Dr. N.
Il Tudor Heritage Black Bay, of which we have spoken to you , promising, is certainly one of the most successful models of the Tudor house. It is a watch that combines modern mechanics with stylistic elements vintage, making it interesting both for those who want a clearly legible quality watch with a different style than usual, and for those who appreciate the look of diving watches of the past.
The new model Tudor Black Bay 58 Blue is a watch that demonstrates how Tudor knows how to listen to the requests of enthusiasts, meeting them with models that are ever closer to the tastes of the public. Let's see all the secrets of this model together.
Tudor Black Bay: Where Did It Come From?
The Tudor Black Bay Line was born in 2012 with the aim of giving an independent characterization to the Casa della Rosa, until then the author of interesting models but overall very influenced by Rolex. If the presence of the parent company is certainly a qualitative guarantee, in some moments in the history of Tudor this link has resulted in a limit to the creativity of Tudor. However, this is no longer the case: largely thanks to the line Black Bay, Tudor has earned a more autonomous image from Rolex and has shown a personality of its own.
The central idea, in the line Black Bay of Tudor, is to take up the stylistic features of sports watches vintage and bring them into our time, using materials and movements in step with modern technique.
Tudor has always preferred to mount different movements than those of its "big sister" Rolex, for understandable reasons of differentiation between the two brands. This choice for many years led Tudor to install the valid ETA movements, a supplier that shared this House with many other names in Swiss watchmaking. Recently, however, ETA's announcement of wanting to reduce cooperation with manufacturers outside the Swatch group to which it belongs, together with Rolex's decision to raise the perceived prestige of its subsidiary, led Tudor to develop a line of movements on its own.
Tudor's choice to join the ranks of watch manufacturers who also make movements at home saw its first concrete outlet in 2015, with the arrival of a caliber developed internally - obviously with the help of the Rolex parent company - on the Tudor North Flag. The main innovations, compared to the ETA movements previously in use, are the silicon hairspring and the remarkable power reserve of seventy hours. These technical choices persist in the subsequent movements gradually presented by Tudor, up to 2018, when the Tudor Black Bay Fifty-Eight, equipped with the MT 5402 movement, specially designed to preserve the performance of its innovative predecessors even in a small case.
The Tudor Black Bay 58
The idea of the Tudor Black Bay liked it and had an excellent market response. The choice of Tudor to focus on stylistic features vintage has met the favor of fans, but with some reservations. The main argument of the critics of the first Black Bay is about the size of the watch: whether you want to make an inspirational timepiece retro, choosing a case of 41 mm in diameter does not seem to be in keeping with the historical period, the sixties and seventies, which one wishes to recall.
With the company Tudor Black Bay 58, Tudor proves to be a house that knows how to listen to its customers. This watch, which retains the mechanical characteristics of its predecessors, integrating both the power reserve of seventy hours and the silicon hairspring, is even closer to the characteristics of the vintage which the 41 mm Black Bay is already inspired by. As mentioned, the MT 5402 movement has made it possible to reduce the size of the case, not only in width - the diameter of the Black Bay 58 is in fact 39 mm, two less than the model it is inspired by - but above all in thickness: the height. of the case of the Black Bay is 15 mm, that of the Tudor Black Bay 58 instead it is 3 mm thinner. This feature brings the wearability of the Tudor Black Bay 58 to that of the Rolex Submariner vintage, thus completing the path of approaching the stylistic features of the past which Tudor has decided to imprint its new aesthetic course.
The Black Bay 58 Blue
The first Tudor Black Bay 58 has a color that refers explicitly to the dials vintage "Veered". In fact, the use of the golden dot on the external scale recalls the color change that occurs over time with watches equipped with luminescent tritium paint, which changes from white to yellowish: an obvious wink to collectors who are passionate about watches. vintage.
The choice of TudorWith the new Tudor Black Bay 58 Blue, is to continue the successful Black Bay genie based on successful models of the past. In line with the decision to take up the sixties and seventies styles, Tudor was inspired by its own model supplied to divers of the French Navy in the seventies. The color of the dial, an iridescent blue anti-glare, is identical to that of the military specifications of the time. The overall effect now appears to be that of a real clock vintage: in fact, at the time of production, these watches were not yet "toned" in the dial. Instead, they featured high-contrast dark-colored dials with white markers and spheres, which then, over time, they turned yellow-orange. In Tudor Black Bay 58 Blue, the indexes and spheres edged in silver contrast with the blue of the dial ensuring excellent readability.
Il Tudor Black Bay 58 Blue, therefore, it appears a decidedly guessed watch, both on a technical and stylistic level. Defects? According to the writer, the silicon spiral, also adopted by many other manufacturers, is a technology not destined to be repairable in a few decades, due to the probable future closure of the production lines of silicon components, when the electronics industry of consumption will no longer use this material. This makes any watch with silicon components - not just the Tudor we deal with today - unable to claim. the title of "potentially eternal" that belongs to every "pure" mechanical watch. Rolex, aware of this potential problem - which has more to do with issues of future repairability than with the current functionality of the movement - has chosen to return to metal hairsprings, using the Parachrom spiral blue, which guarantees anti-magnetic properties almost equal to silicon but is made of metal alloy, therefore reproducible even in the distant future in which the production lines of silicon components no longer exist.
Is the Tudor Black Bay 58 Blue for me?
Il Tudor Black Bay 58 Blue it is undoubtedly a versatile watch. Its size allows it to be used on any occasion: unlike the "big brother" Tudor Black Bay, 58 it does not protrude much on the wrist and can also be worn with non-sports clothing.
The undoubted technical quality Tudor combined with the stylistic features vintage certainly carries the Tudor Black Bay 58 Blue to be the ideal choice for those who want a high-quality, aesthetically pleasing diving watch that is “lighter” than today's Rolex Submariners.
