Travels with the full fat Pelagos - review & reflection

From an early age, I remember being fascinated by my father's 1981 Seiko Quartz Diver 7548. The bright red & blue knurled bezel, the wave engraved caseback, the solid heft of this beautiful thing was captivating - I couldn't keep my sticky little paws off it. As I grew, I began to learn about my father's diving exploits, and how he used this watch to keep him safe. From forays into 0 vis flooded mines, to ice dives, and sadly, even human remains recovery. This watch had served him well.

[Not my father, but the same old mine he used to dive, this is 'good' visibility in UK waters..]

When I turned 40, my father gifted me his beloved watch, deeply engrained with physical clues to the fun and adventures he'd had with it.

A couple of years later and my 6 month old son is now beginning to take an interest in its fun colours, textures (...and tastes...!?). From frigid British freshwater caves and ice dives, to the delicate tendrils of drool from my baby boy, the watch had come full circle. Except, the circle wasn't quite complete - I wasn't using my newly acquired dive watch to dive. I'd dabbled a bit, but I didn't have the all important lore to back up the visible 'life' this watch had lived. I felt that to do this watch justice, and to appreciate the enjoyment my father had for diving, I needed to learn to dive, properly, myself.

A plan was formed; the wife wanted noodles, the boy needed to feel some sand between his toes, and I would complete my PADI Open Water course somewhere slightly sunnier than "Tucker's Pit" - my dad's local dive site.We settled on Phuket, Thailand: Great weather, good diving, noodles, sand - It was ON!

But there was one small curveball I hadn't foreseen in this grand scheme. As departure day loomed closer I began some prep work on the PADI scuba courses, of which, at least half is dedicated to drumming into you the perils of diving at depth; the impacts of pressure on the body, Arterial Gas Embolisms, Subcutaneous Emphysema - This water pressure thing was actually pretty serious...and this 40 year old vintage watch, whilst still incredibly accurate, had been owned by my very frugal father. It had almost certainly never been blessed with a proper service, or a new set of o-rings. The crystal had deep gauges in it, as did the case.. I was not convinced it was up to the task in its current condition. I would never forgive myself if something awful happened to this Horological Hero in my life. And so, with a heavy heart, a decision was made - the Seiko would go off for a service...and I would need a new dive watch NWA!

Enter the Tudor Pelagos MT5600.

• 42mm of awesomely dark hued grey Titanium.

• Matte ceramic bezel

• Superb legibility

• Lume bright enough to light my path to the bathroom at night

• And most importantly, linking back to my father's watch - a movement that should live long enough to inspire another little boy in the bloodline..

For a long time i'd been convinced that my 6.5" wrist couldn't pull off a 42mm dive watch. But with my dad's lovely proportioned seiko, I realised actually, I probably could get away with a larger watch if the lug-to-lug were modest. Fast forward a few boutique visits, and I'd convinced myself the Pelagos 42 fitted me ok. For reference, my wrist is quite flat in shape with a 55-60mm cross section where the watch head sits. But I must admit, I went through a little buyers remorse. The 50mm lug-to-lug of the pelagos as well as it's 14.3mm thickness challenged me for a while.

CERTAINLY the bracelet brings too much heft. Which is a real shame as the bracelet is one of the key USPs of the Pelagos. But on a single pass Nato, an Erika's Originals or even a Barton Silicone Elite (above), I think I can just about get away with it. The Pelagos passes my general rule of thumb; the lugs should not overhang the main width of my wrist.

[Distance from the camera can make the sizing deceiving. I think the pocket shot is probably a more realistic perspective of what others might see as I wear the watch]

I will accept that the watch face + bezel is on the larger side. I wouldn't wear it to anything as formal as an office or nice dinner date. But as a super informal, sporty, adventure ready tool, the larger size and resulting legibility is absolutely perfect. Whether I'm camping, fishing, hiking, I can even read it with blurry eyes, sans glasses, in the dark, as I'm feeding The Boy at 3am.

Travelling whilst wearing the Pelagos was great. It felt comfortable and in no way flashy thanks to the dull brushed Ti case, the matte ceramic bezel with minimal knurling. Wearing an Explorer as my daily back at home in London, I'm always slightly conscious to keep it tucked away in busy places - the bracelet and case are quite distinctive. So it was refreshing to be able to wear the Pelagos on a strap with zero worries. Most of the locals had crazy large, blingy fashion watches with far more charisma than this subtle little sleeper.

Whilst travelling, I do use the Bezel quite a lot - for a bunch of different duties from tracking dive times, or hiking duration, to latest bottle feed of the baby. The action is fantastic, accurate, and in almost a year of ownership, I dont think I've ever gone beyond 12 o'clock when resetting to it's default position. This is thanks to a the subtle, but slightly more solid 'click' as it drops into proper alignment at 12. A nice attention to detail other manufacturers could learn from. I would also track a second time zone using the bezel, rotating it forward 7 hours and reading the bezel from its 12 position to indicate the time back in London. Though clunky, and a little abstract, it kinda works in a pinch.

Diving with the Pelagos is extremely satisfying.

Waking early to catch a boat, the dial is still luminscent after a full night and easily readable, even through bleary eyes. On dive days, the Pelagos comes into its own - it's no longer just a watch, it's an integral part of your dive system. You begin to spot and appreciate cross-overs from other parts of your dive gear, in the design of the Pelagos:

Over-engineered components like the ceramic fasteners in the bracelet - good for decades of use.

Built tough with decent crown guards

Easy to use like the coined edged bezel - sharp enough to give your fingers some purchase, even underwater, but also low profile enough to avoid catching/accidental adjustment on shoulder straps or gear.

Masses of redundancy integrated into the design for safety - 500m water resistance and the bridged balance wheel for stability and impact protection (on the newer in-house version Pelagos cal. MT5612)

Smaller details like the painted lume pip at 12 rather than an applied pip is less likely to get knocked or damaged*. (of course it helps keep the cost down too, but I admire the functionality).

I even found the date window to be useful when completing insurance waivers and dive log! I am very pleased that there's no cyclops and the crystal is flush with the bezel. The AR coating is internal only, I found it absolutely perfect in all conditions - never once did I find it too reflective. Plus, it won't get scratched as you're lugging air tanks onto the boat or putting your BCD on.

Under water, the watch is absolutely fantastic, as expected. Not a single concern with its water resistance or legibility. I did use a dive computer to log my dive data, as it's so much more simple and safe to do so, but I used the Pelagos to keep track of simple timing work.

[As the refraction plays with the dial, the stepped chapter ring and indices become even more 3 dimensional. I'm still not sure where this concept came from, it reminds me of a much cheaper seiko sport model I had once. But I kinda like it.]

There were a couple of downsides - most notably, the case height. It is 14.3mm high and especially on a smaller wrist, I do find it gets snagged on stuff a little more easily than my thinner watches. It adds to the feeling of heft of the watch and makes this a true tool watch only. I won't wear this under a work shirt cuff. Not because it won't fit, but more because of the proportions making it look so obviously tooly. It would be like wearing work boots in a Tux. You can do it, but it would bring your ability to make life choices into question!

As I mentioned earlier, for smaller wrists, the bracelet is going to make it feel too large - which is a terrible shame as it's got some fantastic features. I found the extra tudor supplied rubber strap, which attaches via the metal end links of the bracelet, also feels a little too large for my meagre appendages. The rubber was also not as compliant as i'd hoped and I found it rubbed more than it should. It may have broken in over time, but I'm quite happy with it on an elasticated MN strap for the moment. (which you should be sure to tighten prior to diving as they can be a bit stretchy in the water.. (+1 for true natos I guess).

Well, wouldn't you know it, literally moments before publishing this review, I took the Pelagos out to mark the occasion and found my bezel has fallen foul of a common problem with the bezel lume pips going walkabout... Check the gap at 2 o'clock:

Based on previous reports of the same issue, this should be covered under warranty, so I'm not too upset. It gives me an excuse to go and poke around the AD. In fact, I had noticed that the bezel lume on my watch was slightly more off-white than the starker white on the dial. You might be able to see it in the photo above if you look at the colour of the 12 and 1 positions vs the bezel lume points.. subtle, but vaguely annoying. So I'm hoping I'll get a brighter whiter replacement bezel when it goes in for a replacement.

For now, I'll bring this long rambling review to an end. I hope you enjoyed the photos and if you bothered to read any of this, well done! Please feel free to reach out to me if you have questions, as I am properly smitten with this watch and am happy to share the love.

B-ROLL / Snapshots

[Our trusty stead for the day: These "Long Tails" basically have an engine balanced on a pivot point, which the Captain manually heaves around and uses to steer whilst a propeller stuck to a 20 foot prop shaft provides propulsion, (and probably maim a few snorkellers along the way).]

[Captain Mon and his v8 meat grinder. Likes: Smoking next to pressurized air tanks. Dislikes: Clothes.]

[Different boat, same Dingbat. Ready to dive!]

[Wife and the little man, patiently waiting for Dad to finish splashing around.]

[Not me trying to avoid bottle feeding duties on the night shift (Greece, not Phuket)].

Thanks for reading!