BIG CROWN AND SNOWFLAKE HANDS
The Black Bay draws its most characteristic features from past models in the brand’s history. Its general lines, domed dial and crystal were inspired by the first TUDOR diving watches. It features the particularly prominent winding crown from the famous 7924 reference of 1958, aka the Big Crown, while its characteristic angular hands, known as snowflake, were borrowed from the TUDOR watches used by the French National Navy in the 1970s.
THE TUDOR MANUFACTURE CALIBRE MT5602
In 2015, TUDOR announced its first Manufacture Calibre in its history. A high-performance movement of excellent precision and proven robustness, the TUDOR MT5602 Manufacture Calibre offers a 70-hour power reserve meaning that its wearer can, for example, take off the watch on Friday evening and put it on again on Monday morning without having to wind it.
Beating to a frequency of 28,800 beats/hour or 4Hz, the movement is regulated by a variable inertia oscillator with silicon balance spring, held in place by a traversing bridge - a guarantee of its robustness. The movement is certified by the Swiss Official Chronometer Testing Institute (COSC).
ICY BLUE TONES AND SHARP CONTRASTS
Nicknamed “Midnight Blue” by aficionados of the brand, the TUDOR Black Bay with its blue bezel displays the ice-cold face and sharp contrasts which lend to the watch the look of a professional technical instrument.
Steel bracelet, an aged leather strap, or a fabric strap in matching colour
The Black Bay is available with a steel bracelet, an aged leather strap and folding clasp, or a fabric strap with buckle. The steel bracelet has been reworked taking inspiration from the brand’s riveted bracelets from the 50s and 60s. These were famous for having rivet heads for attaching the links in evidence on the side of the bracelet, as well as a stepped construction.
The fabric strap, one of TUDOR’s signature features, is produced according to the traditional “Jacquard” technique mastered by a century-old family business located in the St-Etienne region of France.
The history of the TUDOR divers’ watch dates back to 1954 and the launch of reference 7922. The first in a long line of ergonomic, legible, accurate and robust divers’ watches, it perfectly embodies the approach formulated by the American architect Louis Sullivan, according to whom the form of an object must follow its function. Furthermore, it laid down the aesthetic and technical foundations of an ideal divers’ watch, those of an understated, functional and reliable tool. The sixty years that followed the launch of the original 7922 saw the constant improvement of the TUDOR divers’ watch and each model gained unanimous acclaim from professionals in the field, including some of the greatest military navies in the world.
First introduced in 2012, the Black Bay won the Revival Prize at the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie in Geneva the following year.
