Tudor Introduces Precious Metal Pair of Black Bay Fifty-Eight Divers

Tudor has dropped a pair of its hugely popular Black Bay Fifty-Eight dive watches in full 18k gold and, less conventionally, solid sterling silver.

The watches, both 39mm Black Bay Fifty-Eight models, represent the first time since Tudor relaunched itself back in 2012, that the brand has produced watches in full precious metal and only the second time that the brand has used an open caseback to show off the movement inside.

Tudor selected Sterling 925 silver paired with a low-key taupe dial and aluminium bezel insert and 18k yellow gold with a dark green dial and bezel insert. Both watches are finished with a pronounced brushed texture which gives both watches a matte finish.

Inside both is a MT5400 movement, taking the place of the MT5402 usually found inside the Black Bay Fifty-Eight, which features an enlarged baseplate to better complement the exhibition caseback.

While gold is the precious metal of choice for luxury watchmaking, silver is rarely, if ever, used today. Historically however, silver was a popular choice for watch cases because of the precious metal’s resistance to tarnishing.

Both pieces are available now, with the Black Bay Fifty-Eight 18K exclusive to Harrods in London for the first month, priced £12,610 GBP ($17,300 USD) while the Black Bay Fifty-Eight 925 Silver is £3,230 GBP ($4,400 USD).

In other watch news, Zenith bulks up its 1/100th El Primero 21 chronograph with the Defy Extreme.