TUDOR Black Bay Fifty Eight watches

TUDOR pays tribute to the brand’s first divers’ watches with the Black Bay Fifty-Eight, a model whose dimensions evoke that of the epoch. Fitted with a TUDOR manufacture movement, the Black Bay Fifty-Eight is designed for slim wrists and vintage enthusiasts alike.

The Black Bay Fifty-Eight Replica gets its name from the year 1958, in which the first TUDOR divers’ watch waterproof to 200 metres (660 ft), reference 7924 or “Big Crown”, was introduced. Among other aesthetic nods to this historic watch, the model offers a case 39 mm in diameter in keeping with the characteristic proportions of the 1950s.

In 1969, TUDOR introduced a divers’ watch with a blue dial and bezel. The other sporty watches in the collection were soon attired in blue, immediately creating a lasting aesthetic hallmark known as “TUDOR Blue”. Adopted by the French navy for its TUDOR divers’ watches during the 1970s, this livery became part of the collective imagination. The Black Bay Fifty-Eight “Navy Blue” follows in this tradition with its navy blue dial and bezel insert. This is a colour that also appears on the “soft touch” strap offered with this model and made from a synthetic, tactile material resembling flannel.

With the Manufacture Calibre MT5402, TUDOR launches a second family of movements, three years after the introduction of its first in-house calibre. Designed for medium-sized TUDOR watches, the Calibre MT5402 is 26 mm in diameter and displays hour, minute and second functions. It has the appearance and finish typical of TUDOR manufacture calibres. Its openwork rotor is entirely satin-brushed and its bridges and mainplate have alternate sand-blasted surfaces and laser decorations. Its structure has been designed to ensure robustness, longevity and reliability, as has its variable inertia balance, which is maintained by a sturdy traversing bridge with a two-point fixation. Featuring a 70-hour power reserve, the manufacture calibre MT5402 is certified as a chronometer by the Swiss Official Chronometer Testing Institute (COSC).

The Tudor Black Bay Fifty-Eight Replica comes with a choice of a riveted steel bracelet with polished and satin finish, a leather or “soft touch” strap with folding clasp, or a fabric strap. One of TUDOR’s signature features, the fabric strap is made using the Jacquard technique, a traditional method achieved by a hundred-year-old family business from the St-Etienne region of France.

The Tudor Black Bay 58 Replica features a dial inspired by the TUDOR divers’ watches of the 1950s. It adopts the characteristic angular hands known to collectors as snowflake, that appeared in the brand’s 1969 catalogue. Finally, the large winding crown, characteristic of the first generation of TUDOR divers’ watches to be waterproof to 200 metres (660 ft), is also alluded to in this model.