Today—May 3rd, 2025 to be exact—a watch can be anything. It can look traditional or not, be small or not, be colorful or not, and offer a new horological experience…or not. When I started writing about timekeeping devices in late 2020, we would already hear catchphrases such as “In this saturated market of microbrands” or “Everyday a new microbrand appears” or “How many divers do we need, seriously?” Well things haven’t slowed down since—quite the contrary—and we see more of everything, at any end of the price spectrum, looking like classic watches or like overly futuristic pieces of I-don’t-even-know-what-to-call-them. (Crap, that’s the word I was looking for. Crap. Pardon my French—special pun!) And as I like to repeat in every single one of my reviews, it is hard to come up with a new design that makes us, enthusiasts and journalists, want to look and talk about it. 

Today—May 3rd, 2025 as we know—we’re going to take a look at a new watch from another new brand, not from France nor Singapore nor the United States, but from Canada which is now the country where a lot of interesting horological creations seem to be coming from. Indeed, the model in question evidently piqued my interest as it proposes an interesting mix of various things I personally love about several watches—a sort of happy collision if I may say—with a little something of Seiko, a dash of Tag Heuer (maybe?), and a lot of what was best in terms of design in the 1970s—and too much to reference in this introduction or article for that matter. The brand in question is Tessé and the model is the Michel GMT Limited Edition.  Note: the Michel GMT comes in four non-limited versions in addition to this one and is live on Kickstarter through May 22nd, 2025. 

Specifications

The first thing you should know about the Tessé Michel GMT is how it wears on the wrist—wide and flat, and it has been a very long time since I've worn a watch that feels this way. (The last one was the Shinola Mechanic 39.) Should I reach for a car analogy, I would say (and I’ve probably used this analogy before) that it reminds me of how glued to the asphalt an Audi Quattro A4 Avant feels, as it is one of the rare nice cars I’ve ever driven in my life. No, I don’t drive Porsche’s like many watch journalists seem to! So this feeling of the watch being glued to my wrist, and to feel securely resting on it, is mostly due to its dimensions which are as follows: 40mm in diameter (I would say width though since the case is more rectangular than it is circular,) 47.1mm lug-to-lug, 10.8mm thick, and coming with a 20mm lug width. 

Because the case of the Tessé Michel GMT is almost a square—85% to being one to be precise—its profile combined with its thinness is what makes it so darn comfortable to wear on the wrist and command such a nice physical presence on it. Despite its apparent classic-1970s design, don’t be fooled by how the Michel GMT looks as it is built by modern standards which is why we find, for example, 100 meters of water resistance (push/pull crown but screwed case-back,) a hardness coating of 1,200 Hv on Vicker’s Hardening Scale on the case, sapphire sandwich construction (double-domed on top and flat on the back,) and a Swiss made Élaboré Sellita SW330-2 caliber (4Hz/56 hours of power reserve,) which is regulated in five positions to run at -4/+6 seconds per day. All of this makes for a pretty good start for this review and that’s only looking at the spec sheet. 

We actually rarely see the Sellita SW330-2 GMT caliber nowadays ever since Seiko came up with the NH34 and Miyota with the 9075 movement. A Swiss GMT machine is certainly more expensive to acquire for a brand new brand and only long-established independents use them now. Does that mean Tessé made a bold move by starting out with a GMT and a Swiss movement inside? I feel we will find out in a few weeks of time once the Kickstarter campaign has wrapped up. Oh, I almost forgot to mention the lumed hands, applied hour markers, and GMT hand as well as the thick leather strap the Tessé comes with. In terms of case finishing, the Limited Edition comes with a rose gold PVD coating whilst the four other versions have standard stainless steel cases. The latter on all models display a very nice finishing and intriguing lateral decoration which we will talk about in a brief moment. 

Design

I actually didn’t look at the spec sheet of the Michel GMT before agreeing to review it because I was mostly, and firstly, interested in its design. I liked the way it looked on the wrist of horological models in the brand’s advertisements and I was drawn to the visual and functional dualism of this piece. On the one hand it is an everyday dressy watch, on the other hand it is a tool watch dressed in fine clothing. (And I didn’t specify which version I would want to review and was hoping for the Grey one—of course—but I’m glad the brand decided for me to check out the Limited Edition as it is forcing me out of my comfort zone and into the bling department.) I for one love how the rose gold case looks paired with the black strap and black dial and how much these color accents, populating the hands and applied hour markers, are drawing me in. 

The first three hands (displaying the local time) are fully polished and rose gold looking, and unusually for me I find the needle-shaped seconds hand to be quite striking as its polishing pops more, and with added intensity, on account of its color. And the same is true of the baton-style hour and minute hands, half a portion of which are lumed, and how perfectly they are matched with the applied markers. The latter are beveled toward the center of the dial (except for the one at the three which was truncated to make way for a framed date aperture) and complemented by lume securely resting inside dug-in channels at their center, with a special note to be made about the augmented dimension—and therefore larger lume real estate—on the markers at the cardinal points. Again, the Limited Edition Michel GMT is not supposed to be my thing but it actually is my thing today.

And the Tessé is indeed a functional watch on account of having a date aperture—with a color-matched date wheel as it should be noted for the most nitpicking of you—and a GMT hand painted in a glorious bright blue with matching markings for the 24 hour scale printed on the angled rehaut. Due to the fact that the hour markers are applied, the GMT hand has a snake-like construction, a perhaps questionable analogy to say that it was bent up and then flattened straight so that it clears the markers. To be more precise, the bend occurs above the beveled portion of the markers which makes the GMT hand perfectly integrate within the overall dial design. And the GMT scale is also fitting quite nicely here as the numbers and dots are printed small yet are legible. But there is more to see on the latter and which you probably didn’t notice (because of my photos? Sorry.) 

First, a center section that received a sunburst finish which creates subtle light plays when angling the watch even at the smallest degree; second, the fact that the portion of the dial on which the hour markers sit begins below the center section and angles up towards the rehaut and, moreover, that it is composed of two types of finishing: a narrower matte disc, then a larger disc endowed with a radial finish and on which are printed in white the minute hash-marks. The latter decor echoes the curved CNC-machined lines we find on the case flanks—since we haven’t yet talked about the latter—which, for some reason, remind me of old school lighters. The case is also quite eye-catching on account of its radial-brushed upper section, polished chamfers, and the fully polished and claw-like massive lugs. Oh friend, I love these lugs, and perhaps they look more like filed teeth—I can’t decide—should you look at their bottom section. 

Well, we can agree there was indeed a lot to see on the Tessé Michel GMT which is why I wanted—and knew I should—look at it up close. 

The Heart of the Matter

There are two hearts of the matter today. First, the fact that the Tessé Michel GMT Limited Edition is a feast for the eyes. The combination of the almost square case with the multi-level dial, rose gold accents, the plethora of polished elements, and GMT functionality is quite brilliant in my eyes. Second, the fact that the brand is taking a risk by releasing a debut collection which comes in five versions, is equipped with a top grade Swiss made movement, and whose Kickstarter price is $1,235 USD. And of note is the fact that the full retail will be $1,650 USD which isn’t a lot for what you get, but certainly a lot for a first release from a brand you probably just heard about today for the first time. Was it the right move to make? Only time will tell, but what is sure is that today, May 3rd, 2025, a brand has to enter the indeed saturated micro/independent watch market with a band and that’s exactly what Tessé has done. 

Conclusion 

As mentioned in the introduction, the Michel GMT in all its five versions is currently available on Kickstarter through May 22nd, 2025. After that, Tessé estimates that production will be ready by August and shipping will begin in September, just in time for a new year of hard work (and of school for the kids.) I was glad to check out this first opus from Tessé as it offers a new kind of horological experience, one which oscillates between the worlds of elegant and practical watches, having a bit of the spirit of vintage Rolex GMT Master’s, Universal Geneve’s Polerouter, and other iconic models I cannot think of right this moment. If you believe that $1,235/$1,650 USD are fair prices for what you will get, then I encourage you to check out the brand’s website and Kickstarer campaign right now. 

Thanks for reading.