Tudor Black Bay 41 Needs Some Love
Hello Fellow Crunchers,
I think we need to have this discussion: the Black Bay 41 needs a refresh.
In 2020 and 2021, I picked up a Black Bay 58 and a Black Bay 41 (the black with gilt dial on the 58 and the blue bezel on the 41), however, I always felt as though the Black Bay range has been cutting itself short by not providing more variety in releases.
One thing that always irked me about the 41mm Black Bay with Red Bezel was the weird combination of gilt dial but non-gilt bezel (successfully rectified by the 58). Subsequently, the 58 range releases have all been no date variations for the most part, with the exception of the Black Bay Pro.
I think the 41 could benefit from some mid-cycle updates in the form of a slimmer case height, updated t-fit clasp and the addition of a date function. This would make this model the undisputed winner in terms of value, performance, and quality at the entry level luxury diver space, these would fly out of the AD's.
Here's some mock-ups of what they could potentially look like, let me know what you all think!
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One of the issues with the Kinissi movement is its thickness. Tudor watches will always be in the thicker side as long as they use it.
My main discussion always ends up at the case thickness. We all know they are capable of providing a thinner case.
Felt like this model lost something when they went away from the ETA movements and the Rose logo.
I tried on the "Blue Bay 41" a while back, it's an absolute beauty. Chonky, but beautiful.
Felt like this model lost something when they went away from the ETA movements and the Rose logo.
I somewhat agree with you. The rose logo is definitely classier but the ETA movement compared to the Tudor one is definitely outclassed. I was drawn to my smiley because of the 2824 inside but I haven’t really seen the benefit of having that versus the MT5602.
One of the issues with the Kinissi movement is its thickness. Tudor watches will always be in the thicker side as long as they use it.
It has to be thicker, because the mainspring needs to be wider to permit the 70 hours of power reserve at the 28800 vph.
I somewhat agree with you. The rose logo is definitely classier but the ETA movement compared to the Tudor one is definitely outclassed. I was drawn to my smiley because of the 2824 inside but I haven’t really seen the benefit of having that versus the MT5602.
Benefits of the ETA include more than 2mm thinner (12.8mm ETA, 14.9mm MT5602 - the BB58 is 11.9mm thick, so the ETA heritage arguably has better proportions even than that) and the ease and low cost of servicing it. Mine has been accurate to within an average of 1-2 seconds a day since I got it in 2016. Add to that the rose logo, the smiley text (aesthetically this is what makes the watch SO much better, IMO) and the non-gilt bezel (I know that's marmite, but for me the gilt bezel is too much) and the benefits mount up to produce an unbeatable combo. It's beautiful!
Benefits of the ETA include more than 2mm thinner (12.8mm ETA, 14.9mm MT5602 - the BB58 is 11.9mm thick, so the ETA heritage arguably has better proportions even than that) and the ease and low cost of servicing it. Mine has been accurate to within an average of 1-2 seconds a day since I got it in 2016. Add to that the rose logo, the smiley text (aesthetically this is what makes the watch SO much better, IMO) and the non-gilt bezel (I know that's marmite, but for me the gilt bezel is too much) and the benefits mount up to produce an unbeatable combo. It's beautiful!
You're lucky then. Mine runs minus 4 seconds a day.
Throw the MT5402 movement from the 58, T-fit clasp, reduce the case thickness by a few mm, do some other color ways and I think you have a huge hit on their hands. Addition of a date would be even nicer.
I’m a big fan of blue and a big fan of having a date. I love the BB58 Blue (I tried it on and it fit like a dream) but hate that it doesn’t have a date. I love the character of the 41 with the rose logo and the date, but I still need to try it on to see if it’s too big/thick for my 6.5” wrist. And I’m not sure if I like the mismatch I’d the black dial with a blue bezel. I usually like black/black or blue/blue.