Won't claim credit for the pictures or text. But if you're interesting in seeing a rep of this or the Pelagos head over to Puretime section on RG and join the thread.
In 2010, Tudor introduced a watch called “The Heritage Chronograph†(inspired by the chronograph from the early 1970s) that, in the eyes of many (including us), unofficially, but dramatically relaunched the brand that few here in the US of A ever saw and those in the remainder of the world thought of as anything more than “the poor man’s Rolexâ€.
You see, Tudor was designed to be just that – it was created in the 1946 to be a less expensive Rolex, and through most of its history, employed half of its parent company's genius (the Rolex Oyster case, but not the Rolex in-house calibers) and sold for about 2/3 the price. It made perfect sense from a commercial stand point, but it was always an afterthought to most watch guys (with the exception of a few vintage sport models.)
But, with the Heritage Chrono, Tudor began to attract fans of its own, and the coolness to price ratio on this chronograph had even the mightiest of vintage Rolex collectors clamoring to get their hands on one. Two years later, we’re told the Heritage Chrono is now the iconic Tudor model. Last year, Tudor released another tribute to an old ticker, the Heritage Advisor alarm. For an alarm watch, it’s priced well and has a following all its own.
Now just last week Tudor brought back a third heritage piece, one that completes its line-up - they started with a chronograph, then went to an alarm watch, and now they have the Heritage Black Bay, a nod to the Tudor dive watches of yesteryear. But, when the Heritage Black Bay was leaked online a short time before Basel World 2012, the purists lambasted it as a mish-mash of historical reference - a gilt, rose dial and big crown with snowflake hands? That doesn't make sense. Except, it does.
You see, we were presented this watch by the President of Tudor, Philippe Peverilli, and his head of design, and that was indeed our first question - why combine such note-worthy historical traits into one watch? Their answer was quite simple - the Black Bay is not a re-make of any particular watch at all as the online community tends to think of any watch with a historical reference , but rather a culmination of and tribute to the very best of Tudor dive watches of the 20th century.
So they began with the very first Tudor Submariner, the Reference 7922, of 1954. This watch, as pictured above, featured pencils hands for the very first year or two of its life, and then quickly changed to Mercedes hands until the mid-to late 60s. The 7922 featured an 8mm "Big Crown" as the Rolexes did of the time, and it is here that Tudor began the conception of the Black Bay in terms of the dial, crown, and overall styling.
Then, they jumped into 1967, the year that Reference 7021 was introduced - or the "Snowflake Submariner." The Snowflake Subs are, to this day, one of the vintage Rolex community's favorite pieces because they are just a tremendous value for the money. The super early Tudor Subs like the 1950s 7922s are not inexpensive watches, at all, but Snowflakes can still be had for well under $5000, unless they are Marine National issued pieces. But, from the 7021, Tudor borrowed the snowflake hands and bezel stylings - though the matte burgundy color was chosen based on some museum Tudor Subs whose bezel had turned to this rich color, which we believe to be unique to the Tudor Subs. It is interesting to note that from now on, all Tudor dive watches will used Snowflakes hands, as seen on the Pelagos.
So, the new Tudor Black Bay is not a tribute to one vintage dive watch or another, but it is everything that made Tudor dive watches special over the past 60 years. It features a domed crystal, "chocolate" dial with gilt lettering, pink gold hands and lume plots and a water resistance of 200 meters. It is 41mm in size and just over 10mm thick
And what is impossible to see in these pictures is just how well this watch wears and how it looks in the metal. It just just expertly finished (not in the traditional watchmaking sense, but in the creative, aeshetic sense - it uses a standard ETA 2824 movement) and looks superb on the wrist.
Also, the Black Bay will come with two different strap options - an Oyster steel bracelet or a vegetable-tanned leather strap that has been aged rather nicely.
No matter if you choose the Oyster bracelet or the leater strap, the Black Bay will also come with one of their now trade-mark cotton ribbon style straps (no it's not a NATO)
And while the Tudor Black Bay has a lot to offer, we still haven't gotten to the best part - the price. You see, Tudor is indeed Rolex's little brother when it comes to pricing, but at the end of the day, the Tudor Heritage Chronograph still retails for over $4000 - it's 4200 CHF to be exact. The Black Bay comes in considerably below that, which will make this watch even more attractive and much more approachable to those out there that want the look of a vintage Submariner, but with modern day sensibilities.
The Tudor Heritage Black Bay will retail for 3250 CHF on a steel Oyster bracelet and 2950 CHF on a leather strap, and both of those prices INCLUDE VAT. So, you're talking a $1000+ difference between this awesome retro diver and the Heritage Chrono - which is a big difference for someone saving up for their first really nice watch.
So, the Tudor Heritage Black Bay diver may not be an exact duplicate of any particular watch from last century, and frankly it's better that way. The Heritage line is about what the Tudor brand represents to us now, today, and what it is becoming again. This watch is thoroughly conceived and extremely well executed (notice the "Swiss Made" signature at the bottom of the dial? just love that), and at an extremely approachable price, this watch, alongside the equally excellent but entirely different Pelagos, will have serious divers, desk divers, vintage watch fans, and just watch fans running to their local retailer.
Consider the Pelagos the SeaDweller to the the Heritage Black Bay's Submariner, though that analogy isn't totally apt. You see, the Pelagos is arguably more advanced than even th SeaDweller (or modern-day Deep Sea) from an "everything but the movement" perspective. Tudor is, of course, not privy to the excellent in-house movements that Rolex uses, so inside the Pelagos you'll find a more than adequate ETA 2824 caliber. This isn't a bad thing at all, and when we get to the price of this handsome and very serious diver, you'll be thankful this Tudor is running an ETA and not a Rolex under the hood.
So what makes this watch so cool? Well, it's titanium. This is the first time Tudor (or Rolex) has made a titanium watch (2011's Tudor Heritage Advisor alarm was part titanium, part steel), and this is obviously an ideal metal for a sport watch due to its incredible durability and light weight.
The case is 42mm and water resistant to 500 meters, and features a helium escape valvle. The dial features an interesting flange that incorporates the hour markers perfectly, and allows for the use of larger markers to increase visibility. The hands, as with all Tudor dive watches moving forward, are in the historic "snow-flake" style. The bezel of the Pelagos is also uni-directional and titanium, but with a matte ceramic insert. The ceramic is actually injected with lume materia to provide massive glow in low-light situations. One minorly off-putting trait of the bezel is the faux pearl in the triangle at 12 o'clock on the bezel. The pearl of the Submariner's bezel is just an iconic micro-trait, and it seems strange to "fake" one here when they could've easily just used a solid triangle at twelve, or even a real pearl. Though, from what we're told by Tudor, the decision was made to use this faux-pearl because it is more eye-catching under water than a solid state triangle, and more durable in the ceramic insert than using an actual pearl. Fair enough, but worth mentioning
One thing that Tudor does better than anyone in the watch industry right now is straps. Beginning with 2010's Tudor Heritage Chrono and continuing on to last year's Fastrider Chronograph, the use of those awesome multi-colored ribbon straps, has shown Tudor has been more adept to choosing the right straps for its watches than any brand we can remember. They seem to know something that all real collectors know and yet so few brands understand - that different straps can completely change the style of a watch, add to its versatility ten fold, and cost practically nothing! The Heritage Chrono comes with both a ribbon strap and an Oyster bracelet. The Fastrider for Ducatii does too. The Heritage Black Bay has THREE options - an oyster bracelet, a ribbon style strap, and a vintage leather strap.
With the Pelagos, you get both a hard-core rubber dive strap (seen above) with dive suit extension clasp, and what is arguably the most advance diving bracelet in the world, and its exclusive not to the Rolex Deepsea, but to the Tudor Pelagos. You see, this bracelet has a "floating" clasp, that, based on the pressure around it, automatically adjusts to the size of the diver's wrist. How does it work, exactly? Watch the official video here:
[ame="http://vimeo.com/38143681"]Tudor Pelagos Official on Vimeo[/ame]
Pretty cool, no? It is weird and wonderful that Tudor be given this technology before Rolex, though we certainly can't speak to who actually developed the concept initially, or if R&D is shared between the two brands within the mothership.
So, the Tudor Pelagos is a satin titanium finished, 500 meter diver with ceramic bezel, helium escape valve and what could be described as one of the most advanced bracelets in the diving game. And, it will cost you only 3950 CHF (VAT included) should you want one. Of course, Tudor is not sold within the United States (yet....) so you'll have to take a trip overseas, or at least to Niagra Falls to pick one up.
Black Bay
In 2010, Tudor introduced a watch called “The Heritage Chronograph†(inspired by the chronograph from the early 1970s) that, in the eyes of many (including us), unofficially, but dramatically relaunched the brand that few here in the US of A ever saw and those in the remainder of the world thought of as anything more than “the poor man’s Rolexâ€.
You see, Tudor was designed to be just that – it was created in the 1946 to be a less expensive Rolex, and through most of its history, employed half of its parent company's genius (the Rolex Oyster case, but not the Rolex in-house calibers) and sold for about 2/3 the price. It made perfect sense from a commercial stand point, but it was always an afterthought to most watch guys (with the exception of a few vintage sport models.)
But, with the Heritage Chrono, Tudor began to attract fans of its own, and the coolness to price ratio on this chronograph had even the mightiest of vintage Rolex collectors clamoring to get their hands on one. Two years later, we’re told the Heritage Chrono is now the iconic Tudor model. Last year, Tudor released another tribute to an old ticker, the Heritage Advisor alarm. For an alarm watch, it’s priced well and has a following all its own.
Now just last week Tudor brought back a third heritage piece, one that completes its line-up - they started with a chronograph, then went to an alarm watch, and now they have the Heritage Black Bay, a nod to the Tudor dive watches of yesteryear. But, when the Heritage Black Bay was leaked online a short time before Basel World 2012, the purists lambasted it as a mish-mash of historical reference - a gilt, rose dial and big crown with snowflake hands? That doesn't make sense. Except, it does.
You see, we were presented this watch by the President of Tudor, Philippe Peverilli, and his head of design, and that was indeed our first question - why combine such note-worthy historical traits into one watch? Their answer was quite simple - the Black Bay is not a re-make of any particular watch at all as the online community tends to think of any watch with a historical reference , but rather a culmination of and tribute to the very best of Tudor dive watches of the 20th century.
So they began with the very first Tudor Submariner, the Reference 7922, of 1954. This watch, as pictured above, featured pencils hands for the very first year or two of its life, and then quickly changed to Mercedes hands until the mid-to late 60s. The 7922 featured an 8mm "Big Crown" as the Rolexes did of the time, and it is here that Tudor began the conception of the Black Bay in terms of the dial, crown, and overall styling.
Then, they jumped into 1967, the year that Reference 7021 was introduced - or the "Snowflake Submariner." The Snowflake Subs are, to this day, one of the vintage Rolex community's favorite pieces because they are just a tremendous value for the money. The super early Tudor Subs like the 1950s 7922s are not inexpensive watches, at all, but Snowflakes can still be had for well under $5000, unless they are Marine National issued pieces. But, from the 7021, Tudor borrowed the snowflake hands and bezel stylings - though the matte burgundy color was chosen based on some museum Tudor Subs whose bezel had turned to this rich color, which we believe to be unique to the Tudor Subs. It is interesting to note that from now on, all Tudor dive watches will used Snowflakes hands, as seen on the Pelagos.
So, the new Tudor Black Bay is not a tribute to one vintage dive watch or another, but it is everything that made Tudor dive watches special over the past 60 years. It features a domed crystal, "chocolate" dial with gilt lettering, pink gold hands and lume plots and a water resistance of 200 meters. It is 41mm in size and just over 10mm thick
And what is impossible to see in these pictures is just how well this watch wears and how it looks in the metal. It just just expertly finished (not in the traditional watchmaking sense, but in the creative, aeshetic sense - it uses a standard ETA 2824 movement) and looks superb on the wrist.
Also, the Black Bay will come with two different strap options - an Oyster steel bracelet or a vegetable-tanned leather strap that has been aged rather nicely.
No matter if you choose the Oyster bracelet or the leater strap, the Black Bay will also come with one of their now trade-mark cotton ribbon style straps (no it's not a NATO)
And while the Tudor Black Bay has a lot to offer, we still haven't gotten to the best part - the price. You see, Tudor is indeed Rolex's little brother when it comes to pricing, but at the end of the day, the Tudor Heritage Chronograph still retails for over $4000 - it's 4200 CHF to be exact. The Black Bay comes in considerably below that, which will make this watch even more attractive and much more approachable to those out there that want the look of a vintage Submariner, but with modern day sensibilities.
The Tudor Heritage Black Bay will retail for 3250 CHF on a steel Oyster bracelet and 2950 CHF on a leather strap, and both of those prices INCLUDE VAT. So, you're talking a $1000+ difference between this awesome retro diver and the Heritage Chrono - which is a big difference for someone saving up for their first really nice watch.
So, the Tudor Heritage Black Bay diver may not be an exact duplicate of any particular watch from last century, and frankly it's better that way. The Heritage line is about what the Tudor brand represents to us now, today, and what it is becoming again. This watch is thoroughly conceived and extremely well executed (notice the "Swiss Made" signature at the bottom of the dial? just love that), and at an extremely approachable price, this watch, alongside the equally excellent but entirely different Pelagos, will have serious divers, desk divers, vintage watch fans, and just watch fans running to their local retailer.
Pelagos
Consider the Pelagos the SeaDweller to the the Heritage Black Bay's Submariner, though that analogy isn't totally apt. You see, the Pelagos is arguably more advanced than even th SeaDweller (or modern-day Deep Sea) from an "everything but the movement" perspective. Tudor is, of course, not privy to the excellent in-house movements that Rolex uses, so inside the Pelagos you'll find a more than adequate ETA 2824 caliber. This isn't a bad thing at all, and when we get to the price of this handsome and very serious diver, you'll be thankful this Tudor is running an ETA and not a Rolex under the hood.
So what makes this watch so cool? Well, it's titanium. This is the first time Tudor (or Rolex) has made a titanium watch (2011's Tudor Heritage Advisor alarm was part titanium, part steel), and this is obviously an ideal metal for a sport watch due to its incredible durability and light weight.
The case is 42mm and water resistant to 500 meters, and features a helium escape valvle. The dial features an interesting flange that incorporates the hour markers perfectly, and allows for the use of larger markers to increase visibility. The hands, as with all Tudor dive watches moving forward, are in the historic "snow-flake" style. The bezel of the Pelagos is also uni-directional and titanium, but with a matte ceramic insert. The ceramic is actually injected with lume materia to provide massive glow in low-light situations. One minorly off-putting trait of the bezel is the faux pearl in the triangle at 12 o'clock on the bezel. The pearl of the Submariner's bezel is just an iconic micro-trait, and it seems strange to "fake" one here when they could've easily just used a solid triangle at twelve, or even a real pearl. Though, from what we're told by Tudor, the decision was made to use this faux-pearl because it is more eye-catching under water than a solid state triangle, and more durable in the ceramic insert than using an actual pearl. Fair enough, but worth mentioning
One thing that Tudor does better than anyone in the watch industry right now is straps. Beginning with 2010's Tudor Heritage Chrono and continuing on to last year's Fastrider Chronograph, the use of those awesome multi-colored ribbon straps, has shown Tudor has been more adept to choosing the right straps for its watches than any brand we can remember. They seem to know something that all real collectors know and yet so few brands understand - that different straps can completely change the style of a watch, add to its versatility ten fold, and cost practically nothing! The Heritage Chrono comes with both a ribbon strap and an Oyster bracelet. The Fastrider for Ducatii does too. The Heritage Black Bay has THREE options - an oyster bracelet, a ribbon style strap, and a vintage leather strap.
With the Pelagos, you get both a hard-core rubber dive strap (seen above) with dive suit extension clasp, and what is arguably the most advance diving bracelet in the world, and its exclusive not to the Rolex Deepsea, but to the Tudor Pelagos. You see, this bracelet has a "floating" clasp, that, based on the pressure around it, automatically adjusts to the size of the diver's wrist. How does it work, exactly? Watch the official video here:
[ame="http://vimeo.com/38143681"]Tudor Pelagos Official on Vimeo[/ame]
Pretty cool, no? It is weird and wonderful that Tudor be given this technology before Rolex, though we certainly can't speak to who actually developed the concept initially, or if R&D is shared between the two brands within the mothership.
So, the Tudor Pelagos is a satin titanium finished, 500 meter diver with ceramic bezel, helium escape valve and what could be described as one of the most advanced bracelets in the diving game. And, it will cost you only 3950 CHF (VAT included) should you want one. Of course, Tudor is not sold within the United States (yet....) so you'll have to take a trip overseas, or at least to Niagra Falls to pick one up.
