Just per week ago, Tudor launched Watches & Wonders with a brand new tackle the Black Bay chronograph. While much stays the same as previous versions, two significant improvements are clearly visible: the watch now features the brand’s five-link bracelet with a T-shaped clasp and, more importantly, is Hi pink.
Why pink? The watch pays tribute to Tudor’s new partnership with Inter Miami CF, founded by David Beckham, whose colours are clearly pink. (The color also appears on the uniforms of the Giro d’Italia, a bicycle race sponsored by the brand, and is the favorite color of Chinese musician Jay Chou, who’s a Tudor ambassador.)
So it was no surprise to see Beckham playing at the recent Inter Miami CF game in Ft. Lauderdale, where it popped out against the backdrop of his navy blue suit. And we must say: Damn, does this watch look good?
There’s something a few thick, durable tool paired with a color often reserved for babies that is just delightful. I mean, just have a look at the specs on this device: 41mm case, brushed and polished 316L chrome steel; fixed insert manufactured from anodized black aluminum; screw-on pushers; screw-down crown; convex sapphire crystal; two-register chronograph display with date. It’s an enormous, thick watch, waterproof to 200m, and designed to be shaken. And then: It’s the color of a strawberry smoothie.
To be fair, the new Jubilee-style bracelet that Tudor released in 2023 helps soften its brutalist profile a bit and pair it with the vivid pastel dial. But the end result continues to be whimsical at its best: you just would never expect a watch like this from Rolex’s more serious sister brand. (Or at the least you NO I expected something like this from Rolex’s more serious sister brand until 2023, when Korona dropped the “Emoji” watch and the “Celebration” watch. These days it looks like anything is feasible.)
There is something else: inside the “pink” beats the Tudor COSC Manufacture certified Chronograph Caliber MT5813 with a 70-hour power reserve – higher known Breitling fans like Caliber B01. The Tudor, Kenissi manufacturing group – in which Breitling and Chanel even have a financial stake – has not yet built its own chronograph mechanism, so Tudor and Breitling are using the MT5813/B01 in a form of interchange. Will Tudor change this in the near future by adding its own, more proprietary caliber to the mix and equipping the Black Bay Chronograph “Pink” (and other versions) with it? Could it occur as early as next week? It definitely takes precedence – in any case, several other Black Bay watches were born with off-the-shelf movements and slowly transitioned to Kenissi calibers.
We will see. But no matter the mechanism ticking inside, there isn’t any denying that this fresh Back Bay Chronograph is certainly one of the coolest pink watches of all time.
Ask Beckham.
De Bethune DB28 Kind of Blue by Michael Strahan
Former New York Giants shortstop, television personality and extremely tall guy Michael Strahan was spotted wearing the De Bethune DB28 Kind of Blue while sitting courtside during a Knicks game at Madison Square Garden. Sharing a reputation with certainly one of the biggest jazz records of all timethis watch has so much to supply – which it does brilliantly: housed in the brand’s signature pocket watch –Star Trek The case is crafted from sandblasted zirconium and grade 5 titanium and contains a mesmerizing dial displaying the hours and minutes, a spherical moon phase at 6 o’clock, an influence reserve indicator on the back, and a performance indicator between 2 and three o’clock. Hand-wound like a vintage watch but distinctly avant-garde, this ridiculously cool 42.6mm wide watch looks perfect on Strahan’s 6’5″ frame.
RM 72-01 Charles Leclerc
Young Monégasque F1 driver Charles Leclerc who has an enviable driving job All right exceeded the speed limit for Scuderia Ferrari, wore a Richard Mille RM 72-01 watch while signing a fan autograph at this week’s Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix. Leclerc, a long-time brand partner, has been shaking up various RM models and prototypes for over a decade, but even for such an avant-garde brand, the 72-01 stands out: a flyback chronograph with a movement manufactured from grade 5 titanium that displays hours, minutes, small seconds , date and performance pointer. Arranged in an unusual configuration, this skeletal marvel of micromechanics costs roughly half one million dollars. (One can only imagine the premiums for Leclerc’s automotive and jewellery policies…)
Patek Philippe Aquanaut by Ludacris
It’s hard to remain mad at Aquanaut, Patek Philippe’s Nautilus-inspired sports collection and entry point into the world of Housecatalog. Especially the chrome steel model with black dial, reference number 5167A-001, which Ludacris recently wowed while performing on stage at the 2024 iHeartRadio Music Awards in Los Angeles. At $24,450, it’s certainly not an impulse buy – but it’s also incredibly handsome, good-sized, damn sporty, and has a beautifully finished automatic movement. Measuring 40.8 mm wide and just 8.1 mm high, it is a modern incarnation of the watch launched in 1997 as the Nautilus anniversary model. However, Patek had its hands on conventional handles and the removal of the “ears” from this lauded collection. for a younger, cheaper series of sports watches.
Jay Z’s RM-47
Another Richard Mille for you: this crazy RM-47 worn by none aside from collector extraordinaire Jay-Z. It is difficult to overestimate how complex, painstaking and detailed the means of creating this shield is: hand-engraved by Pierre-Alain Lozeron, it takes 16 hours of labor to embellish the 11 elements that make up the samurai’s armor and blade. (This takes place before Lozeron’s wife, Valerie, begins her own work of painting the components, which is a fragile process in itself.) The result – a hand-wound tourbillon wristwatch with yellow gold decorative elements and a movement manufactured from Grade 5 steel titanium – it’s just extraordinary. That’s why the RM-47 has a sticker price of around $1 million and why you do not see a lot of this limited 75-piece edition on the street.
Credit : www.gq.com
