Reply With QuoteI understand where you are coming from Burnsey but here's hoping for a green black bay 😀
For me, Tudor are just bringing out a load of reproduction models in varying colours. It was interesting and refreshing at first, but is now like Steinhart on crack.
As for the review and the new channel Wayne, well done mate, well done indeed.
I understand where you are coming from Burnsey but here's hoping for a green black bay 😀
Have to agree, there are a mass of Tudor watches in Goldsmiths window at the moment. All tiny variations of a theme. I think they've gone a bit retro crazy.
Aldford, sure. But it's not like you are going to buy all the black bay variations. The variety gives you choice to find the exact combination you like best. If we take the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms I like the case size of the anniversary edition, the brushed finish of the aqualung and the hands of the original. I love the fact with Tudor you can choose a more personal and precise combination of colours.
Thanks Steve... that's quite an accolade!!Originally Posted by burnsey66
Retro works. There's nothing wrong with the choice of various models in various colours IMO. This watch has character where plenty other don't, and it's a lot cheaper (still a lot of money of course) with it.
As a business plan, it's not too shabby. Change a colour and sell thousands. I've never wanted to own a red one or a blue, but this black one totally stood out to me, so I went for it :-)
I had always wanted to try the BB Red with the blue bezel and crown stem; gilt + blue would be a win for me.
But the reason I sold my BB was snowflake hands with circular markers. If the makers were square like the Pelegos, I'd still have it I think.
It's genuis really - the tooling costs for the variations are minuscule and so easy to make something for everyone. Very smart.
Sure but don't practically all manufacturers do this?
...but what do I know; I don't even like watches!
I suppose many of them do thinking about it; Omega produce a range of POs with slight dial and coloured bezel differences for instance.
Great review and great video too! Thanks.
That watch is lovely.
I think it looks great! I like the gold accents and the bold red. Very nice!
If I flip the SD for an AP chrono, this would be a great replacement.
Thanks for the review and video.
Interestingly, when I was buying mine yesterday they offered to size the bracelet for me. I said I was quite happy to do it myself when I got home but was told I should let them do it as they use a special loctite formula exclusive to Rolex and have a special machine that gently heats the bracelet to loosen the screws when taking links out. Quite possibly bs but i let them do it anyway!
W44NNE great videos, liked them both! Can i make a suggestion? Now i know that you know your thing around photography (pictures are great), but try to use a different location for filming. The light over you is too bright, so you get overexposed video. And a more neutral (like wood) surface.
Other than that, fantastic job. Looking forward to your videos!
I recall that this was a common comment when the BB was released, leading to the Pelagos becoming the forum favourite. The tables have turned somewhat since and this comment is almost never heard.
I have never tried any of them on, being put off by the slightly strange body thickness and resulting chunky appearance. This new BB has sparked my interest again though so will certainly try one on if I get to see one this side of Christmas. BTW, Fraser Hart in Milton Keynes don't have any as I was shopping there today! Of possibly greater interest, a pop-up G-Shock store has opened with a very nice range of G-Shocks that I haven't seen before (MR-Gs!). Christmas must be on the way...
Last edited by Gruntfuttock; 25th October 2015 at 16:56. Reason: typos
Thanks for your response. It's all in-hand though :-) First vids were cobbled together at 7am or so (time was wrong on watch) so from now on I'm hoping they'll be much better :-)
very nice score!For those in the Bournemouth area, i wouldn't bother going to check out the one at Charles Fox. It's not there anymore
you got the two best Tudor watches to come out in a while.
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.
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i would also chime in the the OP's post about the fliplock geting in the way when resizing the bracelet. i do all bracelet resizing on my own (never do it at any store) and would ask what was involved to do it here?
Last edited by Denizen; 25th October 2015 at 18:03.
my sentiments exactly!
i thought i was the only one who felt that way.
Hi,
You must not have seen my earlier post where I linked to a second video of mine. It goes into the process a little bit more...
Thanks
ahhh...thanks for directing me to the 2nd link! it's clearer now.Hi,
You must not have seen my earlier post where I linked to a second video of mine. It goes into the process a little bit more...
Thanks
i saw the first URL...i enjoyed it but thought you gave a long preamble before showing the actual watch. LOL
next review, at least show the watch before you start any long discourse. that way, we can at least look at the watch face while you talk thru it all. i say this with tongue-in-cheek. :)
Good review Wayne, glad you got sorted in the end as well!
I am still loving mine on the rubber but I think there is room for a 3rd Blackbay for me if Tudor were ever tempted to go GOLD!!!
It was my first video review, and I didn't want to unbox it as I hadn't seen it myself... I'll keep a photo I've taken after the fact in place of the first part of the video in future :-)
Great videos and congrats on the purchase. I'm convinced, I'll be swapping my Red for one of these when I can. Might seem like a pointless swap, but that black bezel with the red triangle makes such a huge difference to the look of the watch IMO.
Thanks very much, I'll be giving that a go asap.
I'm glad to hear it - I like the Red Black Bay but I already have a Blue, and I won't take the £800-odd hit just to change the bezel colour. I would, though, let someone else do that ;).
...but what do I know; I don't even like watches!
You don't need the bracelet anyway ;-)
Nice write up as always Wayne and the pictures are fantastic, makes me wont one of these even more now!
Picked mine up today from Goldsmiths in Cardiff.
Really pleased with it, now I have all 3!
How much are these going for? FMF
I had a quick look in the window of Goldsmiths in Basingstoke to see if they had one. No black bezel version to be seen. The young shop assistant came out of the shop in an instant to ask if I needed assistance. When I told him I was just looking to see whether they had a new Tudor Black Bay black bezel version in he replied "Oh Tudors are popular and that version always sells out fast". Um, OK, bye then.
Same as red and blue blackbays, steel bracelet £2330 and distressed leather strap £2120.
Excellent review - please keep em coming!
And the watch is way too nice ...
Got mine yesterday, stunning watches. Wayne's review is spot on.
Thanks stevie
Hi Wayne. Can I ask what sort of accuracy you're getting from it? That's a lovely watch; looks a well nigh perfect package. Enjoy it!
Just under +1 second per day :-D
Excellent review! It spurred me on to go & hunt one down on Monday while I was in London, I finally found one in Selfridges & came away with a red one!
Very impressive! I am starting to consider one of these myself.
Love it. Have they changed anything besides the bezel, crown and dial?
I really want to like the Black Bay but a colleague has one and it is quite slab sided. Does look fantastic though.
I must admit, i was a bit sceptical at first, but its growing on me.
I thought that with the blue one I tried on a while back, but for some reason, I don't find it as slab-sided now I own one. It wears great tbh.
FWIW, when I tried one on, I thought it wore very, very similar to a ceramic Sub.
The shape is different, but the dimensions work out to be very similar
- The BB is about the same height (it looks slab sided, but only because it has no bubble back)
- They're about the same width (the Sub may be listed as 40mm, but it's actually 40.5mm, BB is 41mm)
- They're about the same L2L (again the Sub is listed as being shorter, but the protrusion of the raised part of the centre links makes the L2L similar)
Other BB facts (if you care!!)
The BB crown is a 'twin lock' design (compared with the triple lock of the Sub)
Some bemoan that you can't pop the bezel off of a modern Sub and clean underneath it (you damage a gasket that holds the bezel on) - well you can't on a BB either, same (or very, very similar) design
The BB bracelet is very, very nice - but a modern Sub bracelet is one of the few areas where you see where the extra money you spent went... (IMO, YMMV)
Despite being a derivative 2824 movement, one of the mods Tudor have made is to remove the redundant first stop of the crown, that normally would set the date (because there's no date, micro brands take note :))
I'm sure most of you know all of this... but it might have interested some of you?!
Great pics and video, thanks. Top of my list for next year.
Great review Wayne.
Been out of this site for some time and this watch got my interest back. Do you still own it?
How's the experience so far?
Love the videos
Great review, while normally not a big fan I really like the look on bond nato too.
Thanks, yes I still have it. If I sell it, it's purely going to be funding some camera equipment, so I've had that debate recently after going down the leica route, again :-D
It is an amazing watch -some views of my time with it...
A brief history of my (so far) short love affair with watches. I had originally been a person who would scoff at spending more than say £100 on watches as they were to me an item that all did the same thing and I couldn’t understand why anyone would spend 1k plus on a watch…
This was until around mid-2013 when I thought I would try to educate myself on the world of watches. I was looking primarily at watches up to the 1k mark and found that a lot of people loved various brands and the ones that caught my eye were Christopher Ward, Stowa and Damasko.
I started off with trepidation with a CW Malvern Mark II with a champagne dial for around £200. I absolutely loved this watch and the dial was amazing but I instantly knew that the chronograph style was not for me. Next up was the CW C8 Pilot watch which again for around £500 is great value, but a tad large for my wrist so off that went… Stowa Flieger Black Forest Edition. I thought this was a step up in terms of quality to CW and it fit my wrist perfectly and I regret selling it to this day. But I had my eye on Damasko at this time, I am a bit OCD and the thought of having a watch that would withstand the majority of bangs I would give it was like music to my ears. Roll on the Damasko DA37 on Damasko Bracelet, this was the watch I held on to the longest (around 1 year) to date and I still have a small regret of letting it go, but the wandering eye and all that. Damasko DA44 was the next in line and whilst I believe it to be a fantastic watch both from a technical and beautifully minimalistic view I had already started to look at the next price range and primarily Tudor, Grand Seiko etc.
Now I still have the DA44 on bracelet but it is sat in my draw at home waiting for a new owner. I know I will miss it when its gone (especially that bracelet) but I have a new favourite and one I think is my kind of perfect. Tudor Black Bay Black.
I went to a local AD and tried on the Ranger, Pelagos, North Flag, Black Bay Red and Black Bay Blue. All were outstanding and I would be very pleased to own any of them. I went away and saw that a black bezel version of the Black Bay was imminent and thought it best to see one in the flesh before I made a decision. I am glad I did.
There is something very special to me about this time piece and I will try and sum up my views (for what they are worth) in the next few paragraphs.
The Dial
I won’t bore with the history of the dial and the various watches it has obviously been inspired by. What I will say is that from certain angles the dial takes on a kind of 3D effect that is just beautiful. I think this has to do with the domed crystal, applied markers and the way that in certain lights that the sweeping second hand casts a shadow on the chocolaty textured dial. Spectacular. Oh, I also forgot that the hands also have a shimmering golden glow at certain angles. I really don’t think there are many photos that show off these qualities and it is certainly a watch you need to spend some time with to appreciate its subtle nuances.
The ‘no date’ I actually seem to prefer, as I think it would detract slightly the overall aesthetics of the watch if it was present. I have read that people are not keen on the gold writing as they see it as faux and would rather the watch age in to a nice patina. Everybody is entitled to their opinion and I was dubious on how this would sit with me, but I can say that it really fits the watch perfectly, especially with the lume coated hands when going into low light. Again you need to be with this watch for a time to really see it for what it is.
The matt black bezel is a great contrast to the chocolate textured dial and clicks into every position with gusto with no play what so ever. And that red pip, an excellent addition and a welcome splash of colour that is bright or dull at differing angles.
If you can’t tell from the above, I am in love with this dial and how it changes from a good-looking watch ‘head on’ to a stunning watch at different angles and light situations when the dial is subdued and the matt black bezel is commanding your view, to the somewhat 3D effect and the shadow cast on the dial as the second hand sweeps. Possibly my favourite aspect is the shimmering golden glow given off by the hands. Stunning, just stunning.
The Case
Not much to say here apart from that it fits my 18.5cm wrist perfectly and is of excellent quality and finishing. The big crown is superb and has a nicely signed Tudor Rose with a black lacquered stem between it and the case. Again a nod to the past but really well executed here. I don’t find the case slab sided or too thick, as again some people have complained about this but to me it sits very nicely on my wrist and definitely doesn’t feel too thick.
I will briefly write about the bracelet and fabric strap. The bracelet is very solid and I had no issues fitting it my wrist, and along with the micro adjustments it is the best fitting bracelet I have worn. It is of high quality and finishing to match the rest of the watch, however for my personal taste it really sings on the black fabric strap. The strap looks very unassuming but it is not your regular £10 NATO at all, it is of very high quality and just suits the feel of the watch a bit better than the bracelet. I am very happy that Tudor saw fit to throw this in to the package as for me these are the only 2 straps I will use.
Conclusion
I love it. It is by far my most expensive watch and there is a reason for this, it has so much personality and doesn’t give you everything it has straight away, instead showing you touches of magic throughout the day when you take an inevitable next glance. You need to spend some time with this watch and it will grow on you, showing its beauty and you will fall in love with it. Just like I have.
Thanks for your kind words. It certainly does look amazing on the black strap...
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Do you still have yours Wayne?
I think Wayne sold his but I still have mine. I actually put my Blackbay blue on SC because the Black is getting so much wrist time. Wearing it today actually.
I completely agree with your comments. It is difficult to describe the golden glow in low light. Have a look at sunset and the dial is stunning.
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