Tudor’s Watches & Wonders 2022 Novelties

You already know the big Tudor news coming from Geneva this week: The brand has unveiled its exciting new Black Bay Pro.

So how does this 39mm GMT with vintage appeal shape up in the metal? Watchonista’s Senior Photographer Liam O’Donnell put it to the lens test at Tudor’s Watches & Wonders 2022 booth.

And since he was already there, he also captured the retro tones of Tudor’s new Black Bay GMT S&G and champagne-dialed Tudor Black Bay Chrono S&G, plus shots of the brand’s dressy new Black Bay S&G and Tudor Royal models.
First up is the brand-new Black Bay Pro. Probably the most buzzed-about Tudor novelty from this year’s show, the Black Bay Pro is a 39mm GMT and packs in several features and specs for which a lot of BB fans have been looking.

Looks-wise, the BB Pro takes a bit of vintage inspiration from Tudor’s big brother’s Explorer II 1655, certainly in terms of its steel case and brushed bezel featuring 24-hour numerals – each separated by vertical bars. And while it doesn’t have a crown guard like the 1655, the BB Pro does have a low-profile, screw-down crown that helps to offer 200m water resistance. Crucially, due to its 39mm diameter, the Black Bay Pro delivers the same highly wearable proportions as a Black Bay 58, though it is a tad thicker at 14.6mm.

One of the main attractions of the Black Bay Pro has to be its domed black dial. Its beige-lume markers have been molded and applied, meaning we don’t get the usual circular surrounds that you find on a Black Bay. It is a pure, clean aesthetic and makes the markers pop against the dark background.
As for the GMT function, the hour in the second time zone is indicated via a richly colored yellow “snowflake” hand that is to be used in combination with the 24-hour bezel. Meanwhile, local time is indicated using the indices on the dial in conjunction with the shorter beige “snowflake” hand.

Powering the indications is the in-house, COSC-certified, automatic MT5652 movement with 70-hour power reserve – the same as the one used for the Black Bay GMT. Like the latter, the local time is set by a jumping hour that can be moved backward or forward, and it is coupled to the date at 3 o’clock. That means when you pass midnight while setting the time, the date instantly jumps to the next day, and vice versa.
When Tudor launched the Black Bay GMT in 2018 with an all-steel case and Pepsi bezel, it immediately became a fan favorite. So, for 2022, the brand has taken that successful recipe and added a dose of retro tonality to it by giving it some of its S&G – steel and gold – treatment. The case remains 41mm, and the movement is still the MT5652, but now the dial markers are beige and accompanied by gilded hands, while the crown and rotatable bezel are in yellow gold.

But capping it all off is the winning brown and black “root beer” color combination on the bezel’s anodized aluminum disc.
S&G editions of the Black Bay Chrono are not new: We’ve seen previous references featuring a 41mm steel case with yellow-gold pushers and crown paired with a black dial and champagne counters. But what is new, unveiled at Watches & Wonders, is the inverse of that previous iteration: The Tudor Black Bay Chrono S&G with domed, champagne-toned dial and black counters. S&G editions of the Black Bay Chrono are not new: We’ve seen previous references featuring 41mm steel case with yellow-gold pushers and crown paired with a black dial and champagne counters. But what is new, unveiled at Watches & Wonders, is the inverse of that: The Tudor Black Bay Chrono S&G with domed, champagne-toned dial and black counters. The dial’s new colorway works a treat and, like the GMT already discussed, has a touch of the 1970s about it. What’s more is that the dial’s warm tones also contrast really well with the fixed gold bezel and its matte black anodized aluminum insert.
Tudor’s S&G novelties don’t stop with the Tudor Black Bay GMT and Tudor Black Bay Chrono. The brand has also announced a slew of dressy, two-tone Black Bay 31, 36, 39, and 41 S&G models, all of which feature a steel case with yellow-gold bezel and screw-down crown, plus a steel and yellow-gold bracelet.