Control accuracy of tension system is an important index in roll-to-roll gravure printing machines. However, the complex relationships of the tension system make the problem of coupling model difficult to be solved, which has limited the improvement of tension control accuracy. Therefore, a coupling mechanism model of global tension system is established and analyzed for the gravure printing machines in this study. According to the working principles and assumptions, tension model of the two-roller system is derived by considering the effects of drying temperature, and then the tension models of subsystem including unwinding subsystem, printing subsystem and rewinding subsystem are established. Based on these, the global coupling mechanism model of the tension system is established for roll-to-roll gravure printing machines. Finally, the coupling model is analyzed by MATLAB simulation, and the simulation results show that the tension system model established in this paper can accurately reflect the characteristics of tension system.