Hemel x Mathey Tissot

"Hemel founder and Creative Director Marvin Menke fuses brand and icon on his favorite form factor, the Type 20 chronograph as originally done by Mathey Tissot. Mathey Tissot is a company with a long and rich history going back to 1886. In addition to making its own time pieces, Mathey Tissot was well known as a direct supplier and manufacturer for many well-regarded, high end Swiss watch companies.The Swiss made “Mathey Tissot x Hemel” Type 20 collaboration enlarges the sense of what's possible in the microbrand watch space. With historical and vintage references being a driving force in this enthusiast driven space, this new chronograph offers all the historical back story of a seminal artifact with none of the costly hassles associated with maintaining a fragile vintage time piece. The Type 20 is a watch first ordered by the French Ministry of Defense as a pilot’s watch.

The watch was a piece of necessary equipment because pilots, at that time, navigated by carefully and accurately timing a flight between various points while in the air. The “flyback chronograph” enabled a pilot to quickly and easily restart the timing function while the chronograph was running. Mathey Tissot pioneered the development and manufacture of the Type 20 in 1954 having experience with “flyback chronographs” going back to the 1934. The Mathey Tissot x Hemel watch is powered by the Sellita SW510MBHb hand winding caliber which provides a 63-hour power reserve, 28,800 beats per hour and 23 jewels. It's a cam operated bi-compax design with a smooth wind and incredibly pleasing clicks on the pushers - precise and confident. For the 38.5 mm case size and shape as well as the screw down back, Mathey Tissot opened the archives and made a faithful recreation of their original Type 20 for this collaboration. The watch comes on a two piece leather strap as well as a bund strap, both hand made in Italy.

A collectible box comes standard, aslo made in Italy. The Sellita driven Mathey Tissot x Hemel watch is avalable now in limited numbers. Additionally, fans of the Type 20 aesthetic can expect a Seiko VK64 driven mecaquartz version of this watch in the coming months. The VK64 movement incoporates a geared arcitechture on top of a quartz movement for a smooth second hand sweep at a more wallet friendly price point. The entire Hemel concept was born in New York at Hemel House, the brain child of Marvin Menke. Marvin is an F.I.T. graduate and design industry insider with thirty years experience. Hemel was originally the name of his design consultancy and the watches were initially meant to be a gift for his clients around the holidays or to mark special events. The more he shared the idea with friends and colleagues, the more they encouraged him to bring it to market. Hemel has been in the boutique watch industry since early 2016. According to Marvin, “I’m really doing the same thing I always have, except now I’m my own client and as such I naturally have all this access to all my own experience in creative design and branding. This allows Hemel to be a truly holistic expression where all touchpoints have the single unifying factor of one creative mind; boutique design in a nutshell."