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Introducing Tudor’s Black Bays 925 and 18K
News
Introducing Tudor’s Black Bays 925 and 18K
Tudor’s Sterling Job
Silver has been in use for watches since the dawn of time, or at least portable time. Pocket watches were often cased in silver and early wrist watches from the first half of the twentieth century were also made in silver. In fact, it was quite common to see trench watches from the first world war made from silver and I’ve seen quite a few Rolex examples over the years. The practice is not common at all now though, but Tudor has yet surprised us all by making a watch in sterling 925 silver.
The Black Bay 58 925 shares the case proportions of previous 58s but is an entirely new beast. Completely satin finished in its entirety, the watch also has an open display caseback. Again, this is a first for Tudor. To enable an unencumbered view of its Manufacture movement, Tudor has developed a new calibre, MT5400 which is midsize but mounted on a full-size plate, so as to fit inside the 39mm case but allow the case back to give the view of a full movement. This is very cool indeed. The movement is the usual high quality that one would expect from the brand. The movement is COSC rated and boasts the house-speciality of 70 hours power reserve. But the COSC standard, with a tolerance of -4 to +6 seconds, isn’t good enough for Tudor. They test in-house to ensure that each movement performs at -2 to +4 seconds.
Tudor Goes For Gold
Tudor’s second precious offering is a Black Bay 58 in 18k yellow gold. This is a watch I’ve always wanted to see. Whilst now it’s not unusual to see sports watches in gold, if you stop and think about it, it’s utterly oxymoronic; a tool watch in a precious metal. But it’s always popular and a road down which Tudor has never ventured until now. I heard a rumour years ago, of a one-off gold Tudor Submariner that was delivered to Comex, but have never had any luck qualifying this tale. The ’58 18k is, like the 925, fully satin finished and also has the sapphire display case back and the new calibre MT5400 Manufacture movement.
This is a new price point for Tudor and many will ask the question, is the brand leaving behind its purpose of providing the very best watches at an accessible price point. My feeling is that, in terms of context and other 18k gold dive watches, the watch is, if not accessible, certainly very good value for money for what it is; a premium sports watch in solid gold.
Tech Specs
Black Bay 925 and 18K: Tudor Manufacture Calibre MT5400 with 70-hour power reserve
Case and Dial:
Black Bay 925: 39mm 925 silver with display case back. Taupe dial with applied hour markers and snowflake hands.
Black Bay 18k: 39mm satin-finished 18k yellow gold with display case back. Green dial with applied hour markers and snowflake hands.
Strap:
Black Bay 925: A choice of two straps, taupe fabric with silver stripe or brown grain leather
Black Bay 18K: Two straps are included, green fabric with gold stripe and dark brown alligator
Prices:
Black Bay 925: £3,230; Black Bay 18K: £12,610