Tudor Black Bay Black - ETA review

[stratguy]

I know that there have been quite a few reviews on this watch already, however, I thought I'd add my thoughts on this reference. I acquired it two weeks ago when I moved along my DSSD and in its place, I got the BBN and a new Exp. II black dial (totally enamored with it).

After having the Black Bay for the past two weeks, here is what I like and dislike about this fine watch. Please keep in mind that the reviewer (me) sits fairly high up on the anal retentive scale, so take this entire review with a grain of salt.

Likes

- Fit and finish: overall, it's fantastic. There are no complaints here whatsoever.

- Case: the shape and proportions are great. The case blends beautifully into the bracelet. The size for me is really good.

- Bezel: the bezel is one of nicest features of this watch in my opinion. It operates perfectly with a locked-in position at 12 and very solid clicks at one minute intervals. There is absolutely no wiggle in the bezel at all. Not sure why Rolex isn't able to accomplish this on their line of divers. I also love the low-profile nature of the bezel. This, in conjunction with the slightly raised crystal, make for a fantastic side-view of the watch. Last, but not least, I love that it's aluminium. The red triangle is nice touch, albeit a very subtle one.




Dislikes

- Bracelet: I find the bracelet to be a little wide visually. It's probably due to the taper, or lack thereof. I think it tapers from 22mm to 18mm at the clasp. IMO, it needs to taper more. I also dislike the adjust-ability. I prefer my bracelets to be shorter on the 6 side. I was only able to remove one link from the 6 side and have not been able to figure out how to remove a 2nd as the flip lock covers the screws of the last link. Perhaps, someone with watchmaking skills could figure it out.

On the fence

- Crown: originally, the crown was something that stopped me from getting the watch. I've warmed up to it. If I were re-designing this watch, I would lose the aluminum spacer, and I would leave the embossed rose unpainted. I've wondered about replacing the crown with a Submariner Triplock crown, and whether this would be possible. It would look awesome in my opinion.

- Dial: I like the simplicity of the dial and its beautiful matte finish. There is minimal writing on the dial which I really appreciate. I know there have been complaints regarding the snowflake hour hand against the round hour markers, but I like this. In fact, I don't like the square hour markers on the Pelagos. What I'm on the fence about is the gilt treatment. At a glance, it has a really nice vintage feel which is great, however, quite often the hands will reflect light in a way that makes the gold really stand out as can be seen here in the pic below. I'm not a fan of gold in any shape or form and really don't like it on watches, so this is not optimal for me. One last note is that the lume is really good.



In summary, I think the Black Bay Black is a very good watch that is well executed in many ways. The movement is rock solid and it keeps good time. There is a lot of bang for the buck here and I don't think you can do much better for the money if you are looking for a dive-style watch. According to my 14 year old son, it's the nicest watch that I own, or have owned.

For anyone considering this reference, I hope my ramblings help a little.

Note: pics were borrowed from the internet as I don't have any good shots at the moment.