There’s a lot of good stuff in the Tudor Heritage Black Bay Chronograph. It has a superb movement, made by Breitling, with column wheel and vertical clutch. It has an excellent waterproofness rating at 200 metres, with screw-down crown and chronograph pushers. It has the look and feel of the Black Bay family with its dive watch heritage. There are a couple of things that could be done differently. To me the hour and minute hands look disproportionate, the minutes hand very slender and the hour hand with a very large snowflake, which also obscures the subdials when it is in those parts of the dial. Personally I’m not a fan of tachymeter scales, but this is a matter of taste. But all considered, it’s a quality chronograph at an attractive price, considering the movement: 4,500 Swiss francs with leather strap, 4,800 with steel bracelet.
The Tudor Heritage Black Bay Chronograph has a 41 mm steel case, with a fixed steel bezel. The crown is distinctive for its knurled edge, and head with black lacquer Tudor rose. The stem is in black anodized aluminium. Dial and watchglass are domed. I like the positioning of the date window at 6 o’clock, where it maintains the overall symmetry and balance.
The chronograph pushers are screw-down, which means that you can’t use them underwater, and you’ll probably keep them screwed down for everyday use. So preparing the watch to measure times could take a bit of effort.
Movement
Tudor call their calibre MT5813 a “Manufacture movement” in the engraving on the caseback. It is in fact made by Breitling (it corresponds to the Breitling calibre 01), with a personalized Tudor oscillating weight, and the Tudor balance with inertia-weight regulation, running at 4 Hertz. It has a silicon balance spring, 70 hours power reserve, and it is COSC-certified. The column wheel and vertical clutch ensure smooth pusher operation when using the chronograph, and no chronograph seconds flutter when starting it. The date can be adjusted from the crown, at any time of day or night.
Extra jacquard strap
Like all the new Black Bay watches this year, the Tudor Heritage Black Bay Chrono is supplied with an extra jacquard denim-style woven strap, better suited when using the watch underwater. It is woven on traditional jacquard looks by a French company and so is thicker than most NATO-type straps. In this watch it is navy blue.
Leather strap or steel bracelet
The steel bracelet has the rivet heads that hallmarks Tudor watches with in-house movements, and a distinctive stepped construction. The leather strap has a folding clasp.
Price and reference
The Tudor Heritage Black Bay Chronograph is reference 79350. With leather strap it costs 4,500 Swiss francs, with steel bracelet it costs 4,800 Swiss francs, prices inclusive of VAT. Both watches are supplied with an extra jacquard canvas strap.
