SJX Watches
Up Close: Tudor Black Bay Fifty-Eight 18K
Unveiled just last week alongside its sterling-silver sibling, the Black Bay Fifty-Eight 18K is Tudor’s first solid-gold dive watch. A significant milestone for Tudor that perhaps reveals aspirations further up the price spectrum, the Fifty-Eight 18K lives up to its ambitions. Initial thoughts In late 2019 I was speaking with a senior Tudor executive and got an inkling that a solid-gold watch might be in the works. Being a fan of the brand (and fortunate enough to own a few of them), that was something I was very much looking forward to. Now Tudor has finally done it, and I am impressed with the result. The Black Bay Fifty-Eight 18K is attractive, feels good in the hand, and is also well priced. The only disappointment is the lack of a matching gold bracelet. I know that would hike the price by at least 50%, but even then it would be a good buy – and it would be truly cool. Fingers crossed a bracelet is in the works. But even sans bracelet the new Fifty-Eight feels good in the hand. It’s sized (almost) exactly the same as the steel Fifty-Eight, making it the perfect size for an easy-to-wear dive watch. Naturally, the gold version is slightly heavier than the steel equivalent, but the weight is just enough to seem substantive, but not so much it’s unwieldy on the soft fabric strap (more on the weight reduction below). The weight gives the Fifty-Eight 18k an appropriately expensive feel. But as is always the norm with Tudor watches, the quality of the watch lives ...
