This week, Jewels & Time 2020 talks about "Everyday Heroes", casting the spotlight on this year's workhorse watches. Tudor’s much-applauded Black Bay release from 2019 gets a new coat of paint—and probably garners more fans along the way
In 2019, Tudor launched its Black Bay Fifty-Eight dive watch to much fanfare; the watch was a slimmer 39mm cousin of the much-beloved Black Bay, and the black and gold dial and bezel hit the sporty modern-vintage sweet spot that has excited collectors in recent years. This year, Tudor is throwing things back again, launching a navy version of the Black Bay Fifty-Eight.
Aptly named the Black Bay Fifty-Eight “Navy Blue”, the watch has all the same characteristics as the 2019 original—a case forged out of stainless steel, Tudor’s hallmark snowflake hands highlighted with Super-LumiNova, and the manufacture calibre MT5402. The COSC-certified movement had been previously created especially for the Black Bay Fifty-Eight, complete with a non-magnetic silicon hairspring and a robust “weekend proof” 70-hour power reserve, so that the wearer can take the watch off for the weekend and still come back to it on Monday without having to re-wind the watch.
(Related: Editor's Note: Jewels & Time 2020 Makes a Full Digital Debut)
The one difference the new watch has over the 2019 Black Bay Fifty-Eight is obviously its new colourway, which has the entire watch dressed in a deep shade of blue—Tudor blue, to be specific.
While blue watches are largely a modern-day trend particularly pertinent in the last few years, Tudor has had a long history with creating such timepieces of similar hues. This particular shade of navy “Tudor” blue dates back to the 1970s when the French navy selected it for its Tudor-made diver’s watches as part of its standard livery. Here, the dial and bezel are both Tudor blue, with white accents. Interestingly, the red triangle at 12 o’clock that is present in the 2019 edition is absent here—perhaps because the contrast of blue and red would be too strong for most collectors.