Tudor Black Bay Steel Review

An aged leather strap with folding clasp.

Tudor black bay steel review.

It is a fantastic watch no doubt about it. The crown and bezel action is crisp smooth and just plain superb. The dial surface is matte black and looks a touch faded to my eyes. Like pretty much all the modern black bays excepting the 36 and 41 the bb steel has tudor s sweet in house tech under the hood meaning you get cosc quality timing 70 odd hours of power and some silicon tech.

On a more product oriented note the black bay steel is again a demonstration of savoir faire by tudor with a watch that is impeccably executed and perfectly positioned in terms of pricing. The new tudor black bay steel has the same mt5612 as tudor s north flag and pelagos. It closes with a folding buckle and safety clasp. Tudor black bay fifty eight i n 1946 the late founder of rolex hans wilsdorf created tudor watch company a subsidiary of rolex to offer high quality timepieces at a lower price.

The black bay is commonly compared to the popular rolex submariner. I can t end a review on a negative note like that not on a review of a tudor black bay steel the reality is it is a tudor. Tudor says the dial is domed so i assume it s domed but the effect is very subtle. Since 1960 the hans wilsdorf foundation which wilsdorf originally set up in 1945 has controlled rolex and tudor.

Talking about the black bay s homage to earlier tudor dive watches it highlights tudor s efforts in taking inspiration from vintage tried and tested models. One review of the black bay places it side by side with the rolex classic referring to them as a splurge or steal. Or a fabric strap with buckle. The tudor black bay is available with a steel bracelet.

So although it isn t a brand new caliber it is still a pretty cool movement with 70 hours of power reserve a somewhat standard 28 800 bph operating speed and a silicone hairspring in a price point where a totally in house movement is rare. In fact it s basically a slightly scaled down version of the black bay black dial i reviewed a couple of years ago read that review here. It takes inspiration from the brand s riveted bracelets from the 50s and 60s. My money is on the steel bracelet.