My visit to the AD | Tudor Time | 04/2025

Alvin
Apr 24
5 min read

It was about that time again, for me to check in to the AD. The main reason was that I wanted to check out the new Tudor offerings, and it has been over 6 months since my last visit so it was time for a check-in with the Lady at the AD. I was keen to get a look at the new Black bay Burgundy Glossy Shiny Dial (M7939A1A0RU), that I would call Cherry red to be fair - Tudor are a bit colour blind aren't they! Also the new Black Bay Pro with Opaline/White/Polar dial was an interesting one. They also had a new showroom I wanted to check out.

I made an appointment and rocked up, two hours later I left with a watch. Of course I had to wear my Explorer II to show that I still had it and hadn't flogged it, though that might still happen...more on that later.

The AD didn't have all the watches I wanted to look at but they had a few so that'll have to do.

Tudor Black Bay 68 - Let's start with a few big boys, the newly released BB68 which come in at an against the curve 43mm case. The size upgrade is not in line with the recent horological ongoings, that being smaller watch sizes being more popular. There are two watches released in the new size including this blue glossy dial. The bronze case 43mm is an existing model. The strap on the bronze made the watch seem too big on the wrist without a smooth transition from case to strap/bracelet. In addition, a new, stiff strap can make a watch 'sit-up' a bit on the wrist.

On the bracelet as seen below, my 17cm wrist can just about get away with it, but I woudn't consider one. Saying that as Tudor have provided various 39mm and 41mm watches in the past few years, I can't can't complain. The other new BB68 is a silver glossy dial, that is a bit less attractive, the blue with matte grey bezel is a great combination.

This is not a new one, but the Black Bay 58 Gold is one of those 39mm beauties, I absolutely love this and one thing I think Tudor have done so right, is providing case material variations of the same watch.

You can get the 39mm BB58 in Bronze, Silver and Gold, and you can get it in ceramic and obviously steel. That in itself is a superb watch collection. The gold on the strap is £16,000 but I've seen a few pre-owned, mint at around the £9000 mark which is a great value proposition when you compare it to a steel submariner, obviously neither in this example would be going diving, just desk dwelling! The ceramic, silver and the bronze are avaiable pre-loved for around £2500 which is fantastic value.

It's noice on the wrist, gold suits me. I would love to have all the material variations in the collection, but with a limited budget I prefer getting different watches - if the money was there I'd get them alllll!!!

I love GOLD...

Moving away from the precious back to the realms of steel sports watches, the Black Bay Pro black dial has been the rugged GMT offering from Tudor, and the budget Explorer II if you will. The only issue with it has been the thickness at 14.6mm. When Tudor released the slimmer pepsi GMT last year, watch fans hoped this was a sign for a BB Pro Polar dial in a slimmer format. Alas, they got the watch but it's still thick, even if it is a thick baddy some will be disappointed. The new Black Bay Pro Opaline dial is a very nice package though, very welcome, as is Tudor keeping many of their watches below the £4000 mark. It's the opposite of the Explorer II here in more than just the dial colour, the lug to lug is shorter but the thickness is higher, it still fits pretty well.

In general though it was nice fit, you know I don't mind a chunky watch as long as it fits ok, and this was the case with the BB Pro. I was quite impressed by this, I haven't been that interested previously but I think the Explorer GMT style has got me, and I have been moving towards lighter coloured dials with the Cartier and Proxima having a recent impact. I wouldn't say no to this on a discount. Maybe Tudor are rouding off the collection with fat Pro and will move the range on to the slimmer form next year.

Now on to my other favourite brand, Cartier and back to the precious side of town. I got to try on a gold Tank (WGTA0067), and it fit soooo well and looked soooo good, and it felt soooo wrong lusting after it cos it's a quartz watch that costs £11,000 but boy oh boy was it at home on the skinny wrist. Then, naturally I tried on the automatic XL steel version, and XL is right it was just too chunky and it goes against what I think a tank should look like on my wrist, it was literally on a tank on the skinny wrist.

What I need is an old manual wind/mechanique gold tank, oooeee, I was straight on Chrono24 when I got home, doing some gold digging!

Next up was am old favourite grail, that is just too expensive at retail, but one of my favourite pieces. The Jaeger-Lecoultre Reverso Duoface, it's magnificent and fits so nicely. I can't wait to get one of these, at £12,200 though - how much - I am not exaggerating when I say you can get a pre-owned older model for half that price or this one for £7500 or so from a private seller on eBay, there aren't many for sale though, maybe they are loved and people don't want to sell, or maybe they do not hold their value at all so people can't bear to sell! JLC have an image problem in a commercial sense, but from a horological perspective they are just magnificent. The difference is night and day...

Well, that's the end of the AD visit, was nice to talk watches and try on some little and not so little beauties. I was disappointed to not get to see the Burgundy BB58 (below) but wait, what the hell? I hear you say - I didn't say which watch I bought. Well, it was a Tudor and there was only one above that fits the budget and the wrist, so you know what it was and you can tune back in for the first impressions post coming soon to the blog and to Youtube.

Thanks for visiting!

Yours Tudorly,

Alvin