Tudor Black Bay Pro Identity Crisis?

First thing first. I love that watch! BB Pro is on my list for next year.

Okay I'm retired which kinda changes how I would use that watch. It would be a tool watch for me. It would get more use with my life style. Now if I was working again I would travel with 2-3 watches. It gives me more options with my work and free time agendas. The BB Pro is something I would use for around town after work and weekends, more casual. The others would be a dress for my suits and a more rugged gshock for hikes and workouts etc. Well I hope you can figure it out. If you love it and can comfortably afford it buy it.

Enjoy that watch if you decide on getting it.

Cheers!

If you genuinely love it? Then it’s the watch. Why you can’t wear that or any other watch with a suit is beyond me… if your personality is a Seiko 50mm tuna then that’s what you wear, formal or not, unless you’re trying to present an identity that isn’t you. If you are that concerned get a Timex Marlin for suit days and put your money into the watch you connect with, but definitely on a bracelet.

You have a similar calculus to me. It's a beautiful watch. But as you say, the Pro functions ostensibly as a field watch with an am/pm indicator. The only party trick the Pro really brings to the table is the jumping hour hand, which is immensely (understatement) satisfying when you're actually traveling.

For me, I want a tool watch to be as flexible a tool as possible. I use my rotating GMT bezels to time things constantly outside of work, just like a diver bezel (which is why all the newer 24 click GMT bezels are suboptimal) by lining it up with the minutes hand. But a 120 click GMT bezel is even better than a dive watch because you can time events up to 24 hours by timing off the 24 hour hand.

And for work I leave the GMT hand set to UTC 0 (or Zulu time) and then use the bezel to quickly adjust whatever 2nd timezone I'm tracking at any given moment based on the +/- offset. This is something you cannot do with the Pro. You're married to tracking one 2nd time zone all the time, unless you want to hack the watch.

Personally I think if you're going to buy a fixed bezel GMT and need to track other time zones often, you're better off with a caller GMT complication which makes this 10x easier.

I have both caller and traveler GMTs, both with rotating bezels. And I struggle to find any rational use case for a fixed bezel + 24 hour GMT hand. I'd be better off with a thinner dive or field watch that looks equally cool/rugged.

And that's ignoring all the practical questions of whether it fits equally well on a hike as it does a work dinner

I absolutely love this watch. You can wear it in formal occasions. Due to its black dial it just blends in. It is a perfect weekend wear with jeans or shorts. It’s also waterproof unless you work on an oil drilling company under sea. It’s a GMT though I use it as a day night indicator.

Thanks everyone, you all raise great points RE the BB Pro. If the watch is serving a purpose of being an AM/PM indicator in your current TZ, or fixed primarily on a second TZ where you don't need to adjust often (like where a colleague or family member may reside), it's a fine watch. The toolish vibes, while also being more suitable for business wear on the bracelet or a leather strap lend to the flexibility it offers.

It's the kind of watch that sparked my own internal debate on whether it's a good multi-purpose watch for my needs, checking a few boxes (field watch, travel watch, vacation watch), or not. It's the same feeling I get with any fixed bezel GMT, especially one that comes across as a more casual watch, and whether I would want it as my work travel watch or not. Right now I'm on the hunt for an "everyday" piece, since I have a few watches that seem to service specific duties in my collection (formal, business casual work, versatile work travel, adventure, ocean/pool, etc.). Not that I'm trying to build a very rigid grouping here, it's more that I don't want a lot of overlap is all. If I'm getting a GMT, I'd like to have perhaps just one.

I have this watch and I love it also. It’s not my choice for formal wear but it doesn’t look out of place with a shirt and trousers. Maybe not a 3 piece suit.

Even still, you won’t regret buying and wearing it however you do so. And no, it’s not too thick!

I would add one thing - the Grand Seiko SBGN027 is comparable to the BB Pro, is meant to be beaten up, has better finishing , has a 50 year service interval, and has far fewer moving parts that could wear out and costs less than the BB Pro. But of course you need to like the aesthetics too.

How do you feel about the thickness, and how big are you're wrists? 🙂

Yup, it's a strong contender for my lifestyle! I've looked at this since it's release, though the bracelet isn't my favorite (and most GS bracelets I'm not a fan of) but the watch itself is stunning.

7.5" wrist, and it fit VERY well. I didn't notice the thickness, at least at the dealer. I can see it being too thick for smaller 6.5" wrists potentially, but not a problem for me.

Would you say the same thing about the Explorer II?

Interesting, I hadn't thought about it this way. When I travel it's not for business, so I don't tend to dress up. If I'm going to a wedding or other affair involving a suit I'd bring a dress watch, but wear this the rest of the time. As a hiking watch...well, what's the point of the GMT? In your situation, I think I'd lean more towards GS or Rolex as a watch that works with a suit but also without.

I would, yes. It's the same functional gap with the EXP2 as other fixed bezel GMT's. The premise is an AM/PM indication, which grew into a separate GMT hand no longer fixed to the hour hand. While this is great as others have pointed out for various reasons above, it does present a more limited GMT use case, paired with a more casual watch, it's why I stumbled trying to figure out if it would work in my collection and for my lifestyle. I really love the watch, and that's why I wanted to hear from folks on their impressions and real-world usage.

Yeah, it's a tough one. I'd like to avoid the GMT MII bandwagon, and GS has some options, but Omega may be the path, or similar brands that are available. I don't want to rule this out entirely, and to clarify, I doubt I'd use any of these hiking/camping, it was more to play into the whole field watch vibe. In the end the question I have to ask myself about is more the functional use case of a fixed bezel GMT and whether I would actually like/use this in a more casual daily wear watch, and whether it's suited for work travel/business trips, knowing on those trips if I need to dress it up, I'd want to have a second option (my Cartier Santos, for example). But primarily I'm overthinking the GMT aspect since to be honest, these days I don't do much travel outside of the US.

If Tudor put out a thinner GMT homage of their Explorer 2 polar dial , rotating bevel then sign me up if its 13mm thick x 39mm . Shut up and take my money 💰 I just picked up a Ranger from Siam.Tudor Boutique in BKK and it is thin… I would want the Pro the same …. I am a Tudor fanboy, but that BB pro is bloody thick , I was considering it but it is a beast. Good luck with your choice.

If you get it, get the bracelet version. The thickness of the case is more obvious when it is on fabric strap.

I agree, the spring bar placement on the lugs is VERY low, the nato makes it looks like it's super thick. Bracelet has a really beautiful connection with the lugs, and just looks like the best bet.

Then I get it, enjoy! :)