Tissot Introduces The PRX Skeleton Damian Lillard Special Edition
3 min read
The most interesting detail of the Tissot PRX Skeleton Damian Lillard Special Edition is not the basketball connection. It is the decision to make a watch associated with contemporary, everyday convenience into something its owner must stop and wind. Here is a PRX that asks for attention before it gives the time: a 44mm, manually wound, openworked interpretation of the collection, distinguished by burgundy accents and a small-seconds hand shaped around Lillard’s personal identity. It also comes with an accessory that transforms it into a pocket watch.
That combination could easily have become a collection of competing ideas. Instead, the watch has a coherent proposition: expose the mechanism, preserve the PRX silhouette and translate the athlete’s story into details that serve the design. The result is an unusually ambitious expression of Tissot’s collaboration with Lillard, a brand ambassador since 2021 who participated directly in its creation.
Burgundy, Steel And Deliberate Scale
The case measures 44mm across and 11.20mm thick, and is made from 316L stainless steel. A vertical satination dominates the broad upper surfaces, while polished chamfers sharpen the outline. A “Dame Time” engraving on the left flank introduces the collaboration at case level. Water resistance is rated to 10 bar, equivalent to 100 meters.
Burgundy is the organizing color rather than a decorative afterthought. Against steel and the movement’s varied surfaces, the color gives the composition warmth and a clear visual boundary.
Openworking With A Sense Of Order
Removing a dial does not automatically produce an attractive watch. It removes the surface that ordinarily organizes the information, leaving the designer to reconcile mechanical complexity with legibility.
Here, burgundy rings establish the core aesthetic. Faceted indexes and Super-LumiNova-filled hour and minute hands maintain a conventional framework for reading the time. The visible finishing introduces further separation. Its most personal detail is also functional. The gold-colored small-seconds hand takes the form of a “D” crossed by two vertical lines. Around it, “Dame Time” appears twice on the burgundy ring.
The Mechanical Distinction
The defining technical choice is manual winding. Unlike an automatic watch, this PRX depends on its owner periodically winding the mainspring through the crown. In an openworked design, that interaction has particular relevance: the mechanism is not simply concealed machinery supplying a display, but the principal subject of the watch.
The distinction does not diminish the watch’s appeal. Its proposition is straightforward: hours, minutes and small seconds, presented through an exposed, hand-wound mechanism. There is no need to inflate that simplicity with claims about precision or finishing standards that Tissot has not supplied.
An Athlete’s Story, Beyond The Signature
The collaboration’s strongest biographical reference appears on the rubber strap. Its milk-crate pattern recalls the makeshift basketball hoops of Lillard’s childhood, connecting a tactile, everyday component with the beginnings of his relationship with the sport. It is a more considered gesture than placing a player’s name prominently across the dial.
The supplied burgundy leather strap changes the emphasis without disrupting the palette. Both straps use a tool-free quick-change system, giving the owner a practical means of moving between the two presentations.
A Pocket Watch, Without The Nostalgia
The included burgundy leather carrier is the edition’s most unexpected accessory. Remove the strap, insert the watch case into the holder and the attached chain permits pocket carry or attachment to an accessory such as a bag. The conversion changes how the watch is carried, not its underlying mechanism.
This special edition reference is listed at ₹2,11,500, with the two straps and conversion carrier supplied in a special collector’s box.
