In-Depth – The New Tudor Black Bay Fifty-Eight 39mm – The Best Tudor BB So Far?
This year, at Baselworld 2018, the main novelty for Tudor was the Black Bay GMT – a watch that was a hot topic of debate, knowing that Rolex also showed its version of the Steel-Pepsi GMT watch. But was this watch the most important piece in the new collection? Maybe not. Additionally, Tudor introduced the Black Bay Fifty-Eight. Weird name for a watch that, at first sight, seems to be just another diving Black Bay. But let’s get straight to the point: this new ref. 79030N could well be the best Tudor Black Bay so far, and here’s why.
It was only a matter of time before Hublot wound up in the smartwatch game, and somewhere in the onslaught of new product, Baselworld 2018 was the time and place for it to become a reality. The Big Bang Referee 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia, or BBR2FWCR for short, follows on the heels of other LVMH Group Smart Watches (TAG Heuer and Louis Vuitton are already in the game), though Hublot tell a pretty interesting story about this piece’s creation when compared to its siblings. So, the story goes (or how the brand chooses to weave it) that during a meeting with the FIFA organisation, Hublot were asked if they could create some sort of smartwatch specifically for the referees. We’ll take that with a grain of salt, but if you’re going to make a FIFA smartwatch, the referee idea makes sense. The reality is the watch exists, and it’s time to see what it’s all about. Vital statistics It’s no surprise that the Intel Atom processor of the Big Bang Referee is the exact same as what is found in the current TAG Heuer Connected watch. Its 35.3mm dial provides ample space to read out functions and manipulate its…
While I know Bulgari released a full suite of new models at Baselworld 2018 — including a nice new Lucea and variants on the Octo Roma — really, it was all about their geometric critical hit, the Octo. And while we didn’t exactly see the Octo come in new shapes and sizes (it’s still very square), we did see it come in a genuinely interesting new mix of case finishes and complications. Take, for example, the new carbon minute repeater, giving the chiming champion a completely new feel. And then there’s their latest record-breaker, the Octo Tourbillon Automatic, a technical tour de force that looks good to boot. But, for me, the real star is the two new case variations on the Octo Finissimo Automatic, in rhodium-coated steel and pink gold. I’m especially taken by the pink gold, which has never looked so low-key. In the comments on one of our videos, someone asked the question (and I’m paraphrasing here): “How is it that a jewellery house is making such excellent watches?” My answer is that they’re making cohesive, distinctive, zeitgeist-y and genuinely good timepieces precisely because they’re a jewellery house. They’re not so bound by the covenants and conventions of the…
There’s something I feel you should know about our personal ‘top 10’ videos: Andrew and I don’t share what’s on our lists with each other. Sure, we drop broad hints, but this video is genuinely the first time Andrew’s hearing my list in full. The surprise, and the guesses, are real. And even though it’s a little surprising that Andrew didn’t guess my choices — I mean, I went to absolutely zero effort to hide my unashamed love for that Rolex Daytona, for example — the real surprise was that we had only one duplicate watch in the whole 10. You know what else is real about this video? The extreme fatigue that comes on the last day of Baselworld. We filmed this just prior to our final day of appointments, and I was coming off a week of roughly four hours a night sleep, so things started getting a little silly. And aside from the general watch-induced mania (particular apologies to Nomos), there’s a few symptoms of this fatigue, namely Marcus and my shared obsession with 1982’s finest film, and one of the greatest soundtracks of all time. Not sure what I’m on about (not that I blame you)? Well, here’s a hint:…
We’ve come to associate Fifty Fathoms with minimalistic dials, so this Day Date model – one of three new pieces released at Baselworld 2018 to mark the 65th anniversary of the original diving watch – is a real shift in style. This doesn’t mean that Blancpain are suddenly getting all decorative, though; rather, they have looked to their 1970s archive for the design cues. Vital Statistics While the aesthetic is retro, everything else is bang-up to the minute, with all of the technical advances that Blancpain have brought to their dive watches in recent years. The movement is based on the acclaimed calibre 1315: the balance is non-magnetic silicium and the three barrels deliver a mighty five-day power reserve. The Day Date 70s comes in the same 43mm brushed steel case and its unidirectional bezel has a ceramic insert and markers filled with Liquidmetal – a scratch-proof alloy developed by Swatch Group and used by several of its brands, notably Omega. There’s a choice of four different wristbands: vintage-style antiqued leather, sail-canvas or NATO straps, or a steel bracelet. On the wrist Three years after launching the original Fifty Fathoms, Blancpain introduced the Bathyscaphe explicitly for civilian, rather than professional…