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I’ve owned the Tudor Black Bay 41 (silver dial version) for roughly twenty-four hours now, and wanted to do a write-up on my initial thoughts. So far, I’m more than pleased with the watch, and the accuracy especially is phenomenal. We’re talking quartz accuracy here. The watch hasn’t gained or lost even a second over the short period of time I’ve owned it. Below, I’ll outline what I think about the watch overall so far.
My Favorite Part Of The Tudor Black Bay 41 So Far: The Dial
The Tudor’s dial is beautiful, and carries a design language that’s tied not only to Tudor’s past, but Rolex’s as well. At the 12:00 marker, we have an inverted triangle, which you could argue is embedded with the heritage of Rolex’s WW2-era “Error Proof” dials. Rolex dials included a triangle like this back in the day so that no matter which position you held the dial, you’d know where “12” was.
The “Snowflake” hands trace directly back to Tudor’s past designs, especially military ones. But like the iconic Mercedes hands on most Rolexes, they also aid in legibility. Rolex initially distinguished the hour hand on its watches to also be error proof. This carries over to my modern Tudor, because it’s nearly impossible to mix up the hour and minute hands thanks to the Snowflake handset.
This is perhaps one of the most legible, if not the most legible, watches I’ve ever owned. This is something I didn’t really consider at all when just looking at pictures online, but I’ve really come to appreciate it while actually wearing the watch.
I love the silver sunburst finish, and the way the applied markers pop against it. The lume-filled markers are white, so they stick out against the silver dial. Overall, the watch is more legible than you might think.
No Way Around It: The Tudor Black Bay 41 Is A Big Watch
I have a 7.25″ wrist, so I can pull off most watches residing in the 38mm to 42mm range. At 41mm, the Tudor fits right into my wheelhouse on paper. I was surprised how thick and heavy the watch was when I unboxed it, however.
The case is only 11.2mm. That’s relatively slim, but the slab sides make it wear really thick. For comparison purposes, the Omega Speedmaster and Oris Sixty-Five are both over 13mm in height, but wear way slimmer on wrist because of the slimmer midcases.
The Tudor also wears larger because of its larger dial, as well as its silver color. Throw in a longer lug-to-lug length (50mm vs 48mm for the Speedmaster) and larger lug width (22mm for the Black Bay 41 vs 20mm for the Speedmaster) – and you have a watch with significant wrist presence. I knew that the Tudor would wear large, but not this large.
It’s not such a large watch that it looks ridiculous on my wrist, or feels overpowering, either. The other option was the 36mm case, and unfortunately that would wear too small for me, personally.
I’ve read on watch forums and places like Reddit that 39mm really would have been perfect, and I have to agree. At 39mm, there might be a little too much competition between this and the Rolex Explorer 1 perhaps.
Still, the 41mm model does wear great for me, it just seems slightly larger than it needed to be. It’s also growing on me as I adjust to the size and weight of the watch.
I’d say it definitely feels a little larger than my (technically larger) Omega Speedmaster when on wrist. This may be because of the Tudor’s thickness, however, as it doesn’t necessarily look larger on wrist.
Overall Finishing
The Tudor Black Bay 41’s finishing is exceptional, and I think that it punches above its weight class in this area. The tolerances on the case and bracelet are tight, and I love the beveled edges on the lugs. The polishing is excellent and there’s a sharp transition between these polished parts and the brushed parts of the case.
The hand-winding feels buttery smooth and so does the action of the screw down crown. The bracelet also feels of above average quality, and was a breeze to size.
The clasp is especially nice, utilizing ceramic bearings, and closing with a crisp snap. It integrates into the bracelet nicely, and looks clean. This is in contrast to a double deployant (like on my Baume & Mercier Capeland), which also looks nice, but results in pushers sticking out on both sides. The flip lock clasp on the Tudor looks cleaner in my opinion, and feels just as secure.
Wrapping Up My Initial Impressions So Far
My first twenty-four hours with the Tudor Black Bay 41 have been overwhelmingly positive. The only slight negative I can think of so far is the size of the case. It would of been so perfect at 39mm. The 41mm still works, but just seems ever so slightly larger than it should be.
Even if it was kept at 41mm, I think shrinking the lug-to-lug length down to 48mm and the lug width down to 20mm would make the watch wear a little better proportionally. It’s not a deal-breaker for me at this point, just a minor complaint, and overall I’m more than impressed by the overall quality of the watch.
I love everything else about it, especially the dial. The most unexpected thing about the watch that I like is the extreme legibility, even though the dial, markers, and handset are all silver. The applied markers and handset are filled with lume, so they’re either white against the dial, or green if the lume is charged. The lume glows green and seems to be very strong.
I wouldn’t call this watch a replacement or substitute for the Rolex Explorer 1. The silver dial (combined with the smooth, polished bezel) also gives off a little bit of an Oyster Perpetual vibe. Make no mistake – the Tudor Black Bay 41 is its own watch with its own vibe too, though.
The Tudor’s dial borrows its design from the Black Bay divers, which are true tool watches. The Black Bay 41 seems to evoke a mixture between an Explorer-like tool watch design and a dressier Oyster Perpetual-style watch. I think that makes it a great GADA (go anywhere, do anything) watch overall. I also think that the signature Snowflake handset tops off the whole package – making it distinctively Tudor.