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This Underrated Affordable Swiss Brand Quietly Released a Killer Chronograph Sports Watch

You’d think they’d want to advertise this.

Close-up of a luxury mido wristwatch with a blue textured dial featuring three subdials, white hour markers, and a date window at the 3 o'clock position. The watch has a polished silver bezel and a blue woven fabric strap. The dial includes the text "MULTIFORT" and "SWISS MADE.Mido
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By Johnny Brayson

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Although it’s a member of the behemoth Swatch Group and boasts an impressive history, Mido doesn’t often turn the heads of watch enthusiasts like its similarly priced sister brands, Tissot and Hamilton.

But in recent years, Mido has quietly been on a bit of a roll. Its Ocean Star diver series offers a wide range of tempting value-driven divers, most notably its iconic rainbow-colored Decompression Timer, but my personal favorite Mido is the Multifort TV Big Date that first appeared in its catalog two years ago.

The Multifort TV Big Date is a sports watch with an attractive design reminiscent of the Patek Philippe Aquanaut — one of my grails — thanks to its square-round bezel with its broad, vertically brushed top and polished sides. The watch was also notable for including a big date complication, a feature seldom seen at the watch’s sub-$1,300 price point.

A wristwatch with a square stainless steel case and a black dial featuring white hour markers and hands. The watch has a date display at the 12 o'clock position and the words "MIDO AUTOMATIC" and "MULTIFORT" on the dial. It is worn on a wrist with an orange rubber strap. The wearer is dressed in a white textured long-sleeve garment.
Introduced to Mido’s catalog in 2023, the Multifort TV Big Date has quickly become one of the brand’s most recognized models.
Mido

Since the debut of the original Multifort TV, Mido has been expanding the line by introducing new colors and materials for the Big Date, along with a 35mm version without a big date.

Now, the brand has again added to the TV collection by discreetly launching a very good-looking Multifort TV Chronograph — and apparently telling no one about it.

New TV

As of this writing, you’ll find no mention of the new Multifort TV Chronograph on Mido’s Instagram page or any promotion anywhere else. But the watch is live on Mido’s website, and it looks damn good.

The chronograph features the same design language established on the TV Big Date, with its stainless steel Aquanaut-esque case paired with a Nautilus-looking bracelet. Broad and flat chronograph pushers now flank the crown guards, keeping the general lines of the case intact — a smart design choice over more traditional cylindrical pushers.

Blue Mido Multifort automatic wristwatch with a square stainless steel case, blue textured dial featuring three subdials, white hour markers, and a date window at 4 o'clock, paired with a blue woven fabric strap with white stitching.
Now that is one nice-looking chronograph.
Mido

The dials are also of the same ilk as on the Big Date, with the same sunken-in dot and trapezoid hour markers, the same horizontal brushed pattern and the same gradient color schemes that darken at the dial’s edges and brighten at its center.

Replacing the minute track is a tachymeter scale, while three chronograph registers appear at 3, 6 and 9 and are color-matched to the dial for minimal visual impact. A non-big date window appears at 4:30. The crown screws down and water resistance is 100m, same as on the Big Date.

Back view of a stainless steel Mido wristwatch showcasing the intricate Mido Caliber 60 automatic movement through a sapphire crystal case back. The watch is water-resistant up to 10 bar (100 meters/330 feet) and features visible gears, screws, and jewels in silver, gold, blue, and pink tones. The bracelet is also stainless steel with a brushed finish.
The movement inside has impressive specs and loads of perlage decoration (honestly, it’s probably too much perlage).
Mido

Powering the watch and visible behind the sapphire caseback is the Mido/ETA Cal. 60, an automatic chronograph derivative of the legendary Valjoux 7750. It’s a nice movement for the price, with a 60-hour power reserve, an anti-magnetic Nivachron hairspring and lots of perlage and blued screws for decoration. It’s what the kids call a thicc boi, though, pushing the case thickness to a chunky 14.3mm, nearly 3mm thicker than the Big Date.

Still, that thickness could be worse, and some chunkiness is to be expected in an automatic chronograph in this sub-$3,000 price range. The case is also larger than the 39.2 x 40mm case of the Big Date, measuring 41.2 x 42mm. Those dimensions are extremely close to the Tissot PRX Chronograph, which uses the same movement and is, I would argue, this watch’s biggest competition.

Side view of a silver stainless steel wristwatch with a polished case, featuring two rectangular push buttons and a ridged crown engraved with the brand name "MIDO." The watch is attached to a matching metal link bracelet. The background is a gradient blue.
At 14.3mm thick, no one will accuse Mido’s new chronograph of being thin, but it could be worse.
Mido

One advantage the Mido has over the Tissot, however, is that it includes a strap and a bracelet, both with a built-in quick-change system to make swaps easy. There’s a blue dial with a woven blue nylon canvas strap with white stitching (which looks fantastic), an anthracite version with yellow accents and a matching canvas strap, and then a full DLC black model with orange accents and a pale orange leather strap.

Pricing and availability

Mido doesn’t have the Multifort TV Chronograph available for sale online, but that could change in the coming weeks, as I assume Mido will, at some point, officially roll out the watch — it’s too significant a release not to.

Pricing is affordable for an automatic chronograph, but honestly is a little higher than I expected. The two plain stainless steel models are each priced at $2,610, while the DLC version is more expensive at $2,820. Tissot, meanwhile, offers the PRX Chrono at $1,995, while Longines’ excellent Conquest Chronograph starts at $3,850.

Two Mido Multifort automatic chronograph watches side by side. The left watch has a stainless steel case with a black textured dial featuring yellow accents and a black fabric strap with yellow stitching. The right watch has a black coated case and bracelet with a black textured dial featuring orange accents. Both watches have three subdials, a date window at 4 o'clock, and tachymeter markings on the inner bezel.
Regardless of which color you choose, the watch includes a bracelet and a strap.
Mido

Mido does slot in between those two brands in the Swatch Group hierarchy, but it’s a lot closer to Tissot than it is to Longines, so I would expect that price to be a little nearer to the PRX instead of sitting roughly halfway between the two brands. Since it’s a new watch, it’s possible that President Trump’s tariffs on Switzerland have been baked into the price and that’s why the watch is more expensive than expected, but I can’t say for sure.

What I can say for sure is the new Mido Multifort TV Chronograph looks quite good, and I’m sure the brand will begin expanding the line in no time at all.

Silver stainless steel wristwatch with a blue textured dial featuring three subdials, a date window at 4 o'clock, and silver hour markers and hands. The watch has a tachymeter scale on the inner bezel and a linked metal bracelet. The brand name "MIDO" and "AUTOMATIC" are displayed below the 12 o'clock position, with "MULTIFORT" above the 6 o'clock subdial.Mido

Mido Multifort TV Chronograph

Specs

Case Size 41.2mm
Movement Mido Cal. 60 automatic chronograph (ETA base)
Water Resistance 100m
About the Author:

Johnny Brayson is an editor at Gear Patrol mostly covering watches. He enjoys watches that are packed with blink-and-you’ll-miss-’em details and believes nearly every watch could stand to be a tad smaller.

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