Poll Time. SubC no date vs Tudor Black Bay

[Old Expat Beast]

Originally Posted by Cdn328is

I will extrapolate on the extent of my experience with both watches (my apologies for the wall of text) even though the OP made his choice in case someone ever finds themselves in the same dilemma again:

Movement:

The 3130 is apparently much better, though I would not know of personal experience, both watches ran a little over 2 seconds fast per day and I've never had an issue with the 2824. Having an in house movement does little for me, but I will take the 3130 over the 2824 if I can, serves me longer and is more consistent. If the watch had a transparent case back I'd definitely want the 3130 :)

Case and Dial:

I found that on bracelet, the Tudor case blended in a bit too much with the band as the lug width is 22mm and the lugs are very slim and long. It looks more like you're wearing a bracelet that has a watch face in the middle because the watch head does not pop out as much.

The finishing was amazing though, the precision of finishing and machining was astounding. It's made by rolex and it shows.

At the end of the day the subc wins it for me as the watch head really pops over the bracelet, like a diamond on a ring if that makes any sense. It's like as though the bracelet was a stand to display the watch head, hard to explain.

I will say that I preferred the bezel action on the BB, but thats personal preference (it was definitely stiffer than the subc). The lack of crown guards annoyed me when looking at the watch from the crown side profile though, and I found that the bezel isn't quite shiny but isn't quite mat, which is kind of weird. It certainly doesn't pop like the ceramic bezel and deeper coin edge of the submariner.

The dial was fine and the lume great, but I prefer a glossed dial over the BB's mat dial. I also prefer mercedes hands to snowflake hands, though I liked the snowflakes better than I thought I would. Overall the case was superbly crafted, I just prefer the style of the maxi case to the more classic BB case.

Bracelet:

The bracelet on the tudor was superbly built and finished. I would say on par or close to the sub bracelet. I found it to be too wide for the watch though, without enough taper. Im also not a fan of the split SEL design of the BB, where an inner link connects the end link to the first link of the band. It looked off and felt weird. I also found the center links to be too wide, which made the proportions a little bit out of whack. Everything about the rolex bracelet's design is perfect in my eyes.

I have to say though, the BB looked AMAZING on the fabric strap. It was simply stunning, and I'm not a strap guy usually. I might buy the black bay and wear it on the strap down the road just to rotate with the sub. I absolutely loved it on the strap. However, I prefer the steel bracelet for every day wear which brings me to the biggest difference between the two:

The clasp:

The clasp on the BB was a bit disappointing. It was a bit rattly, almost looked stamped was too easy to engage/disengage. Worst of all though, it wasn't properly adjustable. There are only 3 micro adjustments in the clasp and no half links. The fit was okay when my wrists were swollen in the hot and humid summer air, but inside in the air conditioning the watch was very loose and nothing frustrates me more than a floppy fit when it comes to watches. Removing a link and going to the outmost hole was too tight. Even worse was the lack of on the fly adjustment a la glidelock. There is no comparison between the two, the clasp design and quality are miles ahead. If the BB had the pelagos's clasp, it would be closer.

I have to disclose that I've been wanting a submariner for years and that I thought that getting the black bay would scratch the itch. It just made it worse because it was so close, yet so far. Buy the sub, if that's what you want, you won't regret it.

Good post and some fair comments