Tissot Releases The First Two Official WNBA Watches, Coinciding With The 2024 Draft
Women’s basketball is tremendously popular in the United States. A little over a week ago, news broke that the women’s NCAA title game outdrew the men’s championship game by four million more viewers. The NCAAW’s record-breaking star Caitlin Clark had something to do with those numbers. She was also the number-one pick in the WNBA’s annual draft this week. With the 2024 draft happening, Tissot collaborated with the WNBA and Wilson on the first official pair of WNBA watches. These two new Tissot Seastar models are great picks for basketball fans worldwide.
Tissot has been the proud partner of the NBA, WNBA, and the NBA Development League since 2015. The multi-year partnership deal has led to some branded efforts from Tissot focused on the men’s side of the NBA. With the new effort, the brand releases its first official WNBA watch. Not only is the timing right with the spectacular rise in popularity of women’s basketball, but this is also an attractive duo of watches. In my humble opinion, these are the best basketball-related efforts that Tissot has released so far. It’s time to find out more about these two new Seastar models that came to fruition with the WNBA and Wilson, the producer of the league’s basketballs.
The story of the Tissot Seastar Wilson WNBA watches
In the past, Balazs covered a collection of NBA-themed straps made for the Tissot SuperSport line. Early last year, Tissot also released a special NBA version of that quartz chronograph, which Balazs also got to wear during NBA All-Star Weekend 2023. The oversized SuperSport is a pick that will suit the wrists of many NBA fans perfectly, especially when paired with straps representing their favorite teams. But for this new set of WNBA watches, Tissot upped its game with two different models.
The first is the Tissot Seastar Wilson NBA Powermatic 80, and the second is the Tissot Seastar Wilson WNBA Quartz. By choosing two different versions of the Seastar, Tissot cleverly decided to offer two watches with different designs and price points. Both watches are visually linked, though, through their WNBA-inspired aesthetic. While the branding of the collaborative effort is visible, it suits both watches well. Let’s go over both models and find out more.
The Tissot Seastar Wilson NBA Powermatic 80
Let’s start with the mechanical Seastar Wilson NBA Powermatic 80, which is based on the latest version of Tissot’s Seastar 1000. Daan wrote a review of the new Seastar just about a month ago. The updated version of the brand’s popular diver is a great canvas for the new WNBA version.
The watch has a stainless steel case that is 40mm wide, 12.5mm thick, and 46mm from lug to lug. For this WNBA version, the case is paired with a black circularly brushed sunburst dial with applied indices and a date window at 6 o’clock. The white minute track is neatly placed on the rehaut and matches the white lume of the hands and indices.
As you can see, the 60-minute bezel insert is slightly different from a typical dive bezel. The first 24 minutes are orange, referring to the 24 seconds of the shot clock. The rest of the numerals are silver to contrast the black color. The seconds hand matches the orange color of the bezel numerals. Additionally, Wilson provides two straps in orange and white based on the unique orange/white color scheme of the official WNBA basketball. Both straps feature the typical basketball texture as well as the Wilson and WNBA logos.
The Powermatic 80 movement inside
If you turn the watch over, you will get a glimpse of the Powermatic 80 movement that powers it. The movement is “hidden” behind a white etching of a basketball. The Powermatic 80 operates at 21,600vph and provides 80 hours of power reserve. This shared Swatch Group caliber also powers the regular Seastar 1000 model and the PRX and Gentleman lines. The case back also features the logos of Tissot’s collaborative partners, indicating that this is not your standard Seastar 1000 Powermatic 80.
I think Tissot and Wilson created a nice first official WNBA Seastar. The combination of colors and the integration of the branded elements are perfect for a WNBA timepiece. On top of that, though this a special version of Tissot’s Seastar, it’s not as over the top as we’ve seen with other collaborative efforts.
At €795, the new Tissot Seastar Wilson NBA Powermatic 80 is a great watch for fans of the WNBA and basketball in general. The design of this edition perfectly complements the mechanical Seastar 1000, so kudos to Tissot for creating this new watch.
Tissot Seastar Wilson WNBA Quartz
The second watch is a quartz version of the Seastar 1000. It also features a 40mm stainless steel case with a 46mm lug-to-lug, but this one is 2.5mm slimmer at 10mm thick. The case houses an off-white dial with applied markers filled with crisp white lume and a date window at 6 o’clock. The bezel insert matches the dial color and features the “24 seconds” design in orange and gray. And just like the black model, the watch also comes with white and orange quick-release straps by Wilson.
Inside the case of this quartz version, Tissot uses the ETA F06.115 movement. It has a battery life of up to 90 months and has an end-of-life (EOL) indicator for the battery. The movement is hidden behind the stainless steel case back, which features an engraving of the basketball that we also see on the case back of the mechanical model. Additionally, it features the three logos of the collaborative partners in this project. The new Tissot Seastar Wilson WNBA Quartz is available for €495.
Final thoughts on the new Tissot Seastar WNBA models
All in all, I love what Tissot has done with these new Seastar models. The brand has created two watches that are a perfect fit for both women and men. The black mechanical model might have a more masculine presence at first glance compared to its white counterpart. However, colors do not necessarily dictate who a watch is for in today’s world. Additionally, by switching things up with the colorful straps, you will get different aesthetics and good versatility.
As I said at the beginning of the article, Tissot did a great job of creating two truly collaborative watches. The results suit the world of the WNBA and basketball overall perfectly. With the rise in popularity of women’s basketball, I do not doubt that these new watches will also be in high demand with fans. They serve as great examples of how to create a fitting duo of timepieces that will hopefully support the success of women’s basketball.
For more information, visit the official Tissot website. Let me know in the comments below what you think of these additions to the Tissot Seastar collection.
