The first antimagnetic wristwatch

The need

The balance and balance spring that regulate a watch were made of steel, and steel can be magnetised. Once magnetised, a watch with steel in its regulating parts runs badly.

Made by

Tissot, Le Locle.

What was new

In the 1930s Tissot replaced the steel in the regulating parts with materials that resist magnetism and called the watch the Antimagnétique. Tissot dates it to 1930 and describes it as the world’s first non-magnetic wristwatch. In 1938 its technicians ordered a chrono-electromagnet, a device that produced magnetic fields of different strengths, to test how well the watches resisted them.

Worth knowing

The watch shown, Ref. 6712-1, is 37 mm across, with a 16-jewel calibre 11½′′′, a monometallic balance and a self-compensating flat balance spring. An auction catalogue of Monaco Legend credits Tissot with introducing the mass-produced Antimagnétique in 1930 and says it prompted other companies to develop their own magnetism-resistant watches.

Historian’s noteThe word “first” here is Tissot’s own. The year 1930 is also given by an independent auction house, which speaks of the mass-produced Antimagnétique of 1930 but does not call it the first antimagnetic watch. We have found no museum or patent record that settles the question, so this record follows the maker’s claim and says so.

SourcesTissot, History · Tissot, The Precision Within · Antiquorum, lot 29-50 · Monaco Legend Auctions, lot 106