Tudor

After avoiding the often inauthentic brand ambassador game for almost two decades, in an apparent change of direction, earlier this year, Tudor decided to bring David Beckham on as an official brand ambassador. Now, in an even bigger change, Tudor, who two years ago stated at a press event in Basel, Switzerland that they would always present Tudor in a masculine way in regards to advertising, has pivoted on that strategy as well. Lady Gaga is now an official Tudor brand ambassador. With women making up a larger percentage of the mechanical watch market and being more involved in the sales process, this strategy makes sense in the grand scheme of things. Moreover, with a number of watches within the Tudor collection that work well on a women’s wrist, why not, I suppose.

The new Heritage Black Bay 41 comes with a slimmer middle case and fixed polished steel bezel for a more dressy look than the standard Black Bay collection. As with all Black Bay watches, this is inspired by past divers’ watches from the 1950s and 1960s. A black lacquer dial with applied rhodium plated luminous indexes, and rhodium plated luminous hands, including the signature snowflake hand. This is a no-date model, and unlike the rest of the Black Bay collection, which is currently powered by manufacture movements, this model has been equipped with a more budget friendly ETA 2824 caliber that is good for 38-hours. To keep the lines clean and maintain the elegant look, the sapphire crystal is flush with the bezel, which along with the thinner case making it easy to slide this watch under a shirt cuff.

After setting the stage for the past five years with annual debuts of new variations to the three-hand Black Bay collection, which you can see in our archives, this year, Tudor, dropped their first Black Bay Chronograph. Presented in the same size case, that measures 41 mm in diameter, and is available in stainless steel, the new Chronograph has a thinner fixed bezel, as opposed to the standard Black Bay line which is thicker and rotates unidirectionally. Plus, it is steel, which apart from the new Black Bay Steel, is completely different from all existing Black Bay models which are steel with a colored aluminum insert. One design feature I personally like the most is the engraved tachymeter scale, which is reminiscent of a Rolex Daytona or 1970s Tudor Monte Carlo. The design feature I like the least is the

The Heritage Black Bay is Tudor’s best selling watch collection – which is a modern re-interpretation of the Tudor Submariner – based on a combination the company’s dive watch references from the 1950s and 1970s. Beginning in 2012, with the original Black Bay Heritage Ref. 7930R, which features a Red bezel, Tudor has continually rolled out new editions, including the Black Bay Blue, Black, Dark, and Bronze editions. Today, that tradition continues with the launch of the Black Bay Steel, which comes with a circular satin-brushed matte stainless steel uni-directional rotating bezel inside the same 41 mm diameter case that is seen on existing models, with the exception of the Black Bay Bronze which has a larger case. In conjunction with the launch last year of the Black Bay Dark and Bronze, Tudor announced that all Black Bays will be

The newly launched Tudor Pelagos LHD (Left-Hand Drive), is fundamentally the same as the existing Tudor Pelagos line, but with a modified version of the existing movement that has the crown moved to the left side of the case (which makes it a so-called left-hand watch). To do so, Tudor re-worked the movement and the case accordingly. In doing so, they also made a few other subtle changes, namely the lume which is now a beige color, a roulette (red/black alternating numerals) date wheel, “PELAGOS” dial text in red, and for the first time since the Marine Nationale models that were produced for the French Navy in the 1970s, Tudor offers a numbered edition. As someone that is right-hand dominant (and that wears my watch on the left-hand), the Tudor Pelagos feels like the current right-hand Pelagos model, but with

In 2015, Tudor slightly redesigned their professional diver’s watch – the Pelagos – with a new dial that features five lines of text at 6 o’clock instead of two lines like its predecessor. However, the biggest change was the addition of a new in-house automatic movement, caliber MT 5621, in place of the ETA 2824 which powered the original Pelagos, and which beats at 4Hz, has 26 jewels and boasts a 70-hour power reserve. The movement uses a silicon balance spring and has a variable inertia balance wheel, with a traversing balance bridge which makes the regulator assortment, and it is a COSC-certified movement. Now, Tudor introduces a left-hand version of the Pelagos diving watch for the first time (the crown is on the left instead of the traditional location on the right side of the case, and is therefore

The Heritage Black Bay, first launched in 2012, is Tudor’s best-selling collection. Based on the first 1954 Tudor Submariner (Ref. 7922), along with design elements borrowed from multiple subsequent Submariners, the Black Bay is not a re-edition, instead, it is a contemporary re-interpretation of the original. Building on the success of the core model, last month a day before Press Day at Baselworld, in addition to debuting the Black Bay Bronze, Tudor launched the Black Bay Dark, which like the Bronze, is somewhat of a departure from the rest of the Black Bay collection. Scenes from the launch which took place just ahead of Baselworld 2016 Unlike the larger 43 mm diameter bronze-alloy case from the Bronze model, the Black Bay Dark is in stainless steel and has the same dimensions (41 mm x 12.75 mm) as the Black Bay

Today, Tudor debuts the Black Bay Bronze. A new, larger 43 mm diameter version of the Black Bay, in a unique aluminum bronze alloy case. In addition to being the first Black Bay offered in a larger case size, and the first to have Explorer style hour markers (at 3, 6, and 9), it also represents the first Black Bay to feature the new in-house movement. Not to mention, it has pierced lugs. Similar to caliber MT 5621, which was launched this time last year in the North Flag, the MT 5601, is automatic, beats at 4Hz, has 28 jewels, and boasts a 70-hour power reserve. Moreover, it uses a silicon balance spring and has a variable inertia balance wheel, with a traversing balance bridge which makes the regulator assortment more robust. The difference, between this movement and what powers

Tudor has debuted a new version of the Fastrider Black Shield. Originally launched at Baselworld 2013, the Black Shield is the ceramic model within the Fastrider collection, which also includes stainless steel variants. Similar to all the Fastrider launches to date, the Black Shield was launched alongside the new Ducati motorcycle. Appropriately, this time around, the new bike is the all-black Ducati XDiavel cruiser. Tudor has left everything intact from the 2013 Fastrider Black Shield models – including the 42 mm diameter monobloc black ceramic case and 7753 ETA movement – with the exception of a new dial that is all-black with contrasting white: indexes, seconds hand, lume, subdial markings, logo and so on. The only other change is the slightly enlarged “Black Shield” moniker on the dial at 12 o’clock. (Ref. 42000CN)

Tudor announces a new variation of the Black Bay with a matte black bezel and a gilt dial. The watch is virtually the same as the 79220R (red bezel version) with the exception of a new black bezel with a red triangle at 12 o’clock, a black anodized aluminum crown tube, and now a slightly different black distressed leather strap as an option. Furthermore, if you break it down, the Tudor Black Bay 79220N is virtually the same as Ref. 7923/001, that was produced as a one-of-a-kind edition for Only Watch 2015, except it has the standard hour, minute and second hands – with the standard writing at 6 o’clock as seen on references 79220B and 79220R. We were hoping the latest Black Bay would upgrade from an ETA 2824 to the new in-house manufactured caliber MT 5621 (which was