Top 5 Best Modern Tudor Watches
Tudor watches has proven to be a true competitor to Omega, both when it comes to technical aspects, but also with the amount of market share they have. Tudor watches are often associated with Rolex, as a more affordable alternative, and in today’s market, there are very few watches that beat the quality, technical advancements, or design that you get with the price tag of a Tudor watch. In this article, we’ll pick out the Top 5 Best Modern Tudor watches available to purchase in-store.
Preface About Tudor As A Brand
Tudor was originally founded in 1926 by the same man who founded Rolex, Hans Wilsdorf. His ambition was to make quality watches, that felt like a Rolex, but with a smaller price tag. In the 60s and all the way to the early era of the 2000s, Tudor manufactured a Submariner that looked very much like a Rolex Submariner.
These were not only affordable but also sought after, especially by the Italian and French markets. Unfortunately, the fame and glory days of Tudor also stops in this era as they started to walk away more and more from Rolex to become an independent brand, not relying on its bigger brother. In this era, own designs were tested and manufactured, but unfortunately, no model from this era left a big impact on the match market. In 2012, Tudor finally came up with a new model line,
The Heritage Black Bay with the reference 79220B. The 41mm Submariner was a nod to their early Submariners from the 50s era and quickly became a model that watch enthusiasts all over the world fell in love with. The reference 79220B became the start of a new decade of Tudor watches which almost all hit the market with huge success.
Tudor 79030N
The Tudor Heritage Black Bay Fifty-Eight reference 79030N was released at Basel world in 2018 and was perhaps the most talked-about watch during the convention. The Black Bay Fifty-Eight truly was a nod to the past, with smaller dimensions and a case measuring 39mm, which alone reminded a lot of the 6-digit Rolex/Tudor Submariners from the 80s to late 2000s era. The bracelet featured rivets, the dial had a vintage-inspired patina and was matte black, the bezel was in aluminum, and vintage elements such as a red triangle on the insert could be found.
The Black Bay Fifty-Eight is the perfect all-around watch for your everyday lifestyle, with its slimmer proportions, but also makes up for the perfect sports watch ready for any adventure. The watch is water-resistant to 20 BAR/ 200M / 660FT with a screw-down crown.
If you are not a fan of vintage-inspired patina on the dial, directly from the factory, the Fifty-Eight is also available with a blue dial and bezel insert, which features an all-white print on the dial.
Tudor 79830RB
The Tudor Heritage Black Bay GMT, reference 79830RB, was presented at the same Basel convention as the Tudor Fifty-Eight. The Tudor GMT featured an aluminum bezel with a blue and red configuration, commonly nicknamed “Pepsi”, The case measures 41mm, and compared to the Fifty-Eight, it is a much larger case, which also is a lot thicker than the Fifty-Eight.
The release of the GMT in 2018 came as a surprise to many, as Rolex the same day launched their first modern GMT Master II in stainless steel with a Cerachrome “Pepsi” bezel. To many, the Tudor GMT was the perfect watch, at an affordable price range, which was quite easy to acquire from an Authorized Tudor Retailed, or on the second-hand market.
The GMT is water-resistant to 20 BAR/ 200M / 660FT, with a screw-down crown. What quickly got around about the new GMT was however a date issue. New GMT owners could discover that the date on the GMT model jumped half a day, or 1,5 days, which made the date window display 2 dates, instead of 1 correct. If you are interested to learn more about this topic, we have covered an article regarding the issue which you can read here.
Tudor 79210CNU
The Tudor Black Bay 41 Ceramic was a big achievement for Tudor on its release in 2021. It is the first-ever all-ceramic Tudor ever made. The movement is also the first-ever Tudor to be METAS certified, and the first Tudor movement to be resistant to 15.000 gausses. What perhaps is most interesting about this model launch, is that it follows the exact same specifications as an Omega watch which was presented a year earlier, but at a price tag that is almost double the Tudor.
It is clear, that Tudor competes with Omega and so far, at least in technical fields, offers equivalent watches, at a much more affordable price, but without compromising on quality.
Tudor 79010SG
Presented in 2021, the Tudor Black Bay Heritage Fifty-Eight in 925 sterling Silver was added to the Black Bay Family.
Silver as a material is quite hard to work with, as silver naturally tarnishes. In the launch video of the Fifty-Eight Silver, Tudor claimed that the patented mix of silver, would not tarnish in a million years. Despite this, it is known that the Fifty-Eight silver over time can develop tarnished areas, which we have covered in an article here.
Presenting a watch in silver is also a very modest move from Tudor, as it commonly not is used as a material in the watch industry. The model for the first time was equipped with an open case-back, which displayed the re-worked in-house movement MT5400 with a decorative rotor and visual movement parts.
The taupe-colored dial and bezel lean more towards the grey color scheme, and the model is available both on a leather strap or a fabric strap from Tudor in a matching color.
Tudor 28600
The Tudor 28600 is the first modern Day-Date from Tudor, which is accessible on the global market. Previous to the launch in 2020, a Tudor with a day and date configuration was only available for the Asian market, reference 76200, which featured a vintage-inspired bracelet and case in 36mm.
The new Day-Date from Tudor is 41mm and features an integrated bracelet, and the model design does definitely have DNA from the Rolex Oysterquartz. The model is available in different dial configurations, but also in a different case and bracelet materials such as steel and gold.
The Tudor Day-Date reference 28600 is without a doubt one of the most affordable entry-level swiss watches and with Tudor as a brand behind the watch, the affordable list price is definitely a no-brainer if you are in the market for a Day-Date.
Conclusion
It is clear that Tudor is an impressive and modest brand, which does not continue to produce watches in an old-fashioned way, but instead challenges the watch industry with modest choices of materials such as ceramic and silver, which also comes at an affordable price tag whilst comparing against competitors such as Omega.
It is also clear, that Tudor definitely has found a successful style of the case which is appreciated, and created models around it, namely the Heritage Black Bay collection. Despite this, models such as the Day-Date have proven to be an appreciated style, and it’s safe to say that we can expect Tudor to make new launches, based on the design element.
It absolutely agree with the last concept.