Tudor Pelagos 25500TN

Earlier today, Tudor used Geneva Watch Days to make a huge announcement – the new Tudor Pelagos 39. That’s right, the Pelagos is now the next Tudor watch to make the jump to the 39mm sizing, following the ever-popular Black Bay Fifty-Eight, and the Black Bay Pro. If you’re a dive watch fan, and even more so a Tudor fan, the Pelagos will largely be a known quantity, but the new Pelgaos 39 marks a number of changes from the original format. Should I say it? No, right? Ah heck, allow a guy to be excited about a dive watch. Let’s dive in.
I’m not here to waste your time and I’ll have a full hands-on follow-up as soon as possible, so let’s just get to the nitty-gritty. The Tudor Pelagos 39 is made from grade 2 titanium and measures 39mm wide, 11.8mm thick, and 47mm lug to lug. It has 200 meters of water resistance, a screw-down crown, a closed caseback, and comes with both a titanium bracelet (featuring both T-Fit and a 25mm wetsuit extension) and a rubber strap with titanium end links and a titanium pin buckle (along with a 110mm rubber strap dive extension). The price? A cool $4,400.

As with past Pelagos (Pelagi?), the bezel is lumed and in this case, the hour markers use the same ceramic composite monobloc material we saw on the Black Bay Pro (here it is white with a blue glow). Both the ceramic bezel and the dial are treated to a brushed satin finish, which is a major departure from the matte Teflon-like finishing common to past examples of the Pelagos. The Pelagos name on the dial is executed in a glossy red font and is part of a four-line stack of text (vs. five on the Tudor Pelagos and Pelagos LHD).
What the Pelagos 39 doesn’t have is a helium escape valve (HeV), or the standard model’s “cut out” rehaut, nor does it have the automatically adjusting trick dive clasp seen in the standard and LHD iterations of the Pelagos. Also, thanks to the use of the MT5400, there’s no date on the Pelagos 39. Ticking at 4Hz and offering COSC timekeeping and around 70 hours of power reserve, the MT5400 is a solid movement that we’ve seen in other 39mm Tudors, like the Black Bay 925.
If like me, you’ve been waiting for a smaller and thinner Pelagos, our day has come. I have to admit, barring actually seeing the watch in person, I’m very excited by the premise and how it looks on paper. The 39mm Black Bays have always fit well and looked great, and now we have the same in a Pelagos. What a day. From my perspective, the updated rehaut (which includes the minute scale) looks great and works well for the design. Furthermore, no HeV is a-ok (I’ll never need one) and, though I’ll wait to compare the T-Fit to the Pelagos’ self-adjusting design when I get to see the new Pelagos in person, I will say that I love the Pelagos clasp, but that I doubt it can outweigh the appeal of the case size, the thinness, and the way in which it immediately feels like a core iteration of a Tudor dive watch. The brushed finish is interesting, especially with the live view provided by Logan (above). It’s shinier than I’m used to seeing from a Pelagos, but I really like that the finish stands out more than its reflectiveness and how the brushing matches the way the case has been finished. All told, it looks like a smaller and somewhat more classic take on the Pelagos – what’s not to like?

We’ll have more coverage in the coming days, but if your tastes align with mine, this is nothing short of a massive announcement. The Tudor Pelagos 39 is a watch that manages to capture the Pelagos’ unique charm while offering an execution that leans towards the casual versatility of an everyday dive watch. Let’s go.