The Black Bay Steel and Gold

The Black Bay, it is safe to say, is the basket that Tudor has placed most of their eggs in.  And because we are talking about a fairly large brand that is still struggling somewhat to truly create its identity, that is not necessarily such a bad idea.  I say that in no way to disparage or speak ill of Tudor  but now several years on, Tudor has had some hits and some misses.

As a former brand manager, I have learned the painful lesson that just because I like something, it does not necessarily mean that everyone else will.  I personally love the Advisor (alarm watches are not for everyone), I like the North Flag (but it does not seem to have really found its footing), and I think that the Black Bay GMT is the SHIT THAT KILLED ELVIS, although one design element that I would modify would be to add an "inverted" cyclops date window.  This would make the date window more legible, but also add a certain "what's-it" to the Tudor design.  Tudor, if you're reading this, you can have that idea for free ; )

Having said all of that, I will say that the steel and gold Black Bay is an appealing option -

Courtesy of Tudor

It offers a truly different take on a collection that is starting to suffer from a certain sense of "sameness".  While I realize it might not speak to everyone, I sorta' dig it.  This one debuted in 

Here are the pertinents, straight from Tudor -

• CASE

  41 mm steel case with polished and satin finish
• MOVEMENT

  Manufacture Calibre MT5612 (COSC)
  
  Self-winding mechanical movement with bidirectional rotor system
• POWER RESERVE

  Power reserve of approximately 70 hours
• WINDING CROWN

  Yellow gold screw-down winding crown, with the TUDOR rose engraved and lacquered in black, with black anodised aluminium winding crown tube
• WATERPROOFNESS

  Waterproof to 200 m (660 ft)

• BEZEL

  Unidirectional rotating bezel in yellow gold with 60-minute graduated matt black anodised aluminium disc, gold markings
• DIAL

  Champagne-colour, domed
• CRYSTAL

  Domed sapphire crystal
• BRACELET

  Steel and yellow gold bracelet with folding clasp and safety catch