by Brent Robillard
Full Throttle
When Tessé Watches launched the rose-gold Michel GMT earlier this year, as part of its five initial colourways—six now, with the Crimson Drive)—I thought I knew where my loyalties lay. The mix of black dial, warm PVD tones and that confidently sculpted case felt like the purest expression of the design. Then Tessé went and released a British Racing Green dial, the Silverstone Drive—fresh off the momentum of its Architect Kickstarter campaign—and suddenly my certainty evaporated.
After a few weeks on wrist, I’ll say this plainly: I’ve switched sides. The green wins.
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Silverstone Sundays
But it isn’t green alone that does it. It’s this green paired with this case in this finish. British Racing Green has never been a passive colour; it carries the scent of petrol, the echo of old circuits, and the quiet swagger of pre-war competition. Pair it with rose gold and the atmosphere changes. It becomes all Silverstone Sundays and leather armchairs—the kind of genteel motorsport imagery that feels both nostalgic and strangely contemporary.
The Michel GMT has always been Tessé’s most “quietly confident” watch, but in this new colourway it becomes something more evocative: a gentleman-racer’s GMT.
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Key Features of the Michel GMT in British Racing Green and Rose Gold
A Case That Knows Its Lines
One of the strengths of this model—and Tessé’s design language as a whole—is the case silhouette. The Michel uses a blend of tonneau and cushion shapes that sounds unusual on paper but works seamlessly in metal. The top surface is radially brushed, pulling the light around the case in a soft arc, while the edges are ribbed with a polished finish that adds depth and tactility.
Calibre
Flip the watch and the mood shifts. The mirror-polished caseback, secured by four corner screws, opens into a sapphire display window. Through it, you get an unfiltered view of the Sellita SW330-2 GMT—perlage on the plates, blued screws catching the light, and a rotor that moves with a smooth, almost relaxed authority.
It’s regulated to –4/+6 seconds per day, runs at 28,800 vph, has 25 jewels, and offers a 56-hour power reserve. Nothing flashy; nothing out of place. Just functional, reliable Swiss mechanics presented with enough charm to make you pause.
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Dialwork With a Gentleman-Racer Spirit
Under the curved sapphire crystal, the dial tells a story of textures. The centre is radially brushed, the outer sector ring is satin finished, and light flicks across the green differently depending on how you hold your wrist. It’s a dark, brooding shade of British Racing Green—more Silverstone pit lane than shamrock—and it works beautifully against the rose gold hands and markers.
What changes the mood entirely, though, is the GMT execution. The orange 24-hour track and matching arrow-tipped GMT hand cut sharply across the green, creating a contrast reminiscent of vintage racing dials where legibility trumped decoration. It feels sporty, but not loud; functional, yet still stylish.
In the green-and-gold configuration, the Michel GMT becomes its own kind of motorsport instrument—less about the track, more about the lifestyle orbiting it. If the black-dialled version had the air of a contemporary urban traveller, this one leans into heritage. Not forced nostalgia, but the kind of atmosphere you feel in places like Silverstone: historic, polished, and just a little rakish.
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Why British Racing Green Works Here
British Racing Green has never been simply a colour. It’s shorthand for British motorsport, for the early days of international racing, for the way Silverstone rose from an airfield to become a symbol of national engineering ambition. It carries with it the quiet pride of Jaguar D-Types, Aston Martin endurance racers, and the classic open-wheelers that tore through Northamptonshire in the post-war years.
Here, Tessé leans into that heritage not by quoting racing tropes but by capturing the mood they evoke. The dial shade feels deliberate—dark enough to be serious, rich enough to be luxurious, and instantly evocative of British sporting culture. Paired with the warmth of the rose gold case, the aesthetic becomes unmistakably gentleman-racer: refined, purposeful, and with a whisper of old-school exclusivity.
It’s the watch you’d expect to see peeking out from under a tweed sleeve in a Brooklands paddock photo from the 1950s. Or on someone who knows that the fastest cars don’t always need to be painted red. As you can see, I leaned into this narrative for the photography… but, hey, watches are supposed to fun, right?
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SPECS
| Case | 316L Stainless Steel (Rose Gold PVD) 40mm Diameter 47.1mm Lug to Lug 10.8mm Thick 20mm Lug Width Screw Down Case Back 100m Water Resistance |
| Dial & Crystal | Sapphire Crystal Green Dial Applied Indices Truncated Dauphine-Style Hands Superluminova X1 Lume |
| Movement | Sellita SW330-2 GMT Regulated to -4/+6 seconds 25 Jewels 28 800bph 56-Hour Power Reserve |
| Strap | Italian Leather |
Tessé Michel GMT in British Racing Green and Rose Gold
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A Strong Follow-Up to The Architect
It’s worth recognising the timing here. Tessé is still riding the wave from the successful Kickstarter launch of The Architect, a design that showed the brand stretching into new architectural territory with impressive confidence. The Michel GMT in British Racing Green feels like the natural counterbalance: a reminder that Tessé hasn’t abandoned its roots. Instead, the brand is expanding in two directions at once—forward with The Architect, and inward with the continued refinement of the Michel.
This new colourway isn’t an overhaul. It’s an evolution. But sometimes evolution hits harder than reinvention.
Final Thoughts
I didn’t expect this release to dethrone the black-dialed Michel GMT for me. But the more time I’ve spent with the Silverstone Drive, the more I’ve come to appreciate its maturity. The case remains one of the more thoughtfully designed mid-affordable shapes on the market; the movement is dependable and tastefully displayed; the textures and finishing feel deliberate and balanced.
But it’s the colour—the green of Silverstone, of British motorsport, of understated luxury—that transforms the watch. It gives the Michel GMT a narrative angle it didn’t previously have. It gives it character.
It’s still very much the Tessé Michel GMT. But now it feels like it has a place, a mood, a club, a circuit.
A gentleman-racer’s GMT. And that’s a story worth telling.
Pricing & Availability
The Michel GMT Rose Gold is also available directly from the website for $2145 CAD.
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About the author
Brent Robillard is a writer, educator, craftsman, and watch enthusiast. He is the author of four novels. You can follow him on Instagram.
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