Introducing the Tissot PRX x UFO Robot Grendizer

Introduction

Introduced to a media press event in Milan and officially celebrated during a dedicated event in Rome, the special edition Tissot PRX x UFO Robot Grendizer is among the summer’s sweetest new products. The Swiss brand and Japanese manga artist Gō Nagai joined forces to debut a watch that speaks volumes to the watchmaking and anime enthusiasts communities worldwide.

While the PRX ranks as one of – perhaps the – most wanted entry-level sports watches with an integrated bracelet, the legendary anime known in Italy as Atlas UFO Robot, once produced by Toei Animation, hit the spot by the end of the seventies.

Who is Gō Nagai?

He is a famous cartoonist and illustrator who was already known in the early nineties for creating Mazinger Z and Great Mazinger. Ufo Robot Grendizer is the third chapter and, likely, the most successful.

Japanese anime and Swiss technology

Despite appearing during the same decade, there was no connection between these two businesses back then. Tissot and UFO Robot Grendizer, as named worldwide, merge into a timepiece whose base is a standard 40mm mechanical PRX. The dial, whose pattern holds Grendizer’s profile filled with luminescent material, glows vivid yellow in the dark and is topped with plenty of references to Japanese manga.

Referencing Goldrake is the somewhat hidden “UFO ロボ グレンダイザー” wording at twelve, standing for “UFO Robot Grendizer”. Flip the watch over, and you will see the 80-hour and Nivachron™-hairspring-equipped Powermatic 80 calibre showcasing an oscillating mass with a UFO Robot Grendizer engraving on top. Icing on the cake, you will love the central seconds running hand whose counterbalance end is shaped like a “space halberd”.

Golden ratio size means the watch is 40 mm large and 10.9 mm thick. Water resistance up to 100 meters (despite the watch not adopting a screw-down crown) is all you need to complete a compelling watch, building on the long-lasting and praised PRX.

Final thoughts

A Tissot PRX x UFO Robot Grendizer is on order and on its way to our studio. We love the project and its super attractive listed price of 895 Euros. Currently, the amount of requests far exceeds product availability.

We could not expect anything different. The partnership builds on the PRX and brings a “wow factor” to those who grew up watching Grendizer and new generations who learned the story from their parents.

The price is in Tissot’s style, offers an unmatched value-to-quality ratio, and comes with a special Spazer-shaped watch box. If you ask us, we would have gone for a solid case back, yet Tissot paid us back with a no-date dial—thumbs up on such a choice.

(Photo credit: Tissot)

Giovanni Maria Di Biase @Horbiter®