Hands-On: The Tudor Pelagos LHD ‘Left Hand Drive,’ A 500-Meter, Crown-Left Diver’s Chronometer
The Tudor Pelagos LHD is a very specific kind of watch: LHD stands for “Left Hand Drive,” which refers to the placement of the crown on the left side of the case. This sort of thing really sings to some people and leaves others cold, depending on what your tastes and preferences are. Ultimately, everything depends on how well the details of the watch evoke nostalgia and work from a practical standpoint in the here and now. Thus far, Tudor’s enjoyed a lot of success with its vintage-inspired tool and sports watch models since re-launching in the U.S. in 2013 – let’s look at the LHD and see if it measures up to its predecessors.
This cool, calm and collected new Yacht-Master almost slipped past me. I was too busy falling in love (again) with the gold and chocolate Rolesor Yacht-Master, which was distracting me and dazzling my senses, but then out of the corner of my eye I spotted a flash of almost-iridescent blue, and my curiosity was piqued. I’m so glad it was, because this steel and platinum Yacht-Master with its dark rhodium dial and blue highlights is an absolute stunner, even though it’s a much more restrained affair than its Everose-embellished siblings (in both Rolesor and Oysterflex variants). This is partly down to the dark dial, but it’s also the bi-directional platinum bezel, which might sound weird given the material, but with a predominantly sand-blasted finish, it’s actually far less in-your-face than ceramic. Not that it’s plain, by any stretch. The shimmering dial, polished bezel elements and centre bracelet links mean it pops where it counts, and the overall effect of metallic grey on metallic grey adds up to a truly luxurious watch on the wrist. Then there’s the blue. It’s funny how that single line of text and sweeping second hand – a comparatively small amount of real estate – can have such massive impact…