In recent weeks I had the chance to try the Mathey-Tissot MT369 MT369 AMWG Exclusive and I have to say that I enjoyed wearing it.
This watch came to me thanks to Vincent Ho who is the admin of the Asia Mechanical Watch Group on Facebook. The one that I received is now sold out but you can note (as it’s engraved on the caseback) that it was a special edition made for AMWG members.
This piece produced by Mathey-Tissot is of course a homage like almost all their watches.
A bit of history
A bit of history about the brand because I’m sure you already heard about them.
Near the center of the Swiss Jura Mountains, at an altitude of 3.300 feet, lies the village of Les Ponts de Martel, nestled in one of Switzerland’s most beautiful valleys. Here, in the year 1886, the Mathey-Tissot Watch Company was founded.
Mathey-Tissot initially specialised in « repeteater » watches, timepieces that chime the hour and halfhour. Soon afterwards, the company undertook the production of chronographs (stop-watches), crafted with such ingenuity and precision that they were immediately successful. In fact, numerous prizes and awards for superlative quality were collected throughout Europe.
What more ?
Believe it or not but during World War I, Mathey-Tissot was called on to supply the United States Army Corps of Engineers with large quantities of precision chronographs, and Gen. John J. Pershing, Commander of the United States Expeditionary Forces, selected Mathey-Tissot as the watch to award to members of his staff.
Also, in addition to its regular business of producing fine watches for jewellers throughout the world, Mathey-Tissot before and during World War II turned out thousands of timepieces for the United States armed forces and the British Navy.
About the watch
To start and before you say « hey it’s a chinese stuff and not Swiss Made watch » … I will clarify this a little. All Mathey-Tissot brand watches are manufactured in strict compliance with applicable Swiss law, more precisely in accordance with the regulation called Swisness. In addition to respecting the percentage of Swiss-made components, the watches are assembled in Switzerland, the final quality control of the products is carried out in Switzerland and the movements running their watches are stamped Swiss-made as they also respect the Swisness Regulation.
That said, inside this MT369 you will find a movement Peseux MT224. This one appears to be very similar to the ETA 2428-2 with 38h of power reserve which seems to be accurate.
Of course, this Mathey-Tissot AMWG exclusive MT369 takes a lot of inspiration from the Rolex Explorer 5500. The case measures 34,5mm excluding the crown and is 43mm lug to lug – the same size as the ref 5500 case. The 13mm thickness (including the domed sapphire crystal) is a bit thicker to accommodate the MT224 Peseaux movement.
At 3 o’clock there is the crown, which is nicely proportioned and is easy to unscrew in order to set and wind the watch. We can see that there is a ghost position in the crown, indicating that the MT224 does have the capability of showing the date… Well it’s not there and honestly it’s better like that.
The caseback is engraved with the mention “Asia Mechanical Watch Group Exclusive” and nothing else which is good too as so many brands writes all and nothing here. Sometimes simplicity is nice.
The domed sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating was an excellent choice to top off this watch. The variation or distortion around the edges gives it that vintage feel, and the clarity through the crystal is really good. Just under this sapphire crystal the dial is in matte black color and uses a 3-6-9 marker layout. The hands are polished silver and on the hour hand we can see the Mathey-Tissot logo, which is a kind of peace symbol but turned upside-down.
The bracelet
To be honest with you, I’m usualy not a steel bracelet fan so I will try this watch with a leather strap in the coming days. The MT369 comes with a rivet-style bracelet which has a brushed finish to match the case. This one starts from 19mm at the case and finish at 16mm at the deployant clasp to match the overall vintage aesthetic of the watch.
Well I’m sure that the watch would great on a various other straps so that could be fun to change.
Finally
As said this one is sold out right now and you can understand as itw as priced 399$. I my opinion, AMWG and Mathey-Tissot have put together a great homage to the Rolex Explorer 5500, and even if I’m not big fan of Rolex, I do like this MT369.
If you’re interested AMWG just launched a second edition which is even more interesting thanks to the choice of the dial. Click just HERE to discover the piece.
Jonathan Kopp
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