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And the wait is over—Tudor has pleasantly surprised us all with the release of the Black Bay GMT reference M7983ORB, a beautiful new offering from Rolex’s hip “younger brother” to complement the release of the new Rolex GMT Master Ref. 126710 BLRO. The Black Bay GMT is quickly becoming the star of Baselworld 2018, and it’s not difficult to see why (though we’re definitely partial to the new Black Bay Fifty-Eight).
What we have here is a true GMT watch featuring many of the design cues from the classic Rolex offerings: stainless steel case (41mm), a blue-and-red “Pepsi” bezel, an independently adjustable hour hand, an instantaneously changing date function, and a matte dial with a chapter ring.
Initially, Tudor watches came equipped with Swiss movements from ETA, which allowed them to create robust watches without the Rolex price tag. Over the past few years, however, Tudor has been deviating from its original flight path, offering for the first time watches with in-house calibers, which is what we have here; the BB GMT features the new, in-house MT6562 COSC-certified caliber, with 28 jewels, a 70-hour power reserve, hacking seconds, and a 28,800 bph frequency.
It’s the details that differentiate the Tudor from its bigger brother, and the brand hasn’t forgotten to follow its own heritage for vintage-style design cues, such as the snowflake hands, an oversized signed crown without crown guards, and chapter ring dial. This, of course, doesn’t mean that you aren’t getting an incredibly robust watch, as the GMT (while not a diver) features 200m of water resistance, a silicon balance spring, and a chronometer certification.
The watch will be available on a stainless steel, rivet-style bracelet for CHF 3,700, and on a “Terra Di Siena” brown leather strap or a burgundy and black fabric strap—both for CHF 3,400. Tudor
