Tissot XL watches

Tissot's XL family covers two quite different watches: the Chrono XL, a 45 mm chronograph, and the slimmer 42 mm Gent XL. Tissot was founded in Le Locle in 1853 and is now part of the Swatch Group.

The Chrono XL Classic, part of Tissot's Sport collection, is the core of the range. It runs on a Swiss PowerDrive quartz chronograph movement with 30-minute and 1/10-second counters, a central 60-second chronograph hand, a date, and ADD and SPLIT functions for adding up or splitting times. An end-of-life indicator warns when the battery is running down. The 45 mm 316L steel case is 11.02 mm thick, water resistant to 100 m and takes a 22 mm strap, under a sapphire crystal, with Super-LumiNova on the hands and markers.

Within the Chrono XL, the case finish separates most references: plain steel, two-tone, rose gold PVD, and black, grey or khaki PVD. Tissot has been the NBA's official timekeeper since the 2015–16 season, and the Chrono XL NBA editions carry team names: Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Lakers, New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs. There are also Tour de France 2017, 2018 and 2019 editions and a Chrono XL 3×3 Street Basketball.

The Gent XL is the calmer sibling: 42 mm across and 8.9 mm thick, in steel or PVD-coated steel, with its own 3×3 Street Basketball edition. The Gent XL Swissmatic is a different case again, 43 mm wide and 12.3 mm thick. The reference prefix tells the three apart: T116.617 is the Chrono XL, T116.410 the Gent XL and T116.407 the Gent XL Swissmatic.