Tiffany & Co. unveils a new limited edition of the Tiffany Timer

In 1866, Tiffany & Co. unveiled its first chronograph, presented at the time as a timekeeping watch designed to accompany the most demanding uses. One hundred and sixty years later, the New York house revisits this founding chapter of its watchmaking history with a new interpretation of the Tiffany Timer.

After a first edition limited to 60 pieces, unveiled earlier this year in a platinum configuration with a Tiffany Blue® dial, Tiffany & Co. now presents a second version limited to 100 pieces. Named Tiffany Timer Titanium Platinum, it combines a satin-finished Grade 5 titanium case, a platinum bezel and a dark blue dial punctuated with touches of Tiffany Blue®.

But this new release does not merely celebrate an anniversary. It brings together several chapters of the house’s history: its watchmaking heritage, its taste for artistic crafts and its emblematic Bird on a Rock, all while relying on one of the most famous automatic chronograph movements in Swiss watchmaking, the Zenith El Primero.

160 years of history around the chronograph

The watchmaking history of Tiffany & Co. does not begin with the contemporary Tiffany Timer.

As early as 1847, the house began selling watches. Charles Lewis Tiffany quickly grasped the public’s growing interest in high-precision timepieces and gradually developed a watchmaking business that would take on an international dimension.

In 1866 came the Tiffany & Co. Timing Watch, today considered the house’s first pocket chronometer. Two years later, it officially took the name Tiffany & Co. Timer.

This period also corresponds to the opening of the Tiffany & Co. watch assembly workshop in Switzerland.

The story continued in 1874 with the establishment of a watch manufacture in Geneva. There the house produced complex watches, notably chronographs and watches fitted with calendars.

A heritage that helps explain why the chronograph today occupies such a special place in the watchmaking identity of Tiffany & Co.

To celebrate these 160 years, the house therefore chose to revive the Tiffany Timer name and give it a resolutely contemporary expression.

An architecture between titanium and platinum

The Tiffany Timer Titanium Platinum features a 40 mm case made of Grade 5 titanium.

The choice of this material immediately brings a technical dimension to the watch. Satin-finished, the titanium offers a matte texture that contrasts with the precious presence of the platinum bezel.

This two-material construction allows Tiffany & Co. to play on two opposing perceptions: the lightness and technicality of titanium set against the density and nobility of platinum.

The design of the case, however, remains far removed from a purely instrumental approach.

Its lines are sinuous, its surfaces rounded and its curves carefully worked. The chronograph pushers follow the profile of the case middle and visually extend its shapes.

They also serve as crown protectors, thus integrating a technical function directly into the architecture of the case.

Water resistance reaches 10 ATM, or 100 meters, confirming the purpose of a watch designed to be worn every day despite its highly exclusive character.

Tiffany blue meets the blue of the night

The dial is naturally one of the most identifiable elements of this creation.

Unlike the first edition, which featured a Tiffany Blue® dial, this new version opts for a dark sunburst blue.

The shade brings more depth to the face of the watch and serves as a backdrop for the touches of Tiffany Blue® that punctuate the composition.

This emblematic color appears notably on the sub-dial markings, on the outer railway track of the chronograph as well as on the date.

The contrast is deliberately measured.

Tiffany Blue® does not cover the entire dial. The color appears in small touches, present enough to give the watch its immediate signature, yet without disturbing its graphic balance.

The twelve steel indexes reinforce this construction, while the hour, minute and sub-dial hands are made of white gold.

The whole retains excellent legibility while giving the dial a visual depth that shifts with the light.

The language of the El Primero

Behind this contemporary aesthetic lies a movement that belongs to the history of Swiss haute horlogerie.

The Tiffany Timer Titanium Platinum is powered by a customized version of the Zenith El Primero 400, an integrated automatic column-wheel chronograph.

The history of the El Primero deserves attention in its own right.

In January 1969, Zenith presented the first series-produced integrated automatic chronograph, a major technical advance at a time when automatic mechanical chronographs had not yet managed to establish themselves.

The name El Primero, which means “the first” in Spanish, perfectly sums up the ambition of this creation.

More than half a century after its launch, this movement remains one of the great names in the history of the mechanical chronograph.

In the Tiffany Timer, its architecture is adapted to the house’s requirements and to the specific identity of this limited edition.

A classic reading of the chronograph

The dial takes up the traditional three-counter architecture characteristic of the El Primero.

The chronograph seconds are indicated on the periphery of the dial, while the minute counter sits at 3 o’clock.

The hour counter is positioned at 6 o’clock and the small seconds is located at 9 o’clock.

A date completes this arrangement at 6 o’clock.

This layout offers an immediately intuitive reading of the chronograph functions.

The choice of an integrated column-wheel movement also adds a particularly interesting mechanical dimension to this piece. When the chronograph is triggered, the various functions are controlled by a traditional watchmaking architecture of which the column wheel is one of the emblematic elements.

The frequency and power reserve also remain characteristic of this family of movements, with 50 hours of autonomy announced for this customized version.

Bird on a Rock: the bird takes flight

It is, however, on the back of the watch that Tiffany & Co. perhaps reserves its most spectacular surprise.

Beneath the sapphire crystal, the openworked rotor carries a reproduction of the famous Bird on a Rock.

Created by Jean Schlumberger for Tiffany & Co., this motif has become one of the house’s most recognizable signatures.

Here, the bird is not simply reproduced by engraving or decoration.

It is hand-sculpted from a solid block of 18-carat yellow gold.

The piece measures only 1.4 cm wide.

Despite this small size, the work carried out seeks to faithfully render the details of Jean Schlumberger’s original design.

The polishing is likewise done by hand using various traditional tools, notably diamond abrasives and gentian wood sticks.

These techniques make it possible to create different levels of shine on the surfaces of the bird and to gradually bring out its volumes.

The result is particularly evocative: the Bird on a Rock seems literally perched on the rotor, accompanying the movement of the watch to the rhythm of its oscillations.

This presence turns the case back into a true miniature scene.

When jewelry meets mechanics

This interpretation of the Bird on a Rock perfectly illustrates the way Tiffany & Co. approaches watchmaking today.

The house does not seek to choose between its jewelry heritage and its watchmaking history.

It brings them into dialogue.

On one side, the El Primero movement represents several decades of expertise in Swiss mechanical chronographs.

On the other, the Bird on a Rock instantly recalls the creative world of Tiffany & Co. and the importance of artistic crafts in the house’s identity.

The rotor thus becomes the meeting point between these two cultures.

The mechanics are no longer merely visible.

They become the medium for an artistic expression.

A limited edition of 100 pieces

Tiffany & Co. has chosen a deliberately restricted production for this second interpretation of the Tiffany Timer.

Only 100 pieces will be made.

The case back is moreover engraved with the words “Limited edition of 100”, underscoring the exclusive nature of the piece.

This series follows the first edition of the Tiffany Timer, limited to 60 pieces and offered in platinum with a Tiffany Blue® dial.

The two creations thus form an anniversary diptych.

The first fully embraces the emblematic color of Tiffany & Co.

The second, by contrast, opts for a darker register, where the deep blue of the dial serves as a foil to the touches of Tiffany Blue® and to the presence of platinum.

Two different interpretations of the same tribute to the house’s watchmaking heritage.

A watch between heritage and innovation

The Tiffany Timer Titanium Platinum could easily be reduced to an anniversary watch.

That would, however, miss the essential point.

Its interest lies precisely in the way Tiffany & Co. combines several dimensions of its identity.

The Tiffany Timer name refers to a history that goes back to 1866.

The titanium and platinum case places the watch in a contemporary approach.

The dark blue dial punctuated with Tiffany Blue® takes up the house’s chromatic codes.

The El Primero movement brings a historic and proven mechanical architecture.

And the Bird on a Rock, sculpted in 18-carat yellow gold, introduces that element of whimsy and jewelry craftsmanship that has long belonged to Tiffany & Co.

Together they compose a watch that does not seek to reproduce the past.

It reinterprets it.

Tiffany Timer Titanium Platinum: time as a field of expression

One hundred and sixty years after its first chronograph, Tiffany & Co. thus continues to write its watchmaking history.

With this new Tiffany Timer, the house opts for a technically ambitious yet immediately identifiable piece.

The contrast between the satin-finished titanium and the platinum, the dark blue of the dial, the touches of Tiffany Blue®, the El Primero mechanics and above all the hand-sculpted Bird on a Rock together make up a singular whole.

The watch thus offers several levels of reading.

At first glance, it charms with its architecture and its colors.

On closer observation, it reveals its history.

And when the eye settles on the sapphire back, the mechanics give way to another form of spectacle: that of a yellow gold bird that seems to take flight on the rotor.

For a house whose relationship with time goes back to the 19th century, this way of bringing heritage, mechanics and contemporary creation into dialogue ultimately seems quite natural.

The Tiffany Timer Titanium Platinum will be available from September 2026, in a limited edition of 100 pieces.

A new page in the watchmaking history of Tiffany & Co., written this time in titanium, platinum, yellow gold and in the characteristic shades of blue that have accompanied the house for so many decades.

Technical specifications

Tiffany & Co. Tiffany Timer Titanium Platinum

Limited edition: 100 pieces

Reference: 76538182

Case: satin-finished Grade 5 titanium

Bezel: platinum

Diameter: 40 mm

Water resistance: 10 ATM / 100 meters

Functions: hours, minutes, small seconds, date, chronograph

Dial: dark sunburst blue with touches of Tiffany Blue®

Indexes: 12 steel indexes

Hands: hours, minutes and counters in white gold

Movement: customized El Primero 400, integrated automatic column-wheel chronograph

Rotor: openworked oscillating weight with Bird on a Rock in 18-carat yellow gold

Power reserve: 50 hours

Case back: sapphire crystal

Strap: navy blue alligator

Buckle: triple folding clasp in steel and titanium

Origin: Swiss Made

Warranty: five years

Availability: September 2026

Edition: 100 pieces

Frequently asked questions