Tudor Black Bay 58 Blue Stylish & Striking

The Tudor Black Bay 58 Blue is a true head-turner of a timepiece. Tudor is the sister brand of Rolex and is often thought of as the lower-priced sibling. However, this doesn’t mean that Tudor puts out any less stellar timepieces.

In fact, pound for pound, the Tudor lineup stands up exceptionally well against its lofty-priced older brother Rolex.

The Tudor Black Bay and many other models from Tudor look very similar to Rolex, utilizing the same oyster-shaped case. Although there are differences in styling such as the use of a square positioned edge to edge just before the tip of the hour and second hands. It gives the timepieces a regal design.

This off-kilter square is often called a “snowflake” hand and it has been a distinctive characteristic of Tudor for decades. Similarly, the large winding crown is something that also sets the Tudor model apart from other brands.

Rather than a crown, the Tudor has a shield. It says that if the kings and queens would wear the Rolex, the knights and court aristocrats would don the Tudor lineup.

The Tudor Black Bay 58 Blue

Tudor made the Black Bay Fifty Eight for divers who want to have a beautiful ocean blue color dial and bezel and yet be able to reach a waterproofness depth of 660 feet.

The Fifty-Eight gets its name from 1958 when Tudor released its first divers watch reference 7924 – aka the “Big Crown”. It still retains the 39mm diameter that was made popular 60 years ago.

The Tudor Black Bay 58 Blue is powered by the brand new Calibre MT5402 released in 2018, which has a 70 hour power reserve. It is built with 27 jewels and has the standard features including a central hour hand, minute hand and seconds hand. It beats at a frequency of 28,800 vph.

The Calibre MT5402 is designed to ensure robustness, longevity and reliability, as has its variable inertia balance, which is maintained by a sturdy traversing bridge with a two-point fixation. Like Rolex timepieces, the Tudor is certified as a chronometer by the Swiss Official Chronometer Testing Institute (COSC).

The Tudor Black Bay Fifty-eight comes with a choice between 3 bands. The first is a riveted steel bracelet with a polished and satin finish. A second comes with a blue leather band with a soft touch and white stitching. The last option is one of Tudor’s signature features – a fabric strap using the Jacquard technique developed in the St-Etienne region of France over a hundred years ago.

The black bay is a stunning timepiece. It has both a blue dial and blue bezel which can be used for diving. It’s hour markers are highly visible with luminescent paint and steel surrounding the markers, protecting the dial from accidental bleed over time.

The timepiece comes in at a very reasonable $3,700 with the steel band model, or $3,375 for either the fabric strap or leather strap option. The cost of the Fifty-Eight is significantly less than the Rolex Submariner which goes for 3 to 4 times the price of the Tudor. This is interesting because the original Fifty-Eights had the Submariner title notated on the Tudor dial. Getting your hands on this delightful timepiece is like getting a Submariner at a discount.

Rubber B has two entirely different signature bands for the Tudor Black Bay 58 Blue. Although you may want to choose the Navy Blue band, you could just as easily go with the Jet Black band and it will look spectacular.

Rubber B manufactures both the casual military looking Rubber Cuff Series which has a twill/nylon look and feel to it, but is 100% rubber. The more luxurious and formal band is the Tang Buckle Series. This series uses Blocked Engineering to ensure a tight and flawless motionless flush mount to the Tudor case.

Both bands come with a tang buckle, but allow you to switch it with the original tang buckle from Tudor. All bands are made from waterproof and strong but supple vulcanized rubber. All bands are made in Switzerland.