Review of the Tissot T-Navigator 3000

The Tissot Navigator 3000 is the newest in Tissot’s line of “Touch Screen” watches. The Touch Screen collection is comprised of four watches (the T-Touch, the High-T, the Silen-T, and the Navigator 3000) which are primarily operated by touching the sapphire crystal in various locations as opposed to pushing buttons.

All four of the Touch Screen watches are dramatically different. The High-T is an MSN Direct SPOT watch, the Silen-T is a more formal timepiece, and the T-Touch is made for hiking and other outdoor activities. The Navigator 3000, in contrast, is primarily a travel watch. The origins of the Navigator 3000 go all the way back to 1853 when Tissot created a pocket watch capable of displaying multiple time zones. 100 years later came the original Tissot Navigator multiple time zone watch, and most recently, the Tissot Navigator 3000 with several new and very advanced features:

• Touch screen technology. The Tissot Navigator 3000 has only one button which you use to activate the touch crystal. Once activated, you interact with the watch almost entirely by touching the crystal in different locations, and for different durations.
• Multiple display languages. The Navigator 3000 can be configured to operate in one of six different languages: French, English, German, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese.
• Multiple time zones. The Navigator 3000 is a travel watch, and allows you to track multiple time zones simultaneously (more on this feature below). When you first receive the watch, you will want to set it to your home time zone which you do by first selecting your continent, then your country, and finally your city. The watch comes with 150 cities preprogrammed, but if yours is not included, you can manually add a custom city.
• T-World Function. This is the name for the Navigator 3000’s multiple time zone mode. The Navigator 3000 can track four additional time zones (in addition to the primary time zone, or the reference time zone, as Tissot calls it). One of the coolest features of this watch is the ability to swap out the reference time for one of the other four time zones. For example, you set your four additional time zones to the four places to which you are most likely to travel. When you arrive in a different time zone, rather than resetting the time on your watch, you simply select the new time zone, and swap it out for the reference time zone. When you travel back home, just swap the two time zones again. The Navigator 3000 can also be configured to display the offset between your different time zones and your reference time zone as opposed to displaying absolute times. Very sophisticated and comprehensive.
• DST support. All of the 150 preprogrammed cities also have DST setting preprogrammed up to the year 2099. If you create a custom city, you can manually configure the DST settings, as well.
• Chronograph. The Navigator 3000’s chronograph measures time at a resolution of 1/100 of a second while the total duration is under one hour. Once the duration is one hour or more, the resolution changes to whole seconds. The crown is used to start and stop the chronograph (more precise than using the touch-crystal), and the crown is held down to reset the time.
• Countdown timer. The Navigator 3000’s countdown timer allows you to set hours, minutes, and seconds. The maximum time is 23:59:59. The LCD flashes and the watch starts beeping when there are 5 seconds remaining, then the main alarm sounds when the full time has elapsed.
• Two programmable alarms. The Navigator 3000 has two alarms that can be programmed for specific times on specific days of the week. These are not true programmable alarms because you cannot select the exact date, but being able to select the day of the week still gives you a lot of flexibility. You can also choose one of five different alarm melodies which I think is a nice touch.
• Calendar. The Navigator 3000 has a calendar mode that displays the date in one of three different modes: day/date, seconds/date, or week number. After selecting the desired format, the watch will go back into time mode, leaving the date format of your choice on the LCD. You can change the order of the date units, as well, to suite your regional preferences.
• LCD backlight. The LCD can be illuminated by rotating the crown. Rather than your standard blue/green backlight, the Tissot Navigator 3000’s LCD illuminates a very cool red color. To increase the intensity, turn the crown to the right, and to decrease it, turn it to the left. The LCD remains illuminated for 10 seconds after the last operation.
• Energy saving mode. If you don’t intend to use the watch for a while, you can put it into energy saving mode. The LCD will go blank, and the hands will indicate 6:30. You can reactivate the watch by pressing the crown for two seconds.
• Water-resistant to 50 meters, or 165 feet.
• Stainless steel case and bracelet, and scratch-proof sapphire crystal.

Despite all these excellent features, I do have two small criticisms of the Tissot Navigator 3000:

1. Height. The Navigator 3000 is taller than I expected. In fact, appears to be the same height as the T-Touch. The T-Touch contains an altimeter, thermometer, barometer, and compass, so you sort of expect it to be thick, but the Navigator 3000 is really just a sophisticated quartz digital (with an additional analog display). Perhaps it’s the touch-screen technology which gives both the T-Touch and the Navigator 3000 their bulk. I’m not sure, but I did expect a slightly smaller profile from the Navigator 3000.
2. Usability. The Navigator 3000 is not overly easy to use. If you don’t deal well with different, complicated, and somewhat involved interfaces, the Tissot Navigator 3000 isn’t for you. The user manual tries to simplify the process of learning the watch by dividing instructions up into common actions and “expert mode,” but any way you slice it, this watch comes with a pretty steep learning curve. Personally, that doesn’t bother me a bit (I love learning and mastering new interfaces), but it’s definitely something to be aware of before purchasing one of these.

Overall, I’ve been very happy with the Navigator 3000. I now have three of the four Tissot Touch Screen watches, and while they are all unique enough that you can’t really compare them, the Navigator 3000 is an excellent and worthy addition. It has everything that I think is essential in a digital watch (world time, countdown timer, programmable alarms, backlight, stopwatch) plus several additional cool features (touch-screen technology and very sophisticated time zone management). I also like the look and feel of the Navigator 3000. It is unique and sturdy, and the LCD uses an interesting and uncommon font (not to mention the cool red backlight). The suggested retail price for the all stainless steel version of the Tissot Navigator 3000 is $595, but Tissots are typically heavily discounted (between 10-30%), which I think puts the Navigator 3000 into a very reasonable range.

Additional Resources:

• Tissot Navigator 3000 product page.
• Review of the Tissot T-Touch.
• Review of the Tissot High-T.
• Review of the Seiko Sportura World Time.

By Christian Cantrell