Heading into the current Formula 1 season, Tudor announced a partnership with the Visa Cash App RB (VCARB) team, a move we talked about here, and straight away folks began noticing some unique Tudor watches on the wrist’s of team drivers Daniel Riccardo, and Yuki Tsunoda in the paddock. Among them was a Black Bay Ceramic with a blue dial, and this week, that watch is getting a proper introduction into the Black Bay family. This is the second Black Bay Ceramic to be released, and while the Black Bay 41 has seen some subtle but important updates in recent years, it doesn’t look like they’ve been retained in the black ceramic case seen here. But perhaps there’s not so much to read into with this one, it’s a blue dial on their Black Bay Ceramic, and that suits me just fine.
The Black Bay Ceramic uses a black ceramic case that gets a similar finish to the steel case, with polished bevels and more of a bead blasted brushed finish on the case walls. This is the standard Black Bay 41 dimensions, meaning 41mm in diameter, 14.4mm in thickness, and about 49mm from end to end. What separated the original BB Ceramic was the use of a METAS certified master chronometer MT5602-1U automatic movement. Further, the movement was and remains visible through an exhibition caseback. The blacked out case and dial pushed the focal point of the watch to the use of this movement, feeling a bit more conceptual than your typical diver in the process.
The newest Black Bay Ceramic uses the same METAS certified master chronometer caliber MT5602-1U, which will keep it accurate to within 0 to +5 seconds per day. Testing is done on cased movements, so the results are pretty much what you can expect in day to day use. This certification also guarantees this accuracy when subjected to magnetic fields of up to 15,000 gauss. The movement has 70 hours of reserve, and testing is done at both 100% wind, and 33% capacity of the mainspring. The movement itself also looks pretty ticked out through the caseback, with black bridges and rendered in a somewhat futuristic finish.
What’s new here is the dial. The blue dial matches the team colors of the VCARB F1 race team, which themselves are based on their sponsors, mainly the Visa part. So in reality, the blue of this dial is the same blue that Visa uses for their branded materials. That might sound a bit less sexy than you were imagining, but setting that aside, the blue works quite well with the black case and bezel. The hands and hour surrounds are also black, keeping the theme intact. It’s worth noting that the seconds hand retains the diamond shape at its tip, and not the lollipop that we’ve seen the Black Bay 41 move to in the steel case.
The Tudor Black Bay Ceramic Blue is available now and is priced at $5,150, and ships with both a hybrid rubber strap, as well as a black fabric strap with blue stripe down its center. This watch is not a limited edition, though availability remains unknown. Tudor