Exclusive UK Preview of The 2016 Tudor Watches

It seems an age ago now, that we were flying into Basel for the fun times with Tudor to look at their new releases for 2016…was it only a few weeks ago? But as spring is well and truly in the air and summer just around the corner the suspense is almost over and some of the watches will be with retailers by the end of May. This week the Baselworld 2016 collection was shown for the first time in the UK and I was there alongside the guys from Tudor UK to talk about the watches and their heritage as well as enjoy some of the amazing watches from the Tudor Museum Collection.

Black Bay Family

The 2016 Tudor Watches

The big news from Tudor this year surrounded the hugely popular Black Bay range, which was expanded and tweaked by way of the addition of the new in-house movement, the introduction of the shield logo on the dial and a new rivet-construction bracelet.

Here’s a shot of the original Mk1 Black Bay Red next to the new version

In terms of expansion, Tudor made three new introductions to the Black Bay and I don’t think anybody would have guessed how the line would have evolved. We were at the evening dinner when they unveiled the Bronze and Dark versions of the watch…and they were an instant win with the attendees.

The BB Bronze –the new bronze case beefed up at 43mm

The BB Dark is a black PVD coated dive watch with the iconic additions of red depth rating text on the dial and a red triangle on the bezel at 12 o’clock

The baby of the family – the new Black Bay 36

Blasts From the Past

Attendees were also able to look at watches from the Tudor Museum Collection, including the watch that was the inspiration for the Heritage Black Bay – the vintage Submariner reference 7922.

With its straight endlink rivet bracelet it was clear to see the heavy influence on the new tweaks to the Black Bay bracelets.

The original snowflake hands were developed in conjunction with the French Navy, the Marine Nationale (MN), and there was a beautiful example of a blue MN80 snowflake Submariner on its original diver made parachute strap.

Chrono Mania

Chronos are hot right now and there were two vintage Homeplates in attendenace – my 7031 with the bakelite bezel and the Tudor Museum’s 7032 with steel bezel – they were striking when held side by side.

The Monte Carlo reference 7149 was also beautiful and it was fascinating to see it next to a Heritage Chrono Blue!

Issued Oyster

The 1952 the two-year long British North Greenland Expedition began and the participants were issued with Tudor Oyster Prince watches. One such explorer was Major Desmond ‘Roy’ Homard. Tudor were recently gifted his watch for their Museum collection at a ceremony at London’s Salon QP event. It is now part of the Museum Collection and I am always thrilled to be able to see the watch with its original strap and crazed crystal.