Teddy Baldassarre
Tudor Black Bay 54 Review
Making its debut at the 2023 edition of Watches & Wonders, the Tudor Black Bay 54 caused something of a riot with its dead-on vintage reimagining of the Oyster Prince Submariner Reference 7922 from, you guessed it, 1954. Truly, apart from some dial text details and a more contemporary handset, you could easily mistake one for the other from across a room. For fans of historically sized divers, this was pure catnip, without the accompanying headaches associated with vintage watches, most notably, fragility and authenticity. The larger blue Black Bay 58 (left) next to the 37mm Black Bay 54 (right) Getting both the look and a warranty proved to be impossible to resist, leading to waiting lists at ADs and plenty of Instagram FOMO. Let’s face it, many collectors are more attuned to the stylistic path that Tudor has taken in recent memory, with an aesthetic that’s more tool than jewel. The Tudor of yore was a more attainable Rolex, with models like the Tudor Sub nearly identical to the Rolex version, apart from the movement within. But as Rolex has sized up and blinged out, the two corporate siblings’ paths have diverged, with Tudor more than happy to scoop up the business of enthusiasts who prefer a retro feel in their timepieces. Like many armchair super-spies, I’m all-in on a watch that wouldn’t be out of place on Connery’s wrist in Thunderball, despite having never once fired a speargun. So now that the dust has settled and the BB54 has been out in the wild for ...
