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by The luxury hut
In their latest escapade, Tudor revisited their Submariner from 1954 and came back with the Tudor Black Bay 54. This model takes its vintage cues very seriously, which is its biggest selling point. I’ve owned this watch for three months now, and it’s gotten some serious wrist time. I’m sharing my thoughts on Tudor’s newest diving watch and reviewing its design, dimensions, specs, and quirks.
Before I get into my review, I want to start by explaining why I bought a Black Bay 54 when I already have a Black Bay 58 in my collection. Honestly, there’s a small, but not unimportant nuance to the popular Tudor that has always bothered me. To my relief, the Tudor Black Bay 54 goes against the grain of many other vintage-style diving watches and got this detail right. But I’ll get into that later. Let’s start with the design and dimensions.
If you’re on the fence, my colleague Pascal wrote an article comparing the Black Bay 54 and Black Bay 58 that’s worth checking out.
The watch community has really leaned into the hype surrounding vintage timepieces in recent years, but the Tudor Black Bay 54 takes things one step further: Not only is it closely modeled on the design of the Tudor Submariner from 1954, it also inherited its size. The Black Bay 54 has a 37-mm diameter, is 11.24 mm thick, and clocks in at 46 mm lug-to-lug. The lug width is 20 mm, so the same as the Black Bay 58 in that regard. Yes, on paper, the Tudor Black Bay 54 is downright tiny by today’s standards, but that all changes on the wrist. The watch wears larger than these measurements would have you believe, and suits wrist sizes up to about 17.5 cm. The design isn’t identical to the Tudor Submariner from 1954, rather more of a love letter to the brand’s first diver. The snowflake hand didn’t feature back then, nor did the shield logo at 12 o’clock. And while the dial does host the gilt indices and hands, it has a silky sunburst finish that catches the light beautifully. The case is instantly recognizable as a scaled-down Black Bay case, radiating irresistible charm with its chamfers and curved contours. Another playful detail that makes it clear that this is a vintage-inspired watch is the engraved rose on the crown. That’s probably also why the bezel doesn’t have the 15-minute scale found on diving watches nowadays – Tudor deliberately decided against it. It’s obvious that Tudor wanted the Black Bay 54 to tick all the boxes of a vintage watch – no matter the cost.
Tudor fully committed to the vintage theme: The bezel on the Tudor Black Bay 54 doesn’t have a 15-minute scale.
Moving on now to technology, the Tudor Black Bay 54 delivers everything you’d expect from a modern diver, or at least almost. For aesthetic reasons, Tudor decided against a ceramic bezel, opting instead for the trusty aluminum standard in the Black Bay series. Since I’ve had a few Black Bay models in my collection, I can say with confidence that you really shouldn’t worry about wearing the watch out and about, the aluminum bezel is extremely robust. Plus, the watch is protected by a sapphire crystal and is water-resistant to 200 m (656 ft). It doesn’t use the METAS-certified movement powering the new Black Bay in 41 mm; instead we have the automatic, in-house caliber MT5400, as seen in other Tudor watches like the Pelagos 39 and the Black Bay 58 in silver and in gold. This movement is almost the exact same as the MT5402 found in the Tudor Black Bay 58. The MT5400 is COSC-certified and has a power reserve of a good 70 hours. Another noteworthy feature is the new T-Fit clasp, which is great for adjusting the bracelet by a few centimeters without needing to take out the toolbox.
the luxury hut