The Rumour Mill: Tudor’s New Black Bay Blue 58
‘The Tudor Blueberry?’ The ‘Smurf?’
So the watch-nerd Internet has been on fire lately concerning the worst-kept secret in the industry; the new Tudor Black Bay 58 in blue. At first it was just whispers. Then pics started surfacing. Finally, on the day that the watches became available at dealers… Tudor dropped the bomb! The rumours were correct. The vintage-sized dive watch from Rolex’s sister brand is now available in a modern colourway. Hold the fauxtina.
This of course contrasts sharply with what happened earlier in the year, as both the Baselworld upheaval and the worldwide COVID-19 lockdowns delayed any news of fresh timepiece releases from either brand.
If you haven’t kept pace, here’s the deal; usually Rolex and Tudor unveil their new watches every year at an event called Baselworld. This has happened for years. But this year something changed; Rolex as well as Patek Phillipe, Chopard, Chanel and others decided to pull out of the trade show. Reasons seemed to be twofold; one, the event was slated to be delayed as COVID-19 lockdowns presented a challenge to the idea of an in-person trade show occurring in early 2020.
Secondly, Rolex and Patek among others were livid at Baselworld’s initial decision to not refund fees associated with the now-delayed trade show. Baselworld’s plan was to instead use money from the brands as a sort of ‘deposit’ for a new event scheduled for late 2020 or early 2021.
Rolex and Patek were not into that.
The Swatch Group (Omega, Longines and others) left Baselworld back in 2018 over a similar financial dispute, so it’s not like this sort of thing hadn’t already happened in the past. (We all know how stingy landlords can be.)
So when a similar situation arose this year, those bad vibes combined with coronavirus fears meant no new Rolex or Tudor Baselworld drops for watch fans.
Yep. Ouch.
But as mentioned above, lately the parade of new releases is back up and running again.
Rolex and Tudor shut down their factories voluntarily earlier in mid-March, but since then have returned to work after about 45 days in the dark. What have they been making? Well, the answer is a new Tudor Black Bay 58 in blue.
The horology news source Scottish Watches confirmed this in their latest podcast, and authorized dealers have also stated that a blue 58 is represented in the latest Tudor pricelist. It can be purchased on a Marine Nationale-style NATO strap, on the standard Black Bay 58 riveted band, and on a stitched suede-style strap that has been said to be water-resistant.
They seem to be going for $4,500 or so on the secondary market, with about 8 or so for sale on Chrono24. Of course, maybe you can grab it cheaper if you have a good relationship with a Tudor AD.
Do you like the new colorway? What do you think the ‘internet nickname’ of the watch will be? Here at CC we’re rooting for the ‘Tudor Blueberry,’ as the original Rolex Blueberry GMT is such a cool watch.
Thanks for reading, and if anyone knows of any other info on the new Tudor Black Bay 58, let us know!
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