Sign In
(817) 503-2334
Contact Us
By:
The Top 5 Watches to Take on Vacation: The Tudor Black Bay GMT
It’s difficult to think of any collection of recent times, from any brand, which has hit the ground running quite as successfully as Tudor’s Black Bay series.
Debuting in 2012 and bringing the brand back to American shores after an absence of 13-years, there are any number of watches in the Black Bay clan we could have included in our list of best vacation pieces.
All share that same effortlessly handsome vintage tool watch vibe; you know the one, the look which harks back to earlier times and which today makes them the ideal mix of nostalgic chic coupled with just the right amount of discretion to avoid any sort of unwelcome attention.
That they are all backed by the unyielding manufacturing perfectionism which has long set parent company Rolex apart in a packed field only ups their cachet, helped on even more so post-2015 when Tudor began introducing homegrown movements.
But out of all of the various constituent parts of the Black Bay family; the dive watches, the chronographs, the dress pieces, the whatever-the-P01 is, it is the resurgent GMTs which perhaps best fit our particular bill.
Where Did The Black Bays Come From?
You can trace the foundations of the all-conquering Black Bay range back to a number of Tudor tool watches from the mid part of the last century.
When Hans Wilsdorf set up his auxiliary company (registering the name in 1926 and running it as an official subsidiary in 1946) its mission was a clearly defined one; to offer watches with the same high level of quality as Rolex but at a more affordable price. As most of the expense concerning mechanical watches is taken up by the mechanical bit, i.e. the movement, Wilsdorf was able to reduce the buy-in cost of his Tudors by fitting them with off-the-shelf calibers from third-party manufacturers.
From the outset, Tudor was very much aimed at the tool watch market. Ostensibly so was Rolex but, when their Datejust emerged in 1945, one year before Wilsdorf officially registered his secondary company as Montres TUDOR S.A., that was the point at which Rolex really started the crossover towards the outright luxury market.
Even so, Tudor got to use the industry-revolutionizing innovation that was the Oyster case and by 1954 were the formal supplier to the French Navy Marine Nationale. Their earliest dive watch, the Tudor Oyster Prince Submariner ref. 7922 was launched 12-months after Rolex’s gamechanger and to the untrained eye looked almost identical, bar the dial text. They even borrowed the same Mercedes handset. In 1958, the successor to that reference, the ref. 7924 doubled the depth rating to 200m, thanks in part to its larger crown—going from 5mm to 8mm. That would become the first of the ‘Big Crown’ Tudor Submariners.
After that, the next major change wouldn’t arrive until 1969 and the ref. 7016, which is where we see the first instance of the now signature Snowflake hands, a component which has, arguably more than any other, sealed Tudor’s own identity. The oddly-shaped hour hand was introduced at the behest of the French Navy divers who found having two vastly differing styles between the minute and hour hands helped in telling the time in murky conditions.
If we look at the 2012 introductory reference of the Black Bay series, we can see elements derived from all of these historic Tudor forebears.
The Black Bay Arrives
Tudor withdrew from the North American market in 2004 for a number of reasons. One was that parent company Rolex felt they might create internal competition and potentially weaken each other’s sales performance.
Tudor was also not as well-established in the U.S. as they were in the rest of the world and it was difficult for Rolex to justify the continued investment.
Most crucially, however, the brand was going through a period of transition at that time, moving away from using Rolex’s cases and crowns and forging ahead with their own designs.
All of that culminated in 2012 when Tudor returned, starting in Canada, with the opening salvo in the Black Bay fusillade, the ref. 79220R.
There was never any doubt on where inspiration had been drawn for the model. The fact it was originally called the Heritage Black Bay meant there was no pretense on Tudor’s part either. The 41mm retro throwback appropriated the Snowflake hands from the ref. 7016, the big crown with embossed Tudor rose from the ref. 7924 and the slightly domed crystal and dial, as well as the iconic dot and baton indexes from a string of Tudor Submariners from the ‘60s and ‘70s.
Fixing it all was a three-link Oyster-style bracelet with exposed rivets to further up the vintage quotient, an overall design so expertly-judged and welcome it easily won the ‘Revival’ prize at the 2013 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG).
The only concession to modernity was the attractive burgundy bezel, the first in a wide range of colors available across many of the Black Bay collections which would quickly follow in its wake.
Where Does The GMT Come In?
The range expanded with the introduction of in-house movements only a handful of years later. The MT5602 came with a 70-hour reserve and COSC certification and powered a new family of Heritage Black Bays.
After that, the wonderful Black Bay Chrono put in its first appearance in 2017 and, clearly on a roll by this time, the following year saw the arrival of the original Black Bay GMT; the 41mm ref. 79830RB
The comparisons to the Rolex GMT-Master series were apparent straightaway. And the timing was spot on too. It had been some years since Rolex had had a steel Pepsi GMT in the arsenal, and there had never been one with its all-important bezel carved from the new Cerachrom alloy. They rolled up to 2018’s Baselworld fair with just such a piece, something longed for by the Rolexarti, and found themselves almost overshadowed by Tudor’s effort.
You could see why immediately. The trend for vintage reissues was at its zenith and while the GMT-Master II was the epitome of the modern luxury tool watch, the aesthetics of the Tudor harked right back to the one that started it all; Rolex’s debut dual time zone reference, the ref. 6542.
It was all there: the slim-lugged case, the satin polishing, the lack of crown guards giving it that perfect yesteryear feel. Most of all though, it was the bezel. More specifically, the colors. Rolex had obviously been hard at work making sure the blue and red shades on their Cerachrom Pepsi GMT really popped. Tudor went the other way. Their idea of a Pepsi was more desaturated; the blue more navy, the red more maroonish. With the overall matte finish, it had the definite aura of those early, ill-fated Bakelite surrounds of the ref. 6542 but without all the drawbacks of cracking or giving you radiation poisoning.
It also had the advantage over the Cerachrom, if you want to call it an advantage, of picking up its own weathering over time. Where the USP of Rolex’s ceramic was that it would stay looking brand new forever, thanks to its scratch and fade resistance, Tudor’s old-school aluminum could be counted on to display its life story after a while in its knocks and nicks and paling colors.
In short, it was the ideal watch for its time and was priced at about a third that of the Rolex.
The Tudor Black Bay GMT Collection Today
The very first examples of the GMT did experience a few teething problems. While not widespread—although widespread enough to be discussed endlessly on forum boards—the so-called ‘date wheel issue’ saw some concerns with the date change function. On some models it would present as a sluggish switchover rather than an instant midnight flip, on others the date would jump two numerals without warning.
Likely all down to initial development problems with the in-house caliber MT5652, the glitches (never acknowledged by Tudor, just quietly fixed under warranty) were solved by 2019. Since then, there have been no reports of anything wrong.
The standard steel, black dialed ref. 78830RB was joined in 2022 by a more upmarket variant, the ref. 79833MN. This S&G version, standing for ‘Steel & Gold’ (what Rolex call Rolesor) came in Root Beer flavor, its bezel half black and half chocolate brown.
Recently, in 2023, a second steel Pepsi model launched, this time with a beautifully considered opaline white face. The ref. 79830RB added a fresh, clean look to the design, testament to how much can be achieved with a simple swap of a dial.
The latest development in Tudor’s GMT story came just last year in the reduced shape of the Black Bay 58 GMT. This addition to the Black Bay 58 line which premiered in 2018 and took its name from the 1958 Tudor Submariner ref. 7924, has been hailed for its smaller 39mm case size, venturing still further down the vintage path.
Cutting back on the diameter and with a more streamlined profile, the 58 has two more pluses in its favor. First is the in-house Caliber MT5450-U, part of a new wave of Tudor movements which are now, unlike the original Black Bay GMT engines, METAS certified. And the other is, once again, the bezel. With its black and burgundy surround, the ref. M7939G1A0NRU is the only ‘Coke’ GMT in either Tudor’s or Rolex’s stable.
Any of the dual time zone pieces from Tudor represent not only fabulous style and engineering, but also nigh-on unbeatable value for money. With prices starting at around $4,000, it is hard to think of anything out there offering more for less. And whichever’s your personal choice, they are the ideal holiday companion.
Featured Photo: Mixed art by Oriol Mendivil for BeckerTime’s Archive.
