he RockWatch was born in a decade of hardship, more than a novelty, it was a statement. The Swiss watch industry was reeling from quartz technology, which had decimated mechanical makers throughout the 1970s and early 1980. Many brands closed or consolidated, and most were searching for a way forward. Tissot’s answer: audacity by design.

Proposed by French-Lebanese jeweller Robert Mazlo, it became the world’s first wristwatch made from natural stone. A fusion of geology, design, and horology, it took ten years of experimentation to master. By 1994, when production ceased, 800,000 units had been sold worldwide. Later versions explored lapis lazuli, pink rhodonite, aventurine, and even prehistoric coral, each unique, but always recognisably Swiss with its yellow hour hand and red minute hand, echoing alpine trail markers.

The RockWatch by Tissot on the cover ot this 1986 issue of Europa Star.

©Archives Europa Star. Read more on the RockWatch in Europa Star here.

This phenomenon was only heightened by Tissot’s expansion into further natural and semi-precious stones, from lapis lazuli from Italy, pink rhodonite from Australia to aventurine from Brazil. Tissot even pushed the boundaries further in using prehistoric coral. While each stone was unique, the binding codes that remained the same were their Swissness, achieved in the hands. A distinct yellow hour hound, and a red minute hand paid tribute to the trail markings for those embarking on hikes through the expanse of Switzerland’s pastoral landscape.

“The RockWatch was a revolution, making a watch out of stone,” reflects Tissot’s CEO, Sylvain Dolla. “It [truly] was a technical challenge back then, to make them in such volume. In 1985, the message was all about technical achievement, but today it’s something more emotional.” To mark 40 years since the inception of this alpine timekeeper, Tissot return to their chisels, heading back up the mountain to instill a renaissance for a modern-day RockWatch.

“This time, it isn’t just rock taken from a mountain. It’s rock from the mountain,” Dolla continues. Refining their vision, the granite now comes from the Jungfrau peak in the Bernese Alps, a renowned locus of Swiss identity and altitude, dubbed ‘The Top of Europe.’ “The French have the Eiffel Tower, the British Big Ben. In Switzerland we have the mystical Jungfrau mountain,” where Tissot has partnered with the Jungfraubahn railway since 2012.

For the sourcing of the stone, extracted during tunnel excavations through these railwork passages, where maintenance has occurred and excess stone has been removed, this discarded raw material has been cut into large blocks, milled, tightened in tolerance, and polished to create a novel case. But this isn’t nostalgia for its own sake. “It’s a chance to play with our history,” Dolla says. Alongside the RockWatch revival, Tissot has launched new solar technology with the PRC100 Solar. The past and future run in parallel.

In accordance with Tissot’s mantra, ‘Innovators by Tradition,’ it makes sense, therefore, that the Swiss manufacturers have decided to rehabilitate one of their most infamous icons. It’s part nostalgia, part provocation of the past. But challenges still remain, 40 years on. After all, stone is still relentless and irregularities are risks. Yet these limitations are also its virtues. The RockWatch reminds us that watchmaking is not only about function but also about imagination. At a time when the Swiss industry might have disappeared, it was precisely this kind of lateral thinking that kept it alive.

Production now took two years instead of ten, with domed sapphire replacing mineral glass and CNC refinement improving on original tools. In doing so, the RockWatch rejects the idea of copy and paste culture, and that’s achieved by doubling-down on modifications. First and foremost, the size of the newest version, amped up to 38mm from its original 23, 30 and 33mm, aimed for versatility and genderless vision for its wearers. Aesthetically, the biggest design shift is the hands, bidding farewell to the two tone treat, and opting for nickel-plated baton hands that harmonise with the hues of the granite.

Of course, the latest RockWatch runs with a quartz movement, not only for its reliability, but cementing the identity of its original intent: to diversify what was becoming standardised. It might just seem to undermine the very backbone of the RockWatch were it to be anything other than that. While this relaunch is limited to 999 models, in contrast to the milieu of RockWatch models you can still find on the internet today (not something Tissot have been monitoring through the launch, but they’re pleased to see the unrelenting fever, Dolla shares), it’s not about commercial viability. Dolla presses the message again. “This is an emotional object. It’s a [means] to reiterate our strong, authentic history of innovation.”

What does this relaunch reveal, not just about Tissot, but about contemporary watchmaking itself? It shows heritage treated as a living dialogue rather than a relic behind glass. It bridges an audience: a nod to collectors who remember the 1980s RockWatch, while offering newcomers something off the beaten track. By grounding its identity in geology and a sense of terroir, this watch opens a new chapter in its narrative, always mindful that, at its core, it is a talisman of resilience, and that very irony should not be lost. A watch carved in stone, embodying the toughness it was required to endure.