Top 3 Tudor watches of 2019

Top 3 Tudor watches of 2019

Hindsight is an excellent thing. I can now safely say that Tudor had a pretty polarising 2019, what with the mixed opinions about Black Bay P01 and the immense love sent towards the 43mm slate-grey Black Bay.

Due to the whole COVID-19 issue both Rolex & Tudor haven’t announced their new 2020 releases yet, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t enough offerings from Tudor to stay enchanted while you are locked indoors.

Today, we look at the top 3 Tudor watches of 2019. 

Tudor Black Bay Bronze 

The Black Bay Bronze is on course to become a legend on its own. Winner of the “Petite Aiguille” prize at the 2016 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève and a symbol of TUDOR’s naval heritage, the brand released a new version in 2019: slate-grey model with shaded dial. Suave looks and the combination of the new dial colour — shaded from the exterior to the centre — against the bronze case colour is superbly executed.

Quick Tech Specs: The reference 79250BA features a COSC-certified manufacture calibre MT5601 that is a self-winding mechanical movement with bidirectional rotor system. The movement beats at the frequency of 4Hz (28’800 A/h) and comprises of 25 jewels. The movement is encased inside a 43mm diameter bronze case with satin finish and bronze-coloured PVD-treated steel case back. The case features a unidirectional rotatable bezel in bronze with 60-minute graduated disc in matt slate-grey anodised aluminium. The slate-grey dial shows central hour, minute and second hands with stop seconds for precise time setting. The watch offers an impressive 70-hour power reserve and water resistance of 200m (20 ATM).

The watch features the faux-patina appeal and the increased legibility offered through gold accents found on the hands and hour markers. No doubt the Tudor Black Bay Bronze was one of the most sought after watches of 2019.

Tudor Black Bay P01

In 2019 Tudor celebrated a sort of 50th anniversary of a watch that is based on a prototype developed in the late 1960s and proposed to the US Navy. The backstory is that Tudor used to provide US Navy with divers’ watches and in 1967 the brand began development of a special prototype watch. That watch — code name “Commando” — somehow wasn’t launched and the US Navy ended up adopting reference 7016 from Tudor’s catalogue instead. But in 2019 Tudor decided to take this design out of its archives and turn it into a regular production model. Upon its launch in 2019, the watch was met with a fair amount of criticism due to its polarising looks. From the bezel to the lugs to the bracelet to the oddly positioned crown at 4’o clock, this one is perhaps one of the most unique looking watch design to come out of Tudor’s vaults.

Quick Tech Specs: The reference 70150 features a COSC-certified manufacture calibre MT5612 that is a self-winding mechanical movement with bidirectional rotor system. The movement beats at the frequency of 4Hz (28’800 A/h) and comprises of 26 jewels. The movement is encased inside a 42mm diameter steel case with satin finish. The case features a 12-hour graduated steel bidirectional rotating bezel with stop system. The black dial shows central hour, minute and second hands with stop seconds for precise time setting. It also shows an instantaneous date at 3’o clock with rapid adjustment. The watch offers an impressive 70-hour power reserve and water resistance of 200m (20 ATM).

Love it or hate it, you simply can’t deny the appeal of the backstory and the uniqueness of the design.

Tudor Black Bay Chrono S&G

Usually two tone watches can be a bit tacky. But the Tudor Black Bay Chrono S&G — S&G stands for Steel & Gold — was a remarkable exception. The watch marked the introduction of the brand’s first chronograph with a self-winding manufacture calibre featuring a column wheel and vertical clutch in a S&G version. Typical of the the Black Bay design codes, the Black Bay Chrono S&G features the “snowflake” hands. 

Quick Tech Specs: The reference 79363N features a COSC-certified manufacture calibre MT5813 that is a self-winding mechanical chronograph movement with bidirectional rotor system. The movement beats at the frequency of 4Hz (28’800 A/h) and comprises of 41 jewels. The movement is encased inside a 41mm diameter steel case with polished and satin finish. The case features a fixed yellow gold bezel with matt black anodised aluminium disc with tachymetric scale and yellow gold markings. The black dial with champagne-coloured sub-dials shows central hour and minute hands, chronograph seconds in the centre, a 45-minute counter at 3’o clock, small seconds at 9’o clock, and an instantaneous date at 6’o clock. The watch offers an impressive 70-hour power reserve and water resistance of 200m (20 ATM).

The Tudor Black Bay Chrono S&G is our pick from 2019’s Tudor releases. It’s got the best of both worlds: dive watch features and a sporty-chic look of a modern chronograph. And to top it up, for a chronograph the watch features exceptional legibility aided by the hollowed sub-dials that feature a contrasting champagne-colour on an otherwise black dial.

Visually striking, it also features the smallest case size out of the three watches we have looked at here and is perhaps one of the best chronograph options out there that can be paired with equal ease with either a suit or just jeans and a t-shirt. 

There you have it, the top 3 Tudor watches of 2019.

Which one is your favourite?

For more information on these and other Tudor watches, head to their website here.