Slated to take place November 10, 2016, in Geneva, Switzerland, the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG) is widely regarded as the Oscars of the luxury watch world. It’s a night where this year’s exceptional timepieces are honored. And Rolex’s sibling company, Tudor, has three watches competing at this year’s GPGH. The Tudor Heritage Black Bay in the Men’s Category, the Tudor Heritage Black Bay Bronze in the Petite Aiguille Category, and the Tudor Heritage Black Bay Dark in the Sports Category. So with that, let’s take a closer look at these remarkable Tudor watches.
Tudor Heritage Black Bay
Competing in the Men’s Category, the updated Tudor Heritage Black Bay made some serious waves at this year’s Baselworld. The popular Tudor watch inspired by the company’s vintage dive watches had within its case an in-house manufacture movement. Unlike the earlier versions of the Heritage Black Bay which housed modified ETA movements, the newest models run on Tudor movements. Furthermore, the Tudor self-winding mechanical movements offer 70 hours of power reserve-substantially more than the previous 40 hours.
Aesthetically, the Heritage Black Bay is a joy to look at. With its 41mm steel case, rotating diver’s bezel, “snowflake” hands, and big crown without guards, it’s a vintage-style diver’s watch with solid contemporary appeal. Tudor has made the Heritage Black Bay in three versions: black, burgundy, and blue. Each color option has a matching dial and bezel configuration, in addition to a coordinating leather strap. All three Heritage Black Bay watches come with both the “Rivet” steel bracelet, as well as, the leather watchstrap.
Tudor Heritage Black Bay Bronze
The Tudor Heritage Black Bay Bronze is competing in the “Petite Aiguille” category. The Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG) defines this category as watches that retail for less than CHF 8,000 ($8,198). With a colorway that’s similar to the vintage Rolex GMT-Master Root Beer, the Heritage Black Bay Bronze is quite the looker. Not only is the case constructed from an aluminum bronze alloy, but it also sports a large 43mm size. Furthermore, the coordinating brown dial, brown bezel, and aged brown leather strap all come together to produce a captivating sports watch. Again, since it’s from the Heritage collection, the Black Bay Bronze clearly has inspiration from vintage Tudors, yet is undeniably modern too.
Powering the Tudor diver’s watch is also an in-house automatic mechanical movement. The Tudor caliber is water resistant to 660 feet (200 meters), offers 70 hours of power reserve, and is COSC-certified.
Tudor Heritage Black Bay Black
Finally, Tudor’s last watch of the GPGH is the Heritage Black Bay Dark in the Sports Category. Identical to the Heritage Black Bay in terms of design and in-house movement, the difference is its black steel construction. Achieved by using PVD coating, the all-black steel look of the Heritage Black Bay Dark is very compelling. Moreover, the monochromatic style carries on with the black dial and black bezel pairing. The dark shades allow the luminescent coated lume plots and snowflake hands to really pop. Along with the black steel bracelet with satin finish, an additional black leather strap also comes with the watch.
Yet another Heritage Black Bay driven by an in-house caliber, the Dark edition also houses a Tudor movement. Built entirely in-house, the Tudor automatic mechanical movement not only offers 70 hours of power reserve, but is also COSC-certified. And as clearly seen by the red depth rating on the dial, it’s water resistant to 660 feet (200 meters).
When the 2016 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève takes place this week, we are confident that Tudor will win some deserving awards with this solid trio of watches.
