up position with a 42.5 hour power reserve.  Superb!

Another element that drew me to this watch was its availability on a smooth leather strap with minimal stitching, which seems all the rage these days.  The strap on my M-T is a smooth leather in a great looking darker green color which contrasts the dial color in a nice way.  The strap has white coarse stitching near the lugs only.

The strap measures 20mm at the lugs and tapers to 16mm at the brushed and signed stainless steel buckle.  There are two keepers, one fixed and one floating.  The underside of the strap is signed and the strap itself is not padded, but is soft and flexible for a comfortable fit.  It’s also a tad thick but looks great on the watch.

Presentation is a rectangular black outer cardboard box and a black rectangular inner box, all signed with the Mathey-Tissot name.  No instructions and just a warranty pamphlet where included.  The presentation is nothing special and it would have been nice to have a slightly upgraded presentation given the rich history of the brand.

Overall, the Mathey-Tissot Rolly Vintage Automatic does not break any new ground in design or aesthetics (except maybe for the in vogue smooth leather strap) but it also doesn’t violate standards of good taste as so many watches do these days.  It’s simply another in a long list of homage style watches that in this case, exhibits good build quality, a unique combination of available colors, a useful 24-hour bezel and a reliable automatic movement for a small admission price.  Safe to say, it’s a safe bet.

Pros: dependable and accurate Swiss automatic movement, 24-hour bezel flexibility, neat dial color, good overall quality and value 

Cons:  yet another homage style watch, cyclops could be aligned better, somewhat cheesy script on the dial

Verdict:  here’s an homage with some real Swiss heritage, a well-known automatic movement and a fun, carefree attitude.  You really can’t go wrong here for the price

Thanks for reading and enjoy the pics.

Excelsior!

-Marc

Review of Glycine Airman SST-12 Automatic GMT

Model # GL0074

Brand/Model: Glycine Airman SST-12 Automatic GMT

Movement:  Swiss automatic

Material:  stainless steel case and stainless steel mesh bracelet

Complications: date display, independently adjustable GMT hand, inner rotating 24-hour bezel

Price:  approx. $2640 USD (can be found heavily discounted)

Plenty of photos follow the review. Click on the pictures to enlarge.

About two years ago, the Invicta Watch Group purchased the Swiss watch company Glycine, presumably to give themselves more of an ‘in’ with the genuine Swiss-made watch market and because many Swiss makers are struggling these days and I’m sure the price was right.  I won’t go into the whys and maybes associated with the acquisition, but I am glad that since the deal was done, existing stocks of Glycine watches have gone down in price and can be had at ‘steal’ prices at many retailers online.

Glycine was founded in 1914 and was for the majority of time a small, independent watchmaker that made its name with the iconic Airman series of 24-hour and GMT pilot watches that made their debut in 1953.  There are far too many variations of the Airman line to dissect here, but if you’re looking for a true GMT watch that can track up to three timezones at once or a true 24-hour format watch with GMT capability, look no further than the Airman.

I have previously owned a 24-hour format Airman (the hands make one full rotation every 24 hours instead to two (a.m./p.m.) and it was a nice piece (reviewed by me on this blog, May 2012); I just never warmed up to nor needed the 24 hour format. 

As I do enjoy a watch with a GMT complication, I’m always looking for another one to add to my collection and when the Airman SST that is the subject of this review popped up at a great price, I pulled the trigger and haven’t looked back, as it’s a superb piece.

And before we go any further, I wanted to make it clear that this model of Airman is a standard 12-hour timepiece, with a.m. and p.m. cycles and is part of Glycine’s ‘Vintage’ Airman series.

The Glycine Airman SST-12 starts with a stainless steel cushion-style case that is polished on the sides and finely brushed on the top.  The case measures about 42.4mm without the perfectly sized signed and screwdown crown; 46.7mm crown inclusive.  Overall height is 46.4mm which makes for a nice placement on the wrist.  The curve of the case hugs the wrist extremely well.

Case thickness is a relatively svelte 11.1mm with lug spacing at 22mm.  The polished caseback screws down and displays a beautifully embossed design of a supersonic Concorde jet with a polished relief and a satin grey background.  Super cool.

The crown at three is the watch setting crown, which is signed and screws down with about four full turns.  The crown is a bit wobbly when fully extended, which is a bit odd, but it never feels like it’s about to fall out. 

There is also a screwhead slotted crown at the two position, which is used to turn the inner 24-hour rotating bezel.  This crown is very stiff, so once it’s moved to the desired position, it will stay put.  Glycine supplies a nickel-sized ‘coin’ that fits into the slotted crown to rotate the bezel (see photo).  You could use something else, but this ‘coin’ fits perfectly and looks pretty cool as well, as it’s emblazoned with the Glycine name and SST nomenclature.

Fit and finish on the watch is strong, and the quality of the mesh bracelet (to be discussed shortly) is great. This watch is very comfortable to wear, in part due to the very comfy bracelet.

The Glycine Airman SST-12 is factory rated for 20 ATM of water resistance.

Part of what drew me to this particular model Airman is the color of the dial.  I’m one of those watch guys that dig lighter color dials, like white, ivory and cream and while the dial on this watch is not entirely one of those shades, it is close, more like silvery cream.  It’s a very pleasing hue. 

While the dial might look plenty busy with all the arabics on it (and regular readers will know I don’t like overly busy dials) this watch is actually very legible and not confusing to look at.  The outer track of the dial is a 24-hour chapter ring with orange numbers, with another 24-hour ring with black numbers that is the inner rotating bezel controlled by the screwhead slotted crown at the 2 o’clock position.

On the inside of the first chapter ring are hash marks for the seconds and standard arabics every five minutes, both in black.  Lumed rectangles are also positioned above each of the black arabics, with small lume dots between each five minute arabic.

Below the 12 position is the Glycine crown logo (printed, not applied), ‘Glycine’ and ‘Airman’ all in small black type.  Other than a small ‘Swiss Made’ at the bottom of the dial, there’s also ‘Automatic’ above the six position and small AM and PM markings in orange (AM on the center right and PM on the center left.

I know this dial sounds like there’s a lot going on, but trust me, it all works together nicely.  And remember, all this info on the dial means you can track three timezones at once.

The hands are simple stick style, done in silver with inset lume.  The seconds hand is a simple silver stick as well, with a lume ball about two-thirds of the way up.  A red arrow-style GMT hand extends all the way to the inside of the 24-hour rotating track.

While there’s not an abundance of lume on this watch, what there is appears to be of good quality.  The hands glow green and the rest of the markers are a green-blue.

A quickset date is at the three position, with a black on white date wheel.  Alignment of the date wheel in the window is fine and the quickset date mechanism functions perfectly.

A flat sapphire crystal caps the dial with three layers of anti-reflective coating on the underside. 

There is also a fixed polished bezel (really more of a thin ring or rim) that has 14 sides to it and pretty much blends into the case and doesn’t stand out or distract.  One small nit to pick (at least to my fussy self) is that this bezel could be aligned a smidge better, so that the flat part of one of the sides is even with the top of the watch.  As you will see if you look closely in my pictures that it’s every so slight crooked, but most people won’t notice it or be bothered by it.  It doesn’t bug me, but I wanted to make mention of it nonetheless.

Inside the Airman SST-12 is the venerable ETA 2893-2 Swiss made automatic movement (Glycine caliber GL 293 with decorated Glycine rotor).  This is a great movement, proven in many different brands of watches and keeps great time. 

The GL 293/2893-2 runs in 21 jewels and beats at 28,800 vph.  I have read that due to the case size on some of the Glycine Airmans that there is a spacer to have the movement fit properly inside the case, but seeing that the caseback is solid on this watch and I don’t want to open it up to look, I will leave it at that.  Besides, spacers don’t bother me as they seem to do some people.

The GL 293 inside my Airman winds silently and sets properly, hacks and keeps outstanding time.  During testing in my atelier, it ran at +1 second over 24 hours in the crown up position, and also keeps this excellent time on the wrist as well.  Outstanding!  Power reserve is equally impressive, clocking in at 50 ¼ hours of run time on a full wind.

As with all ETA 2893-2 movements, the third GMT hand sets with the crown in the date setting position.  You rotate the crown up (clockwise) to set the GMT hand in one hour increments.

Overall, I have zero complaints about the engine in the SST-12 and it should provide years of reliable, accurate timekeeping.

Another design feature of the SST-12 that attracted me to this watch is the inclusion of a mesh bracelet.  As many WISes know, mesh bracelets come in a wide variety of styles and adjustment schemes.  This is a finer style mesh (fine chainmail or milanese type) that looks great and gives a dressier feel to this watch.  The bracelet is finely polished, but not glaringly so, and is fairly flexible so fitment is not a problem.  The bracelet is 2.5mm thick.

The bracelet measures 22mm at both the lug and clasp ends.  The lug ends are nicely capped where the spring bar fits through and the clasp is a signed double locking type.  What I particularly like about this style of mesh is that there are no links to remove, you simply release the ‘lock’ or clamp on the inside of the clasp and slide the opposite end of the bracelet through the clasp to the desired fitment and re-secure the clamp, no muss or fuss for a perfect fit.  The bracelet is comfortable and does not pull any hairs.

Presentation is standard, a black cardboard outer box with the Glycine logo and a black inner box with the instructions and warranty in a separate envelope.  A clean and straightforward setup.

I have owned several Glycine watches over the years and have always found them to be quality pieces with some unique design elements and this Airman SST-12 is no exception.  For one, it’s not a watch that you see every day, even with the storied history of the Airman line.  This watch is well built, keeps exceptional time and has very useful timezone tracking features for those who need such a feature, or those like me that just think it’s a cool watch that looks great and has some history behind it.  Grab one while you can and enjoy it to the max.

Pros:  storied watch series from an established Swiss brand, robust Swiss engine with superb accuracy, super nice bracelet, true multi-timezone capability, great overall look 

Cons:  dial might be too busy for some, top bezel ring could be aligned a smidge better, could use more lume

Verdict:  it doesn’t get much more iconic than an Airman from Glycine, no matter with flavor you choose, an excellent choice for pilots or anyone who wants a GMT watch with a story and one that will deliver the goods year after year.  Simply a superb watch!

Thanks for reading and enjoy the pics.

Excelsior!

-Marc