Founded in 1853 by Charles-Felicien Tissot and his son Charles-Emile in Le Locle where it still remains, Tissot is one of the largest producers of Swiss watches in the world. Charles-Emile had spent some years in New York and so it was to the American market that Tissot first looked for business. This changed in 1858 when he decided to head to Russia. He successfully sold watches right across the Russian empire and this quickly became Tissot's most important market.

In 1930 Tissot produced the world's first anti-magnetic watch.

In 1971 after almost 20 years of research, Tissot launched the Idea 2001 Astrolon watch. This was the world's first plastic mechanical watch, with the majority of the watch's movement being made from self-lubricating plastic. This watch was sealed and intended to be disposable rather than repairable. This ground-breaking watch was not commercially successful and suffered from a number of technical issues but remains a huge technological achievement, even if its development nearly ruined the company.

Commercial success did come in 1985 with the rock watch, a watch with a case made from Swiss granite. This was followed by the mother of pearl watch and the wood watch.

In 1999 Tissot introduced another revolution to the industry, this time with their T-touch watches. This collection had a touch sensitive screen which allowed the wearer to access additional functions. Over the subsequent years, this collection has evolved more and more sophisticated functions as technology has advanced.