Spotlight: Tudor Black Bay Ceramic

The first time I saw a Tudor Black Bay in ceramic was as a part of OnlyWatch 2019, and I absolutely loved it. I’m not sure why as dive watches normally really aren’t they type of watch I gravitate toward; however this was most definitely an exception to that rule.

Whilst the original (and somewhat moot) estimate for this watch was I think between CHF 4500-5500, it eventually hammered for an incredible CHF 350,000… apparently, I wasn’t the only person who loved it!

Tudor were clearly on to something.

So, two years later when Tudor announced the Tudor Black Bay Ceramic in 2021, it didn’t overly surprise me to see a ceramic Black Bay added to the catalogue. However, what did surprise me was that the watch had one or two tricks up its sleeve, differentiating it from the Black Bay Ceramic One from OnlyWatch two years earlier.

It marks a new direction for Tudor’s hugely successful Black Bay collection, in more ways than one. So, let’s take a look at the watch and what makes it worthy of your attention.

Tudor Black Bay Ceramic

Tudor Black Bay Ceramic M79210CNU-0001

Let’s get the obvious stuff out the way first. Even though this watch is quite clearly a Tudor Black Bay, it is different from your normal dive watch, and steps towards a modern and contemporary aesthetic. Whilst it does bear many of the hallmarks of a Black Bay and of a dive watch, the Black Bay Ceramic certainly presents as more a design exercise than a bona-fide tool watch for diving.

For dive watch purists, this might be a dealbreaker in itself – and fair enough, to each their own.

Personally, considering the vast majority of dive watches rarely see the bottom of a swimming pool, let alone the ocean, I don’t think it matters a great deal. Whilst this might not be a dive watch in the purist sense, for me it certainly doesn’t detract from what this is – a really quite awesome watch that I have come to really enjoy!

I love the blacked-out look. There is something I find particularly alluring about it, and it serves to incorporate elements of stealth, and perhaps even military-ness to the watch. All told, it creates a sense of being ready for anything.

At 41mm the case is erring on the larger size but is still eminently wearable, despite being 14.4mm thick at its thickest, as the domed sapphire crystal protrudes quite a couple of millimetres higher than the edge of the bezel itself. The ceramic is lightweight, more durable and scratch resistant (of course up to a point!) than metal-cased watches, and features predominantly a matt, sand-blasted finish with a polished facet which runs lengthways from lug to lug around the edge of the case band.

Rest assured, this is a watch that can absolutely keep pace with an active lifestyle, take a few bumps and knocks and come out still looking absolutely fantastic.

Where the case itself is ceramic, the screw-down crown (adorned with the Tudor rose) on the watch is done in black PVD treated 316L steel, so it matches the ceramic in look. It is very easy to grip and screw the crown, and winding the watch is really smooth. It might all sound a bit of an obvious comment to make, but I have not found this to always be the case so thought it worth a mention.

There is a super high contrast between the large, applied white hour markers and snowflake hands, all of which are adorned with Swiss Super Luminova®, against the black dial ensuring an almost hyper-legibility.

What is far less legible, however, is the muted dark grey minute markers around the periphery of the dial, as well as the Tudor logo and legend of “Black Bay Master Chronometer” in the same dark grey colourway. (More to come on “Master Chronometer shortly).

The uni-directional bezel has a really good resistance and a very satisfying click, with no real play once clicked into place. It is adorned all the expected markings required for a dive watch; there is a triangle marker found at 12 o’clock albeit without a lume pip, markers every 5 minutes with the first 15 minutes marked individually, all of which are engraved into a radially brushed surface finish.

Ultimately though, the bezel itself is equally as illegible as the minute markers and dial legend in most conditions.

If you look at this alone, the Black Bay Ceramic becomes relatively useless as a tool watch made for diving, albeit perfectly well-equipped for around the pool.

You might also have a point if you were to argue the balance of the dial is a little out of kilter owing to the varying degrees of contrast between the black dial, dark grey accents, and hyper-legible hour markers and hands.

However, if you can separate this specific watch out from its dive watch DNA, and look at it in isolation, it just… works. And it works really, really well.

In another rare move for Tudor (and Rolex), which I particularly enjoyed, this watch features a sapphire crystal caseback enabling you to see the MT5062-1U automatic movement. In yet another rare move the movement has even been decorated, as well as being presented in a fully black colourway which seamlessly ties in with the rest of the watch design (where the OnlyWatch piece unique only had a blacked-out rotor).

And this movement is an important one to showcase.

As I alluded to, the movement in the Tudor Black Bay Ceramic is not only COSC certified for accuracy (to between -4 and +6 seconds per day), but also certified by METAS (the Federal Institute of Metrology in Switzerland) as a Master Chronometer.

Master Chronometer qualification certifies that the watch has been tested to a level beyond COSC standards with an additional 8 tests on top, including magnetic resistance to everyday magnetic fields such as phones or laptops, and validating power reserve and water resistance claims – in the Black Bay Ceramic, this is 70 hours and 200 metres (waterproof as opposed to water resistant) respectively.

Once attained, the Master Chronometer qualification certifies the watch to for accuracy to between 0 and +5 seconds per day.

Now, appreciating that this variance is not quite as stringent as Rolex’s Superlative Chronometer (accurate to between -2 and +2 seconds per day), it is nonetheless important given it marks the first time Tudor (and by virtue, Rolex) have used the independent METAS Master Chronometer certification, and the Tudor Black Bay Ceramic is the first non-Omega watch to attain this certification.

In terms of everyday wear, one of my biggest gripes with this watch are the OEM hybridised rubber/leather strap and deployant clasp, which is again done in black PVD treated 316L steel.

Overall I like the look, but the strap is not great to wear (albeit to be fair the watch does come with an additional Nato strap option with buckle) as it is quite rigid, and the rubber makes quite a lot of almost squeaking sound as it moves against the lugs. Also, the deployant clasp can be a bit tricky to close from my experience.

I do wonder whether this is caused by the curvature on the deployant clasp as once it’s on the wrist and you’re trying to close it and slide the strap through the keepers, it can be a bit tight an angle; when I compared it to a couple of other examples, it certainly seems a more pronounced curvature on the Black Bay Ceramic:

For absolute clarity, once the clasp is secured there is no problem at all, I have just found that sometimes it can be tricky to click into place. For me at least, the Black Bay Ceramic appears better suited to one of the after-market strap options available out there.

In Summary

During my time with the watch it certainly has grown on me. I appreciate that the blacked-out design might not be for everyone, but it’s one that I do enjoy. Whilst I’m not normally a dive watch person, I find it very difficult to argue with the overall package on offer with Tudor’s Black Bay Ceramic:

A 41mm monobloc ceramic case with anti-magnetic resistance, a screw-down crown, 200 metres of waterproofness, a sapphire caseback showcasing a well decorated Master Chronometer movement which offers an impressive 70h power reserve, a five-year guarantee and additional free strap option for less than £4000 (at least until the January 2023 price increase took the list price at the time of writing to £4210).

Throw into the mix it being the first non-Omega Master Chronometer watch, and the first Tudor (and by extension, Rolex) watch to be certified to this standard, and I think it’s something really quite brilliant.

It is no wonder that it can be a difficult one to find in retailers, even now, and the year it was released it won the “Petite Aiguille” GPHG Prize – looking back, I even picked it when I chose my winners from the 2021 GPHG shortlists!

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