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A Look at the Tudor Heritage Black Bay One for Only Watch 2015

Looking at the recent Tudor catalogue in front of me, there are eight distinct versions of this Heritage Black Bay, and several of these are available on various strap/bracelet combinations. That means a lot of customer choice, and it seems that each year Tudor adds more to the collection, in addition to supplying cosmetic alternatives like new straps. I do hope that the set doesn’t go overboard with too many models being available. I think the Tudor Heritage Black Bay family is about as complete as it ought to be right now, and when Tudor adds they will need to discontinue some of those older models.For 2017, Tudor added equally the Heritage Black Bay Steel along with the Black Bay S&G. Apart from both being released in 2017, what they share in common different from other Black Bay watches is that the existence of a date window on the dial at 3 o’clock. Other Black Bay watches have time-only dials without the date. This feature is something you enjoy, hate, or are totally ambivalent to depending on the particular flavor of watch nerd that you’re. I happen to for the most part exist at the latter remark camp.As I stated previously, S&G stands for “steel and gold,” and for any reason, Tudor isn’t calling this a “two-tone” version. When I first saw it, I believed it was a steel and bronze watch, but it’s steel with 18k yellow gold.

Only Watch is a charity auction that takes place in November 2015, and for the first time Tudor York War is taking part. Its contribution is a one of a kind dive watch, Heritage Black Bay One  ref. 7923/001. Based on Tudor’s historically inspired dive watch, the Heritage Black Bay One has been tweaked to make it look even more vintage, with the look modelled on the rare Submariner ref. 7923 of 1954. Thanks to these fresh photos of the actual timepiece from Tudor, we get a sense of what the Black Bay One actually looks like.

Not an exact remake of a vintage watch, the Black Bay One is instead a blend of elements from the past. The dial is a gilt, with a glossy surface and the lettering as well as minute track in gold. “200m-660ft” is in red, something not found on the vintage Tudor Submariner, but reminiscent of Rolex dive watches like the Red Sub or Double Red Sea-Dweller.

Several features set this apart from the ordinary Black Bay, like the hands for starters. The hour and minute hands are pencil-shaped, while the seconds hand is tipped with a circle, hence the nickname “lollipop”. In contrast the regular production Black Bay has a “snowflake” hands. Another unique feature is the bezel that has five-minute markings and a red marker at 12 o’clock, lacking the 15-minute marking on the regular production Black Bay.

And then there’s the bracelet, which has a straight end. This feature is also found on the Heritage Ranger, while most other Tudor watches have fitted end links.

Like other Tudor Heritage watches, the Black Bay One is accompanied by extra straps, both NATO-style. One is in brown leather with a distressed finish, and the other is an Admiralty grey jacquard-weave band made the traditional way in France. And the Black Bay One is also packaged in a special box. Similar in size to the usual Tudor Box, but made of wood with a brass plate on the top.

The rest of the Black Bay One is identical to the regular production model: 41mm steel case with an ETA 2824 inside. It will be sold alongside 42 other one of a kind timepieces on November 7, 2015, at Only Watch in Geneva under the aegis of Phillips auctioneers.

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