Reviewing a Panda - The Tudor Black Bay Chronograph

I have been in the market for a sporty chronograph for a couple of years now.  It’s a complication I quite like, and one that has been under represented in my collection.  With an 8 inch wrist, some of the usual suspects didn’t have the visual presence that I wanted.  As much as I love the idea of the Omega Speedmaster, the most recent version looks a little too dainty on my wrist. I also love the current offerings from both IWC and Breitling (particularly the Chronomat). Yet the Black Bay Chronographs is offering a set of features at a price that is difficult to ignore. Within their segment of the market they have a stranglehold on the term “value proposition.” 

It took me about 3-4 months to source a Panda dialed chrono after asking my AD to keep an eye out for one. Part of that was my fault as a I was sick with COVID the first time one became available. All of which is to say, while these watches are a lot more accessible than they were a year ago, there still might be a bit of wait if you want to see one at your local AD. If you are interested in going to the grey market you can have one immediately and often at a discount. I like Tudors more than most collectors, but these should not be “wait list” watches. 

After wearing this watch for the better part of a month I am thrilled with my choice. The 41mm/14.3mm case (lug to lug is 50mm) gives me the wrist presence that I was missing on some of the Omegas. I am not thrilled that Tudor is slow walking the roll-out of quick adjustment systems for the bracelets on their existing models. But the oyster style bracelet is comfortable and very well made. 

The MT5813 movement has been the star of the show and was one of the main reasons for my purchase. My watch has been running at about +1 seconds a day since I brought it home.  As I am sure everyone knows at this point, this Kenissi made movement is shared with Breitling and was also the beating heart of the Chronomats that I was cross-shopping.  I love the case finishing and dial layouts on those Breitlings, as well as their iconic bullet bracelets. 

Still, at almost half the price Tudor is offering the same movement with their own set of important upgrades. The column wheel vertical clutch movement is a joy to use and amazing to find at this price point. The winding of the movement, however, was a bit of shock. It is not all that smooth and there is some notable resistance compared to the offerings by Omega or other luxury producers. I don’t remember the Breitling’s having the same resistance to their wind, so it came as a surprise.

I think that the real strength of this watch cannot just be reduced to numbers on a fact sheet.  There are not that many iconic chronograph designs that stand on their own and can easily be identified at a glance across the room. Such designs are, by definition, polarizing. Either you are going to like them or you are not. The real strength of this offering is its ability to carve out a new and distinct space for itself in the luxury chronograph marketplace at a reasonable price. I found it hard not to fall in love with the classic white and black panda dial. It gave me a feeling of wrist presence and excitement that some of its more refined competitors did not.

No watch is perfect and this Tudor has three issues that I would like to see addressed in future releases. One of my hesitations about buying this model was that I suspect at least one of these things is going to be fixed rather soon.

First, any watching this big and heavy in the year 2023 needs an on-the-fly micro adjustment system. Tudor has some decent solutions sitting on the their shelf and it is not ok that they are not being deployed on their other high end watches. If you wanted to do one thing that would spike the popularity of this model overnight, that would be it. Just add the T-fit system to the clasp. I think this is the first improvement we are actually likely to see.

Second, there is no reason that this watch could not be a full millimeter thinner. The FXD Chrono that was released earlier this year came in at roughly 13.5mm and it has the same movement, so we know that this can be done.  Of course that is a more difficult adjustment to make as redesigning the case will have all sorts of down-stream effects. But given what happened to the Heritage Black Bay Diver with the red bezel earlier this year, I suspect that sometime in the next few years we could see the same thing here. 

Last, but not least, we have got to talk about legibility. If you like being able to read the time at a glance in any lighting conditions, get the reverse panda variant, or maybe the dark steel and gold option.  The Panda dial is obviously a lower contrast option.  I find that in lots of lighting conditions it is perfectly legible. Outdoors or with bright or florescent lighting things are good.  But in low interior lighting, especially if your bulbs have more of that warm yellow tint, this can be a genuinely difficult watch to read. That needs to be said more often.

To some degree, this is always the case with low contrast dials. Yet there were all sorts of things that could have been done to improve the watch’s legibility.  The hour surrounds and hands could have been greyed as Vacheron and Omega do on some of their white and silver dials.  Alternatively we could have gone for a full piano effect and painted them black as Rolex did with the polar Explorer II.  The brightly polished hands that Tudor supplied look beautiful when they catch the light, but in the wrong lighting conditions they can vanish without a trace. 

All of this must have been obvious when designs and prototypes were being discussed. My guess is that Tudor deliberately went for the high polished options as less contrast also yields a classic, less busy, and more serene dial. That is something that this watch face has in abundance.  Whereas the black and S&G options look very masculine and tough, the panda maintains a more relaxed, friendly and refined feel. This was one of the reasons that I chose it.  Still, potential buyers really should compare their options and made sure they are comfortable with what they are getting.  You should also be aware that, in this case, the black chrono actually wears larger than the white one.  This is the opposite of what we usually see as white dials typically have more visual impact.

I am aware that much has been made of the inappropriateness of including a snowflake hour hand on a chronograph.  Indeed, this watch has been criticized for its confused design language by several reviewers. Is it a diving chronograph or a racing model?  Why does it have features of both?  Shouldn’t every product fit into a single easy to categorize box? I actually want to come back to this point in greater detail in another post asking what we really mean when we call something an “homage.” 

For right now all I want to say is that the snowflake hour hand has not really been an issue from the perspective of practicality.  I use my chronograph feature regularly and I have not found it be substantially more intrusive than the Broad Arrow or Mercedes hands that we also see on some chronos.  All chronographs can have issues with their hands covering a sub-dial. If you just don’t like the snowflake aesthetic that is entirely understandable. Still, in practice this issue really hasn’t had much of an impact on my enjoyment of this watch or use of the chronograph function.

Would I recommend that Tudor Black Bay Chronograph to a friends?  Absolutely. Like so much of Tudor’s current catalog its bringing a huge amount of value to the luxury Swiss watch space at a time when that is rapidly vanishing everywhere else. And if you are looking for a real deal on this watch some great ones can currently be found in the used and grey markets. In my view the Black Bay chrono is an modern classic in the making.