Tudor debuted a new homage to its original Tudor Prince Submariner Ref. 7922 at Watches and Wonders today in Geneva.

Considering the popularity of the Tudor Black Bay Fifty-Eight — which is also a relatively faithful nod to the 7922 — it’s not surprising that this is one of Tudor’s most talked about new timepieces so far in 2023.

There are now three sizes (41 mm, 39 mm, 37 mm) of Black Bay that have a vintage aesthetic including a black dial with gilt hands/print/indices in the Tudor catalog (pictured below). At 37 mm the new Black Bay 54 might not look as good on a larger wrist compared to a Black Bay Fifty-Eight but then again that’s why they have three sizes. Ideally, you should try on all three before buying.

With the Black Bay 54, Tudor basically doubled down on the 39 mm Black Bay Fifty-Eight, coming as close to a faithful remake as we’ve seen relative to the original 1954 Ref. 7922 Submariner yet. With a 37 mm diameter, rivetted-style bracelet, a gilt dial, a small crown, and no red triangle at twelve — this could be as close as we’ll ever see. Tudor replaced the Snowflake tipped center seconds hand, which has a baton counterweight, with the 7922 style lollipop seconds hand with a circular-shaped counterweight. Visually, the only other change Tudor would have to make, to bring it closer to the 7922, is to replace the Snowflake hour hand with a Mercedes-style hand.

Even with the throwback styling on the outside, the inside is resolutely modern. The time-only watch is powered by Tudor’s existing 4Hz automatic caliber MT5400 movement which has a robust traversing balance bridge, a free-sprung balance, and a 70-hour power reserve. Each movement is adjusted to higher than chronometer level specifications at -2/+4 — after being cased up, which is preferable to before being cased up.

Tudor Black Bay 54 (Ref. 79000N) is available with a rivet-style stainless steel bracelet for $3,850 or a black rubber strap for $3,625.

 

Photos by Tudor.