Meet the new METAS (Master Chronometer) and COSC-certified Black Bay 58 GMT, one of the new additions to the successful behemoth that is the modern Tudor (particularly the Black Bay).

Six years after the 41mm-sized Black Bay GMT, the inevitable has happened, with a new and smaller, GMT in the Black Bay collection family. It’s a smaller Black Bay GMT than its bigger earlier version, and with this comes a slimmer watch thanks to the new Calibre MT5450-U – a 39mm case (thickness of 12.8mm) means that this is both the smallest and thinnest Tudor GMT to date, the sizing part of a general trend towards ‘smaller’ (but by no stretch of the imagination small, watches. It has a screw-down crown and water resistance of 200m. The crown has been redesigned and is set flush to the middle case band.

With a black and red 24-hour bidirectional bezel, if you feel so inclined to make a drink brand comparison and say that it is the only current GMT watch from either Tudor or Rolex that fits such branding, you may do so. The 24-hour scale on the bezel is gilt, as are the hour markers, and it has ‘snowflake’ hands. On the slightly domed satin black dial, te seconds hand is a ‘lollipop’ one in this new piece. The hour and minute hands have Super-LumiNova.

Inside is the COSC-certified automatic MT5450-U, with a 65-hour power reserve. The tungsten rotor is open-worked and features laser radial grooving with sand-blasting. Its bridges and main plate have alternate sand-blasted and polished surfaces and laser decorations.

There are two strap options – either a stainless steel three-link “rivet-style” bracelet inspired by bracelets of the 1950s and 1960s, or a rubber strap, both with Tudor’s “T-fit” rapid adjustment clasp.

How does it feel on the wrist? Pretty much as you’d expect if you are familiar with both the size and Black Bays. It’s comfortable and will ‘do the job’. It is a pretty safe bet that the Tudor Black Bay 58 GMT is going to sell extremely well, as it ticks particular boxes that people have wanted, and retains the familiarity of details that are known to be crowd pleasers.

The RRP of the new Tudor Black Bay58 GMT is CHF 4,100 on the strap, and CHF 4,300 on the bracelet.

Categories: watches