The Black Bay Pro Watch

AN ADVENTUROUS SPIRIT

Throughout their history, TUDOR watches have been the choice of some of the world's most daring adventurers, such as the 30 explorers of the British North Greenland Expedition, who set out just 70 years ago with a TUDOR on their wrist to study the Arctic ice for two years. At the time, Hans Wilsdorf, the brand's founder, supplied the expedition members with watches. He had just created TUDOR's first waterproof automatic watch, the Oyster Prince, and could think of no better environment to test it than the ice floe and its extreme climate. It is in the heritage of these instruments used by pioneers of exploration that the Black Bay Pro model is inscribed. A watch-tool designed for professional use, part of the Tudor Black Bay collection.

TWO TIME ZONES

On the Black Bay Pro, the reference time is indicated by an angular yellow “Snowflake” hand, an emblematic TUDOR aesthetic signature, which circles the dial in 24 hours. Local time is indicated by another, shorter “Snowflake” hand, which can be set by jumping backwards or forwards. The date, displayed in the aperture at 3 o'clock, is coupled to the local time hand so that when it passes retrograde through midnight during a setting, it jumps instantly to the previous day. A rare, sophisticated and above all comfortable feature for the user.

MANUFACTURE CALIBER MT5652

The Manufacture Calibre MT5652 with integrated GMT function has been developed by TUDOR to power the Black Bay Pro model. It illustrates TUDOR's own technical development approach, which avoids the use of additional modules to add new functions to its manufactured movements, but relies on an evolving architecture capable of integrating them. A detail for some, a must for watchmaking purists.

The Manufacture Calibre MT5652 has a so-called “weekend-proof” power reserve of around 70 hours, enabling the wearer to put the watch down on Friday evening and pick it up again on Monday morning without having to wind it.

JACQUARD, STEEL OR LEATHER STRAP

The fabric strap is one of the signatures of TUDOR, which in 2010 became one of the very first watch brands to offer it with its products. Hand-woven on 19th-century Jacquard shuttle looms by the Julien Faure company in the Saint-Étienne region of France, its craftsmanship and comfort are unique.

For Black Bay Pro, TUDOR has chosen a black strap with a yellow stripe, woven by the same craftsman. The model is also available on a steel bracelet inspired by the folded, riveted bracelets of TUDOR watches made in the 1950s and 1960s. Their distinctive features were the visible rivet heads on the edge of the bracelet, and a "staircase leak". Both of these aesthetic details are found in the current bracelet, which nonetheless benefits from a modern construction with solid links and laser-finished, rivet-like pin heads. Finally, the Black Bay Pro is also available with a hybrid rubber and black "fabric effect" leather strap with folding clasp.